Press Start may receive a commission when you buy from links on our site at no extra cost to you.
Out of all Pokémon games, it’s undoubtedly generation six that I’ve spent the most time with. While not my favourite duology, Pokémon X and Y captured the mythology and world of Pokémon in a way that I hadn’t felt since I’d fallen under the spell of Pokémon Pearl. I can remember regularly scouring forums for information, speculation, and rumours pertaining to Pokémon Z, the logical follow-up to X and Y that never came to fruition.
More than 10 years after X and Y’s original release, Game Freak has headed back to the Kalos Region in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Narratively, this game is a sequel to generation six in all but name, with certain characters, locations, and groups making their return in tandem with Mega Evolution’s long-awaited reprisal. It’s simultaneously succeeding Pokémon Legends: Arceus, tearing down some of the fundamental foundations of Pokémon to varying degrees of success, always feeling like it’s one step away from being a truly great reinvention of the franchise.
The entirety of Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes place in the capital city of the Kalos Region, Lumiose City. Set some years after the tumultuous events of X and Y, Lumiose is undergoing an urban redevelopment plan to cultivate the city into an environment where people and Pokémon can peacefully coexist. This primarily comes in the form of Wild Zones, designated areas of the city where wild Pokémon are kept from spilling over into the streets of Lumiose.
When night falls, the Z-A Royale commences as a section of the city is cordoned off for Pokémon trainers to battle to their hearts’ content. As the new kid in Lumiose City, you join the Z-A Royale and Team MZ to climb the ranks while also investigating strange cases of rogue Pokémon Mega Evolving and wreaking havoc throughout the city.
Without getting into spoilers, it can’t be understated how much my time with X and Y enhanced the story being told here. You don’t need to know the events of those games to enjoy Z-A’s narrative, but there’s an inherent investment that comes with returning characters like AZ. It’s a tale I was ultimately satisfied with by the time credits rolled, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some missed opportunities.
Pokémon stories are at their best when dissecting the relationship between Pokémon and humans. What does it take to coexist? How does the relationship between Pokémon and trainer impact either party? It’s these ideas and themes that make Black and White such beloved entries in the series. While Pokémon Legends: Z-A gestures towards these ideas with the Wild Zones and how Lumiose’s people can’t agree on them, it never graduates into a fully-fledged exploration of where the line should be drawn in how Pokémon impact the lives of people.
Additionally, a few of the game’s twists and key story beats are recycled from X and Y. Anyone who paid any level of attention to the story of those games will enter Z-A with this knowledge, robbing them of some narrative impact in the story’s third act. Most of the supporting cast is pretty flat here, and the key players that did pique my interest didn’t get enough time in the limelight. This Pokémon game, more than any other, feels hamstrung by the continued exclusion of voice acting as well. It seems silly to poke holes in the story of a Pokémon game, but Z-A isn’t far away from the storytelling heights of generation five, and it’s a bummer to see it fall short.
This trend of scratching at the surface of something greater is a commonality in most recent Pokémon games. Each felt like a step in the right direction in modernising Pokémon for new hardware and an ever-expanding audience. The same is true of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, opting to forge its own path ahead instead of nurturing the seeds planted by Pokémon Scarlet and Violet or Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I don’t think that’s a bad thing – there are some genuinely exciting changes here, but some feel underbaked or like a proof-of-concept for something deeper.
The biggest shakeup is the move to a real-time battle system. You can freely move about the battlefield as you combat wild Pokémon and trainers, with your own partners following your position. Moves no longer have accuracy ratings; it now comes down to spacing, targeting, and timing to make sure you hit your target. Status effects and certain moves have also had their behaviours altered to accommodate this new framework, with hazard moves like Stealth Rocks setting up a field of danger that damages any Pokémon or trainer that moves through it.
I say trainer because you can also take damage and blackout in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It’s less of a factor in trainer battles, but wild Pokémon will come after you with relentless abandon when you’re spotted, forcing you to dash and dodge as you command your own Pokémon to fight. It’s a more involved and immediate combat framework, one that feels much more fast-paced than previous offerings.
It’s an engaging system that doesn’t feel entirely thought out in its totality. It becomes easy to spam moves off cooldown in trainer battles and wild encounters as there’s no PP or other resource to limit how many times you can use a move. You’ll cycle through your moves until your most effective attack comes off cooldown, pop it, and continue cycling. This system truly shines in the late game, though, where trainer battles and fights with rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon keep you on your toes and think about positioning. I’m also sure it will fundamentally shift online and competitive play in a way few Pokémon games have before.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $85 with free shipping from Amazon
The aforementioned Mega Evolution mechanic also makes its return here, which is perhaps unsurprising given its intrinsic connection to Kalos. I’m a firm believer that Mega Evolution was the best new battle mechanic introduced in Pokémon out of all the different systems introduced over the years. That still rings true in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, allowing you to surpass the final form of certain Pokémon to enter a powered-up state during battle. Instead of being limited to one Mega Evolution per battle, you can do it as much as you want as long as you charge a meter that allows you to Mega Evolve.
There are also a bunch of new Mega Evolutions to play around with here, but they’re a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are genuinely fantastic designs, echoing the heights of these forms introduced in Pokémon X and Y and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The Kalos starter trio, Hawlucha, and some other unannounced Mega Evolutions feel like natural extensions of established Pokémon. Others, like Mega Malamar and Mega Dragonite, feel like a huge missed opportunity and have some very underwhelming designs.
Like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Z-A also establishes a unique gameplay loop unlike anything else in the series. You’ll undertake an array of story missions, most of which revolve around climbing through the ranks of the Z-A Royale. This is an event that you can only participate in when night falls in Lumiose, opening a battle zone in the section of the city where you can challenge trainers. Besting them in battles and completing other optional objectives will eventually net you a Challenge Ticket, allowing you to enter a promotion match, which is sort of equivalent to gym leaders.
You’ll go from rank Z to rank A as part of the main story, and while that may sound repetitive, there’s a lot done to keep the tedium from setting in. You’ll often need to deal with rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon as part of the main progression. Lumiose is full of side missions and Wild Zones to explore, and smaller stories with other factions in the city come into play as well. It also helps that the Z-A Royale feels really fresh, making for a tightly paced 15-hour main story that culminates in a satisfying climax narratively and from a gameplay perspective.
There’s also a lot to do in the world for those looking for it. The aforementioned side missions reward you with worthwhile items to use inside and outside of combat, often incorporating light narrative elements around the Wild Zones. There’s plenty of Pokémon to catch as you explore, which is handled in the same fashion as Pokémon Legends: Arceus. There’s even research you can undertake to unlock new TMs and items for your Pokémon, and many of Lumiose’s rooftops can also be explored, some of which are home to specific species of Pokémon.
While not a high bar to clear, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is unquestionably one of the most technically sound Pokémon games in recent memory. Loading times are lightning fast on the Switch 2, performance is extremely smooth, and I encountered no technical issues across 20 hours of playtime. Character and Pokémon models are detailed, and the whole experience is well-presented. Battles, particularly, are framed in a way that emphasises the action and fast-paced nature of this new system.
There is no doubt, though, that the inferior hardware of the Nintendo Switch holds this game back. Environments are generally forgettable, drab, and generic. Outside of a couple of Wild Zones, Lumiose’s different sectors are indistinguishable from one another, sporting similar architecture and colour palettes. It’s frustrating when you know this franchise has always been able to bring a healthy dose of visual diversity, and that Kalos itself is home to many more cities and environments than just Lumiose.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is another enjoyable entry into the Legends subseries, though it doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Like that title, many of its ideas feel like they have the potential for something more, offering fleeting moments of greatness that give you a glimpse into what Pokémon might become if Game Freak continues down this path. Whether or not they will is another thing entirely, but Pokémon Legends: Z-A is worth the trip back to Kalos regardless of how it shapes the franchise’s future.
