After a year of waiting since seeing that tantalizing teaser last Pokémon Day, Game Freak has finally revealed the first in-game footage of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Before today, all we knew about the Switch game was what was revealed on Pokémon Day 2024. Legends Z-A is set entirely in the Kalos metropolis of Lumiose City, which debuted in Pokémon X and Y back in 2013. Now, we’ve finally seen the game in motion and, despite sharing the Legends name, it seems like a far cry from Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ open-zone structure.
Unlike the countryside setting of the past game, Pokémon Legends: Z-A revolves around Lumiose City which is currently undergoing a major urban renewal program with new construction and skyscrapers going up. More importantly, players will get to choose from Gen 2 and Gen 5 starters Chikorita, Tepig, or Totodile during their adventures. The hybrid turn-based combat also looks a bitt different this time around. The game won’t arrive until late 2025.
One of the major mechanics in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the return of Mega Evolution. These superpowered forms transform regular fully-evolved critters into somewhat overdesigned versions of themselves for a hefty (but temporary) stat boost. It’s unclear if we’ll be getting new Mega Evolutions in Legends: Z-A, however.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is probably one of the last Pokémon RPGs that will be developed for the Switch before the Switch 2 launches later this year. However, it will also be playable on the new device, which will play original Switch games through backward compatibility. So maybe we’ll see it running on the more powerful hardware when Nintendo holds a dedicated Direct presentation in April.
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