The ability to turn off autosaving is not something I’ve ever really given thought to, but it seems that the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A will actually lack the ability to turn off autosaves when it releases this week. As spotted by players who have gotten leaked copies of the game early, Legends: Z-A is the first title in the series to lack the ability to toggle autosaves on or off. While that might seem like no big deal to the average player, it might be a tremendous point of contention for players who love Shiny hunting.
For those unaware of what a Shiny even is, it is a special variant of a Pokémon that is… well, Shiny. They often have a different color from the regular critters, but their spawn rate is incredibly low. There are various websites dedicated to tracking the spawn rates for each game in the series, but the best way to attempt to find one is by saving in front of a wild Pokémon and entering the battle. If the Shiny variant didn’t spawn, players could simply reload their save and try again. In Legends: Z-A, that presumably won’t be possible.
Source: CentroLeaks
The rabbit hole gets deeper, too, as there is a mechanic that fans have colloquially dubbed “Shiny locks.” The term refers to Pokémon in-game that will never spawn a Shiny version, typically Legendary Pokémon. Since Legends: Arceus, Game Freak has introduced Shiny locked monsters so that players need to rely on distribution events to obtain the Shiny variant. It seems likely that Legends: Z-A will also contain this, so there’s maybe less concern about the removal of autosaves.
Whatever the case, I’m never a fan of removing options from games. Unless a day one update plans to reintroduce autosaving (which would be very odd), I think Pokémon Legends: Z-A might become a nightmare for fans who need to collect literally everything.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
