Pokémon can’t stop being an odd duckling, or perhaps an odd Psyduck. When fans demanded something truly fresh from the catch-monsters-and-battle formula, Nintendo and developer Game Freak crafted a game that’s surprisingly familiar despite changing everything about how you play minute to minute.
I spent a little more than an hour with Pokémon Legends Z-A on the Nintendo Switch 2 a few weeks ago. Based on my demo, it could be the twist that the series’ diehard fans will use to justify purchasing Nintendo’s sequel handheld—even if that means gamers who demand more depth will still be left waiting.
See Pokémon Legends Z-A at Amazon
See Nintendo Switch 2 at Amazon
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is the first game in the series to honestly try real-time battles, and no, I don’t count Pokkén Tournament from 2015. The actual gameplay bears more DNA with MOBAs like League of Legends than anything you saw in Palworld—the game that probably took too much inspiration from Nintendo’s “gotta catch ‘em all” moneymaker. When in an environment with wild Pokémon, you can cycle through up to six of your pocket monsters with the D-pad. You hold ZL to lock onto opponents and use the face buttons to issue attack orders to your brave little Poké troopers. Some types of moves, like the stock standard “Quick Attack,” will have a very short timer, while your average “Bubble Beam” will take longer to refresh.
You have less control of your Pokémon than you think
Your pocket monsters won’t complete any moves without your say-so, but you don’t control where they position themselves. If your Pokémon is executing a ranged attack, it will hang out at around two o’clock to where the player character is currently facing. If you want them to go in for a quick “Bite” move, your Pokémon will waddle in close to your opponent. Some moves do an AOE—or area of effect—for damaging multiple creatures at once, but you don’t get to aim it for maximum effect. If I were to compare it to any game, it may be Dragon Age 2, of all games. The main difference is the number of attacks at your disposal and the lack of any combat pause function.
Pokémon in the game’s “wild zones” can also damage the player character. Though you don’t have a health bar, every hit will surround the screen with the typical red jelly until you eventually fall unconscious and end up back in a Pokécenter. Players can sprint and even dodge roll to avoid enemy attacks. Finally, the player may have to feel a little of the fear your poor Pokémon must experience every time they leave the safety of a Poké Ball.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A includes a full day and night cycle as well. In the evenings, trainers come out to the “battle zones” to fight each other and climb the rankings of top trainers in Lumiose City (as explained by the title, the ranks go from “Z” to “A”). There’s even a loose stealth feature where you can do extra damage to Pokémon who just happen to be staring at the wrong wall at the wrong time. Seems a little unsportsmanlike to me, though the optional goals I picked up—which you use to get even more XP—often involve stealth to some degree. Depending on the arena, battles can get very hectic. Your average trainer-versus-trainer matchup is more than manageable, but when facing a higher-level trainer or one of the new Rogue Mega Evolved creatures, you may end up juggling your character’s and your Pokémon’s attacks while trying not to get hit yourself.
Mega Evolutions were a part of Pokémon X and Y, and their return in Legends: Z-A gels with the real-time combat. In my demo, I faced the demented Mega Evolved Victreebel and had to race around collecting Mega energy orbs to power my own creature’s Mega Evolutions. This grants your creatures more attack power. It’s in this arena where the combat truly clicked. It’s also where I started wondering if the game wouldn’t have been made better with a real-time pause mechanic so players can control their Pokémon’s positioning or AOE attacks.
The typical Pokémon aesthetic
I avoided the most recent Pokémon games, mostly due to their aesthetic. Old-school 2D Pokémon games had a visual charm with their simple pastel pixel artwork. Once Pokémon entered 3D, I could never experience the same sense of whimsy. Everything feels too flat and devoid of detail. In Pokémon Sword and Shield and the more recent Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, open paths spotted with odd shrubbery suddenly sprout massive buildings. Compare these open worlds to the sense of organic living environments in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Lumiose City, first introduced in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, feels more like one of those infamous ghost cities in China, like it was built as a facsimile of a living space.
At least, I didn’t see any sort of performance issues, no matter if I was in the game’s wild zones or battling a massive bag-shaped Victreebel. It’s a good sign that players can avoid the frame rate of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet on the original Switch. The environment is modeled after Paris, France, so of course, many of your fellow Pokémon trainers are cafe managers, chefs, dilettantes, or trendy city slickers wearing trilby hats that look good on faux-Parisians. But would folk who grew up in the U.S. shrink away in horror, fearing the return of the “M’lady” memes? Legends Z-A may be the most customizable Pokémon game ever devised. Players can dress up in a swath of different dresses, pants, coats, and other accessories.
The game is set to hit store shelves on Oct. 16 for $70. That’s the same price whether you play the original Switch or Switch 2 version. I have no idea how well it would run on Nintendo’s 8-year-old handheld. There’s a reason to be hesitant, considering the massive performance issues on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Nintendo is also selling a $500 Switch 2 bundle with the game—saving new players $20 from buying the game and console separately—though with no new special edition colors to make the system extra enticing.
There’s a lot here that could finally breathe some life into Pokémon’s long-suffering formula. There’s the same driving impetus to snatch up the nearest Houndoom (I’ll be honest, I was not expecting a chihuahua-sized Houndoom as the Pokédex says they’re supposedly 4-feet tall), but there’s far less waiting involved. In other ways, Legends Z-A may be playing it too safe. If I wanted a truly tactical Pokémon, I would want the ability to have multiple creatures out at once, the power to manually position my creatures, and a pause button to make it more manageable. Sure, like 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Z-A is still an offshoot of the main series. It’s clear from both the gameplay and marketing that Nintendo is treating this game with the kind of fanfare of a year-one Switch 2 title. This may be the new norm for the Pokémon series going forward.
See Pokémon Legends Z-A at Amazon
See Nintendo Switch 2 at Amazon