A Pokémon Legends: Z-A Speculation Follow-Up Post

Lo! A gameplay reveal!

Last August, back when all there was to work with was a vague announcement trailer, I offered up some of my predictions as to what Pokémon Legends: Z-A might look like under the assumption that a proper gameplay reveal was right around the corner. Fast-forward to Pokémon Day, a whole six months after that blog post was published, for us to finally get that first look during a Pokémon Presents.

Per the nature of trailers for a game slated for a late 2025 release, there’s still a lot we don’t know. What we do know, however, is more than enough to warrant a second look at those predictions I made in order to see just how well (or poorly) they aged.

First Partner Pokémon

“Here are your starters, bro.” (Image Source)

PREDICTION: Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s starters will likely be Snivy, Scorbunny, and Piplup since the three have designs connected to real life France.

REALITY: We’re getting Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile instead.

Of all the possible starter trio configurations that anyone thought possible for Legends: Z-A, the one we actually ended up with initially struck me as one of the most bizarre and disappointing. For one, Chikorita and Totodile both hailing from Johto leaves poor, Unova-born Tepig as the odd one out. On top of that, while these Pokémon certainly do have their fans, none of them or their evolutions are considered all-stars in terms of either power or popularity, at least compared to most of the other starters across the franchise’s now 29-year history.

Of course, all this naysaying is only justified when we look at these three in a vacuum and assume they will get nothing in the way of new toys to play with. Based on the precedent set by Pokémon Legends: Arceus, we can rest assured that this will almost definitely not be the case.

First, it’s worth acknowledging that Johto and Unova both had starter representation in Legends: Arceus with Cyndaquil and Oshawott, respectively. For as much as I proudly banked and preferred that my prediction for the starters would come true, it makes more sense in retrospect that they’d opt to give the rest of the starters from those regions time in the spotlight as well. It may still be awkward they didn’t include a starter from Alola given that Rowlet was also in Legends: Arceus, but maybe we can expect to see Litten and Popplio in the next potential Pokémon Legends title.

More to the point, though, is the fact that Legends: Z-A will mark the long-awaited return of Mega Evolution to the main series after years of absence. Although the only Megas revealed to be in the game thus far have been those from previous games, I am absolutely certain that they will be adding new ones as well, and that the starters’ final evolutions—Meganium, Emboar, and Feraligatr—will be among those who do. Mega Evolution is as much about flagrant fanservice as it is about rejuvenating older, underpowered, and otherwise overshadowed Pokémon, and I can’t imagine three starters more deserving, or in need, of such a glow-up than these three.

All this to say that Legends: Z-A doesn’t need Chikorita, Tepig, or Totodile quite so much as any of them need it.

Gameplay

As a side note, I’m really excited that status moves look to be more prominent and varied in this game, especially compared to Legends: Arceus (Image Source)

Prediction: Pokémon Legends: Z-A will only diverge from other main series titles in terms of its overall structure, such as lacking gyms and having quests and missions to complete. Battles won’t receive any drastic changes.

Reality: Battles are receiving drastic changes.

There’s not enough information to know for sure whether any other part of this specific prediction holds up, but we can at least be sure that Legends: Z-A will be the furthest departure from traditional Pokémon gameplay that we’ve seen yet. The turn-based approach to battles the series is known for have been effectively discarded to make way for this game’s more real-time approach, which will feature Pokémon scurrying about the battlefield and using moves that look to each have their own unique ranges, areas of effect, and cooldowns.

Once again, I’ve been proven completely wrong, but honestly, I don’t mind it one bit here.

In previous Pokémon-themed blog posts, I’ve often expressed my belief that the series should work to be a more challenging and engaging experience—one that promotes mindfulness and clever thinking by its players regardless of whether they are playing casually or competitively. While the usual battle formula can certainly accomplish providing such mindfulness (as long as the game designers feel inclined to try), this new, more dynamic and demanding format could be just what the games need in order to do so more consistently.

Now, given that Pokémon games with the “Legends” branding seem to be all about action and experimentation, I would have easily assumed real time battles would remain something exclusive to them, but then I remembered another game that was shown off alongside the reveal of these radical changes: Pokémon Champions. Take a look at that game’s webpage and notice that it seems to be selling itself on things that would be ordinary inclusions in any other Pokémon game: types, abilities, moves, and other “familiar mechanics.” I couldn’t help but wonder why we were getting a game that was, never mind why we were getting a game that was basically just a successor to older battle-based Pokémon games like Stadium and Battle Revolution, and that’s when I came to what’s probably a rather crazy conclusion.

Maybe Pokémon Champions will mark the migration of traditional turn-based battles, unleashing future main series games to continue experimenting with this new style of battling. Maybe Legends: Z-A will mark the culmination of what began with the Let’s Go and auto-battle mechanics in Scarlet and Violet. Maybe we’re about to witness the greatest inflection point the franchise in the advent of its 30-year anniversary coming up next year.

…Or maybe I’m just high on wishful thinking and the reality is that they just wanted to make a game where people can play competitive Pokémon on mobile. It’s certainly not impossible considering I’m sitting at 0-2 (0-3 if you count how off I was about when we’d get our first look at the game) when it comes to predictions here. Even so, for the time being, I can’t help but be a believer that Legends: Z-A could end up being not an exception to the rule, but rather the beginning of something new.

Setting

Only time will tell if the beauty of Lumiose City is only skin-deep (Image Source)

Prediction: Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be set in the present, albeit not “entirely” within Lumiose City as certain promotional material suggested.

Reality: The game is indeed set in the present, but it also definitely looks to be a Lumiose-only adventure.

Well, would you look at that! We’re finally on the board with one of these predictions! Even if I did only end up being half-right…

There was a bit of debate about whether Legends: Z-A would be set in the past like Legends: Arceus, the far future based on the high-tech aesthetic of the reveal trailer, or Pokemon’s equivalent of the present day. I found myself in the third camp on account of a few context clues, but also because I preferred the possibility that this game could serve as a soft sequel of sorts to Pokemon X and Y, where the Kalos Region first debuted.

Turns out I was actually on the money in this case. One of the few nuggets of knowledge we got about Legends: Z-A’s plot is that we would be crossing paths with AZ, an important character from X and Y, and the Floette companion he reunited with at the very end of those games’ story. All that’s missing is for it to be revealed that X/Y and Z-A are set 11-12 years apart from one another (in reference to the fact that as much time has passed in real life between their release dates) and I’ll have ended up being 100% vindicated.

Of course, you can’t be half-right without being half-wrong, and it’s clear now that I should have taken that one Nintendo of America tweet at its word. In light of the complete absence of any hint that we’ll be going anywhere beyond the city’s walls, it really does seem the scope of our journey in Legends: Z-A will be limited to Lumiose.

I’m still not convinced this will be for the best. Not only does it mean we won’t get to explore any of the interesting locales or biomes that comprise the greater Kalos Region, but confining the player to a city setting risks making the game feel small, cramped, and one note regardless of how big, explorable, or committed to “urban redevelopment” the City truly turns out to be.

And then there’s the fact that we’re bound to encounter a wide variety of Pokémon–potentially too wide a variety to reasonably expect to find in a single city. Sure, Pokémon like Pidgey and Patrat fit in just fine, but what about the rest? It would be rather uncanny to find a wild Flaafy just hanging around on a rooftop patio (something we do see in the extended look trailer), and it would be an immense cop out to relegate Bergmite and other Ice-type Pokémon to some cold storage-like place because there’s nowhere else for them to go.

Perhaps the answer to all these worries are the new “Wild Zones” that now dot Lumiose, serving as Legends: Z-A’s substitute for the usual routes and areas where wild Pokémon can be found, fought, and captured. Some appear to be just repurposed streets and parks, but others seem to be a bit more specialized, like a sandy place where Sandile can be found plowing through the ground. Either way, these pockets of semi-pseudo-wilderness are likely to feature both the geographical and musical motifs necessary to inject the game with a healthy dose of aesthetic diversity while making plenty of nostalgic references to other parts of the region.

Will these Wild Zones actually accomplish these things, though? Will they manage to strike the seemingly impossible balance between urban and natural environments? Will these concerns actually be factors in the story? And is there any chance that there’s a whole other side of this new Lumiose City that we have yet to say? We don’t have enough information to say for sure, but until we do, I’ll consider Legends: Z-A’s setting a topic of skeptical optimism.

–Closing Out–

Looking back at my predictions, I realize just how much I tried to play it relatively safe. I anticipated starters that I felt best fit the region. I didn’t think battles would be changed up in any extraordinary ways. I doubted the possibility they’d send us to some far-flung era or confine us to a single city.

For Pokémon Legends: Z-A to defy my expectations so boldly, then, means that they might really mean business with this game, and the mere possibility of this excites me greatly. For as much as I have concern over some of the things I’ve seen, I remain eager to see what else this game has in store, and I look forward to what this game could mean for Pokémon as a whole.