Each new Pokémon recreation is somebody’s first Pokémon recreation. The lifeblood of the collection, new, younger gamers, are properly served by a raft of latest monsters, places, and gimmicks. Communicate to followers of any age, and so they’ll passionately clarify why the pair of video games they grew up with are the most effective.
However for these for whom 2026 will even mark 30 years of Pokémon fandom, it’s typically felt just like the collection has primarily centered on youthful gamers for nearly all of these three many years. And that’s why the emergence of the Legends spin-off collection has been so welcomed by the hardcore.
Whereas there have all the time been requires a “hardcore” Pokémon recreation from some sections of the viewers, that is unlikely to ever occur. As an alternative, the Legends collection, which started with 2022’s Arceus, exists in a timeline the place the franchise has aged alongside the veteran playerbase. Whereas nonetheless pleasant to youthful followers, Legends has now change into, in our view, a non-negotiable accompaniment to the central pair of RPGS: an area for Pokémon to strive new concepts, and discover the monsters and lore that always will get missed by mainline entries.
Pokémon Legends Z-A, the second recreation within the Legends collection, will not be solely a wonderful tribute to traditional recreation Pokémon X & Y, nevertheless it additionally efficiently experiments with new mechanics, provides new characters that can change into fan favourites, and even pulls off a 30-hour Pokémon journey set inside one single location. For my part, as a Pokémon stalwart, that is the most effective Pokémon recreation in a few years.
Pokémon Legends Z-A takes place completely inside Lumiose Metropolis, the Paris stand-in from 3DS’s Pokémon X and Y. Whereas in these video games, sometimes, wild Pokémon might solely be discovered within the roaming hills and fields across the metropolis, because of the brand new Wild Zones created by Quasartico Inc., within the Nintendo Change and Change 2 recreation, individuals and Pokémon are actually working collectively.
The participant arrives in not-Paris and is rapidly thrust right into a thriller round Lumiose Metropolis, the placement’s new Z-A Royale event, and Mega Evolution. Pleasingly, Pokémon Legends Z-A’s story is much extra mature by Pokémon requirements, and doesn’t deal with the participant like they’re a newbie.
It’s additionally legitimately humorous, with loads of the aspect quest writing evoking real laughs. The sport has an enormous quantity of optionally available content material, most of which affords a glance into on a regular basis life within the Pokémon world. It’s right here the place probably the most self-referential dialogue may be discovered. Not solely does it reference deep-cut X&Y lore, however fan memes, conspiracy theories, and long-standing neighborhood jokes all get a wink and a nod.
Whereas Arceus made thrilling tweaks to the turn-based formulation, Pokémon Legends Z-A goes method additional and makes battles completely real-time – an enormous change for the collection. Each Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon now transfer round independently, and strikes are carried out through Change’s face buttons.
It is a huge departure for the collection and can possible show divisive amongst followers. Nonetheless, I discovered its execution rewarding, action-packed, and excellent for Z-A’s total format. This time, strikes have completely different animation lengths and cooldown instances, whereas the weak spot and resistance system returns from the standard video games.
Bodily location is now extra necessary than ever. Some strikes will solely hit if the Pokémon is shut sufficient, for instance. Others, equivalent to Dig, will see the Pokémon disappear underground and reappear in one other location, indicated by a dust ring across the goal. If the goal doesn’t transfer in time, it’ll do injury.
“Whereas Arceus made thrilling tweaks to the turn-based formulation, Pokémon Legends Z-A’s battles are actually completely real-time. Each Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon transfer round independently, and strikes are carried out through the face buttons.”
The actual-time battles are properly complemented by the introduction of the sport’s fundamental story theme, the Z-A Royale. When night time descends on Lumoise Metropolis, trainers take to the streets to battle. Defeat sufficient trainers in a single night time and also you’ll earn factors in direction of a promotion match.
Because the title suggests, the purpose right here is to extend your rank from Z all the best way to A, and as you ascend the ranks, you start creating a workforce that may knock out as many Pokémon as doable earlier than the night time ends, which in flip earns you forex that you should utilize to buy the pricey Mega Evolution stones.
It’s a superb twist on the Pokémon battle formulation that captures the frantic spontaneity of fight we’ve seen within the anime collection. As a result of every part is real-time and fast-paced, gamers must have their wits about them, lest they get jumped by a rival coach – particularly if their Pokémon is of a sort that’s beneficial towards yours, and you find yourself knocked out properly earlier than dawn.
If the primary Pokémon collection’ battle system seems like math issues displayed by sprites bashing into one another, Z-A seems like an motion recreation. There’s a dynamism to launching your Poké Ball in direction of an opposing coach and getting proper into the battle. The pace of the brand new real-time system implies that battles the place each Pokémon are right down to their final hit are sometimes resolved by who picked the quicker transfer.
Pokémon Legends Z-A’s real-time fight is at its most advanced throughout Rogue Mega Evolution battles, which occur all through the sport. These battles see the participant tackle a supersized Mega Advanced Pokémon in a pseudo-raid format and the sport’s hardest exams. Right here, as a result of the unruly Pokémon will goal not solely your Pokémon, however the participant as properly, you’ll want to fret about dodging, therapeutic, and retaining monitor of environmental hazards as properly.
Total, the dynamism of each Z-A’s battles and its world makes for a Pokémon journey that feels considerably extra immersive and vibrant than what’s come earlier than. Many varieties of Pokémon freely roam Lumiose Metropolis, for instance, like Trubbish hanging across the dumpsters, the lengthy MIA elemental monkeys sitting within the timber, and flocks of Pidgey sitting on the lamp posts across the streets.
“If the primary Pokémon collection’ battle system seems like math issues displayed by sprites bashing into one another, Z-A seems like an motion recreation.”
Pokémon Legends: Z-A lastly captures the sensation of Ash and the gang arriving in a brand new metropolis, observing the residents and Pokémon coexisting in concord. If something from Legends Z-A turns into a regular, wild Pokémon co-existing in cities is close to the highest of our checklist.
After all, with each Pokémon that makes large bets on new concepts, there are some stumbles. Notably, whereas Pokémon Legends Z-A runs at a rock-solid 60fps on the Nintendo Change 2 and visually seems to be vivid and well-animated, it’s very a lot a Nintendo Change recreation with a Nintendo Change 2 patch. Total, Lumoise Metropolis suffers from low element and flat, repeated textures, which leaves gamers with the sensation that it was scaled again for Nintendo’s weaker machine, which is a disgrace.
The sport’s Pokédex is a wonderful mixture of Kalos-native Pokémon and fan favorites, nevertheless it’s disappointing that buying and selling is required to finish it – one thing Arceus side-stepped with in-game objects. Pokémon Legends Z-A does have a web-based multiplayer element, so it’s maybe extra comprehensible that the commerce evolutions stay, however the high quality of life that Arceus launched with the in-game objects was a pleasant contact I want had been nonetheless an choice.
Pokémon Legends Z-A thrills within the areas through which it subverts the standard Pokémon setup. In lots of areas, it seems like an enormous departure for the collection, with its new battle system and Z-A Royale construction, specifically, paying off, and as soon as once more proving that the Legends collection is dwelling to probably the most attention-grabbing concepts Sport Freak has.
It’s an entry that rewards older followers with the collection’s most mature narrative in a very long time. The soundtrack, which is filled with X & Y rearrangements and new items, can also be arguably the most effective orchestral rating the collection has had, with rearrangements of classics just like the battle and Pokémon Heart themes, to new music, and returning favourites from X & Y.
The Pokémon Legends collection feels prefer it’s settling previous scores. Pokémon Legends: Arceus allowed Sport Freak to inform the epic story of Arceus (and at last have him simply catchable worldwide in a recreation), whereas additionally serving as a pseudo-remake/tribute to Era 4 for many who didn’t love BDSP.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is a recreation that understands its viewers and seems like a love letter to each gamers who grew up with X & Y and people who’ve been right here the entire time. Lumoise Metropolis is lastly as grand as Sport Freak tried to make it with the restricted energy of the 3DS, and Zygarde not solely earns loads of focus, however Z-A will possible propel it from whole obscurity to a fan favorite.
