Review – Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Pokémon games’ adherence to the established formula is something I’ve come to hold against the series. What that formula is has some growth behind it, but it’s when it plays with convention that we see the best results. That’s why I liked Legends Arceus so much — a game set in the game world’s past, where catching Pokémon was streamlined and researching them was your main focus. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a big and welcome change. 

In doing a new Legends game, Pokémon has the opportunity to solidify what these games “are” but also risks that same establishment of a formula. Thankfully, the choices made here feel more like an evolution rather than going through the motions. Instead of the past we’re in the near future. Instead of a historical adaptation of a familiar region we have a direct followup to a game we played before. And instead of natural research, we have nonstop battling and urban exploration. 

Opting to revisit Pokémon X and Y’s Kalos struck me as interesting. I was never quite taken with Gen VI, especially coming off the tail of Black and White, outside of one element — Mega Evolution. Now that formerly shelved feature is back and better than ever, and sets the stage for a Pokémon game unlike any other. 

 

 

Arriving at Lumiose City, what should be your grand first steps into this unique Pokémon adventure, ends up perhaps the lowest point of the experience outside of making your choice between Chikorita, Tepig, or Totodile. A bit of an introduction to ease you in is to be expected, but Z-A’s tutorial portion overstays its welcome fast. You’ve dropped us into the largest singular city a Pokémon game has ever had, and you want me to slowly railroad through tons of dialogue (a lot of it with the same character) and scripted encounters? No thank you. 

Really, it’s when the game let me off the leash that I could start to roam and really fall in love with Lumiose. The choice of putting the entire game in effectively one giant map is an interesting one. In theory it’d get boring, and there’s certainly a whole lot of visual “saminess” on these avenues.Yet the game keeps your attention more on little breadcrumbs throughout town thanks to the abundance of items. Many of these are insignificant — imagine picking up every penny you might see on the sidewalk one day — and yet I couldn’t help myself. Bravo, game, bravo. 

 

 

 

Those trinkets (and the significant ones, like TMs and Colorful Screws that you can trade for permanent buffs to catch rates, money drops, and more) push you to roam and explore, but I did warm up to Pokémon Paris on its own merits over time. I found myself really endeared by its cast of recurring characters, the flavorful touches (cafés are rightfully a fixture of Lumiose culture), and especially the freedom in the game’s fashion. Please, Pokémon, never go below this level of character customization again, both in terms of available options and absence of limitations. 

Speaking of limitations, Lumiose has fewer than ever when it comes to Pokémon. As part of a development plan for the city, a corporation has added habitats for them to spots like parks and waterways. These Wild Zones allow you to catch Pokémon freely, lobbing Poké Balls at them similarly to Legends Arceus. I said it then, I’ll say it now — this approach is so much better than locking into a battle first. 

If I had to compare the Wild Zones to anything, it’d actually be Sword and Shield’s Wild Areas. Those were more vast, obviously, but the idea of having isolated zones for free roaming Pocket Monsters fits that mold most readily. Must be a European thing. I also appreciated the consistency in spawn points and represented Pokémon per Wild Zone, as well as how each zone has a clear indication of what Pokémon can be found there when you look at the map. 

 

 

Unlocking more and more Wild Zones as you progress through the game was its own reward, granting access to more species. It does lead to a bit of shoehorning based on types and environments — hope you like seeing no Ice-types all game before suddenly seeing all of them at once! 

You can find some Pokémon freely on the maps too, like a Swirlix floating above a food truck or a Pansear in a tree along a promenade. I quite liked these instances, and they even gave way to some rare finds, like an Eevee or Larvitar much earlier than you could encounter them in a Wild Area. It’s another reward for exploration and reinforces the newly encouraged harmony between people and Pokémon, something the series has always stood by but can finally showcase better than ever in this game. 

It is worth noting that for all I enjoyed about the game’s urban focus, you absolutely lose out on the sense of actually going on a Pokémon journey. If you like wide open expanses and varied biomes, you won’t find them here. There’s no sense of wilderness or a fully realized world here, and instead we have the series’ first bottle episode. I didn’t exactly miss these aspects while playing (which might be a comment on Pokémon’s approach to overworlds more than anything), but every time I described the game to friends it was the first thing I’d mention in terms of what was missing from the equation. 

 

 

What wasn’t missing were battles. Like, a lot of battles. Five years after X and Y, Lumiose Trainers are all about climbing the ladder in a nightly, district-spanning fight club called the Z-A Royale. Out the gate, improving your rank is your main drive to keep the game’s plot moving forward. 

I appreciated the smaller incentivizing elements worked into these nocturnal dust-ups, like additional objectives (knock out Pokémon with Rock-type moves a certain number of times, catch enough  trainers off guard, etc.) and a multiplier that goes up based on how many Trainers you defeat. Focusing on those pushed my money making in particular, which was great for bolstering my collection of outfits. 

None of that would matter if battling wasn’t fun, though. Legends: Z-A has ditched turn based combat entirely and replaced it with a more active, cool down focused approach. It’s… fine. The faster pace is absolutely welcome, and I felt it adapted the relative power of familiar moves well (so a Flamethrower has less range and lower power than Fire Blast but it recharges faster, for example). 

 

 

Exploring how moves were translated to the new system was fun for this longtime fan, especially so because Z-A has streamlined how Pokémon learn and re-learn moves. You just have to hop into a single menu and can easily swap any move a Pokémon has learned while leveling up, plus any applicable TMs. It makes trying new things so much more seamless and makes more sense for the world even, because why would my Excadrill forget how to Dig? 

What wasn’t so seamless was how Pokémon move around during battles. There has to be some kind of method to this, but in my time I couldn’t crack how to easily manipulate positioning. That leads to moments where a Pokémon steps next to a tree that will perfectly block an Ice Beam, or they’ll get stuck on a waist high ledge. When a command has been issued you also can’t recall a Pokémon, which makes sense for battles in general, but would’ve been an easy fix to these situations. Chalk it up to growing pains, because otherwise it carried the game well enough for its 30 hour main story. 

Praise has to be given to the game’s handling of Mega Evolution as well. Easily the coolest of the “gimmicks” introduced to Pokémon over the years, having it come back in a big way was welcome and warranted. Wild Pokémon around Lumiose are spontaneously Mega Evolving, which is painful for them and threatening to the established balance in the city. This sets the stage for boss fights against powered up and transformed Pokémon, which make much better use of the game’s battle system. 

For example, these Rogue Mega Evolutions (as they get called in-game) will often target you, the Trainer, as opposed to your Pokémon. You have to dodge and in some cases recall your Pokémon to avoid massive attacks or tactics specific to each of these bosses. Mega Banette, for example, creates multiple copies of itself to make the battle more chaotic and throw off your targeting. The brand-new Mega Dragonite will instead fire off Hurricanes, Thunderbolts, and a massive Hyper Beam to overwhelm you while looking adorable. Each encounter feels distinct to the Pokémon you face, and even if the approach boils down to “hit them until they faint” again and again (especially if you end up overleveled and know their typings) it’s still a treat to see how each is handled and characterized. 

 

 

It’s not just wild Pokémon that’ll be popping off with Mega Evolution, either. Within the local Pokédex you have access to nearly every Mega Evolution introduced to the series (with the upcoming DLC likely addressing the few hold outs), including several new ones. My whole, final team could Mega Evolve and every recurring Trainer has access to the skill as well. Hell, I even faced a random Trainer who surprised me with a Mega Audino, making the ability much more prevalent and focal compared to its past handling in Gen VI. 

Filling out your time in Lumiose are plenty of side missions. These diversions do have some fun moments and NPC interactions, though a lot of them do boil down to more battling. I’d have preferred more unique objectives and opportunities to give more Pokémon the spotlight rather than have a Trainer tell me how much they love critical hits before starting a face off where they spam Focus Energy. 

More rewarding (literally) than these are the game-wide quests hosted by former Team Flare member/beleaguered lab director Mable. These progress passively as you do things like catch certain types of Pokémon or engage in enough battles, granting you plenty of TMs along the way. 

Those and her top prize, the coveted Shiny Charm, give the game added legs for all you completionists and Shiny hunters out there. The same goes for amassing enough cash and Mega Shards to gather up all of the game’s Mega Stones from a couple of shops, as well as post game content like legendary Pokémon.

Speaking of Legendaries, Legends Z-A gives one a real starring role for once. Zygarde finally gets a game to shine, being a recurring presence as you learn more about what’s going on across the city and with Rogue Mega Evolution outbreaks. This pairs with another XY narrative thread, that being the mysterious and long-lived AZ, to make for a surprisingly satisfying sequel to that often overlooked 3DS pair. Another returning face who’s more of a surprise also adds to that sentiment, finally giving Kalos another day in the sun.

 

 

That said, I’d be remiss not to mention how the new cast of characters did a lot of the work for drawing me into the game. Your core allies, Team MZ, manage to develop a dynamic over the course of the game that doesn’t overstay its welcome, even if some bits pop up repeatedly. The other recurring faces filling out the top half of the Z-A Royale are the ones who really made an impression. Effectively stand-ins for gym leaders this go around, the likes of Corbeau and Lebanne made this Legends game all the more memorable. 

Rolling credits on Pokémon Legends: Z-A felt like the end of possibly the most varied era in series history. The Switch hosted six mainline Pokémon games and all of them managed to do things differently. I wouldn’t call Z-A the strongest of them (I’m most partial to Sword and Shield and Legends Arceus, in case you were wondering), but its shorter length and brisker pace made playing through it one of the best experiences for the franchise in recent memory. This is a tighter, more distilled Pokémon game than I think we’ve ever had before, making for a strong finale for the Switch.

It’s also the beginning though, and the Nintendo Switch 2 really is the best place to play Z-A. Stronger performance and cleaner visuals help this one live up to Kalos’ emphasis on beauty. Whenever the time comes, I’m more optimistic for what Gen X can be compared to how I felt after Scarlet and Violet for sure. 

More importantly, the Legends series feels more fleshed out and solidified as a whole with this release. I sincerely hope these games continue, letting conventions and expectations be played with while revisiting regions fans love, or regions and Pokémon that need more love.

 

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