Feb 282025
Yesterday was the Pokémon Presents, and it wasn’t especially thrilling.
It mostly focused on updates to the mobile games, a new battling game for Switch & mobile called Pokémon Champions, and finally a new trailer for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Check out the full presentation if you want, since I’m going to focus on Z-A.
We didn’t get a release date after all, only an updated release window of “late 2025.”
I’m a little disappointed in that, but on the other hand, having a longer development cycle might be a good thing. I can’t really complain.
So let’s focus on the new details we’ve learned about the game.
In addition to the trailer, they also released a second video that shows off more of Lumiose City and gives a closer look at how gameplay will work.
The three starters are Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile, which is an unusual selection since Chikorita and Totodile were Gen 2 starters while Tepig was a Gen 5 starter. Since it takes place within Lumiose City, it’s not entirely clear how exploration will go, but the trailer shows things like climbing onto rooftops. In the extended look, we see that parts of the city are designated as Wild Zones, where you can find and catch Pokémon.
It also seems to be set after Pokémon X/Y after all, instead of in the past like I had theorized. AZ is running a hotel. Zygarde is also shown, although its role in the story hasn’t been revealed.
Catching mechanics look like those from Legends: Arceus, but the combat system is completely new. Instead of turn-based combat, it’s now a real-time system where you’ll need to pay attention to positioning and timing. Your Pokémon’s moves are on a cooldown, which makes the new combat system remind me more of Xenoblade than anything else (albeit with more action).
I have mixed feelings about these new details. The time setting doesn’t bother me; even though I theorized it was set in the past, being a sequel is still fine. The extended look also shows what appears to be Looker’s office, so I’d love if he has a new story here. And even though I’ve seen a lot of criticism about how the graphics look, I think it looks fine.
On the other hand, the city setting doesn’t quite look like it will capture the same sense of exploration that the zones in Arceus did, which is disappointing. I hope there’s more to it than what they’ve shown, because the Wild Zones aren’t impressing me so far. Games set within a city can be great (for example, Yakuza), so I hope they make the most of this setting to keep it interesting.
Finally, I’m a huge fan of turn-based combat. I was so happy that Arceus still had turn-based combat. I don’t have anything against Z-A’s new system, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed in it.
We’re still a long way off from Legends: Z-A’s release, and I’m sure we’ll learn more about it in the meantime. That could help sway me in one direction or another. After all, I had mixed feelings about Legends: Arceus when it was first announced, too, and I ended up loving it!
What are your thoughts on Pokémon Legends: Z-A?
I’m very curious about this game, but I totally agree that I am wondering how these “wild zones” will really allow us to do exploration and such.
I am most surprised that two of the starters are gen-2. I’m going to assume they’ll both have unique evolution forms if following the patterns from Legends Arceus and I wonder how that will play out given it’s a more modern setting and that the preview so far hasn’t shown any new Pokemon evolutions or regional variants, at least so far.
While the combat is new, I’m glad to see Pokemon experimenting in this way using the Legends games.
Yeah, the video made the wild zones look just like the rest of the city except they have Pokemon in them, which would be a little disappointing if that’s all there is.
That’s a good point.