High Hopes for Pokémon Legends ZA
The next major Pokémon game will be a continuation of Pokémon Legends, and a surprise follow-up to Pokémon X & Y. Despite what little we know so far, there are many reasons why I have higher hopes for this one than most.
The Continuation of “Pokemon Legends” as a series
Even though Pokémon Legends: Arceus was sold as the next “core series” Pokémon RPG, it was never fully clear to me whether it represented the future of the franchise or the beginnings of some new subseries. Legends originally released in an abnormal January window during 2022 (these games usually release around the Fall/Winter Holiday season). This was shortly before the announcement of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet that February, which was then released in the Winter of that year. Setting aside larger concerns about the frequency of game releases (which I will touch on a bit later), the differences between these games was a bit confusing at the time.
Legends and SV had their own directions, with different teams within Game Freak having worked on each one. Legends featured real time Pokémon capture mechanics and boss battles, in a bygone era before Pokémon were raised by people. The world was presented as hostile, and your goal was to research wildlife while creating the world’s first Pokédex. SV is a more traditional, turn-based Pokémon game with open-world progression. It follows 3 main story paths that culminate in a finale, but you can complete tasks at your own pace while exploring. Legends saw some better reception for its innovations, but SV went on to become the fastest-selling Nintendo game…Ever. Despite numerous issues — including hilarious glitches, graphical errors, and poor performance in the over-world to name a few — some fans do genuinely prefer its underlying open-world direction to that of Legends (and vice versa).
Before this announcement I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m excited to know now that Legends will have more iterations going forward. While not a perfect game, I would love to see its real-time gameplay concept developed further.
2025 Release
Last year, Pokémon Company COO Takato Utsunomiya discussed the frequency of game releases in an interview with comic book.com.
Always having these products able to be introduced and new experiences for our customers, and that’s how we’ve operated up until now. I think we’re still operating in that way, but there’s more and more conversations, as the development environments change, about how we can continue to do this, while making sure that we’re ensuring really quality products are also being introduced
This followed growing concerns about the quality of Pokémon games for Nintendo Switch, Scarlet & Violet in particular. Games are becoming larger and more ambitious in scope, but releasing at the same rate as before with clearer signs of troubled development. This acknowledgment from on high hopefully signals a shift in how things are done.
2024 will be the first gap year for Pokémon since about 2015, which saw no major games or expansions. Incidentally, this was in the middle of the Nintendo 3DS era when the original XY games were still new.
Revisiting Kalos, 10 Years Later
Where the first Pokémon Legends was in the Hokkaido-inspired Sinnoh Region, ZA is taking place in the France-inspired Kalos Region. A surprise to some (and a pleasant surprise to me), who had maybe been expecting a game based on Black/White instead. XY just had its 10th anniversary back in October, and I think this a nice opportunity to revisit the setting.
ZA is taking place in the capital of Lumiose City to tell the story of its redevelopment. Much like its real-life counterpart, Kalos has been involved in historic wars that called for it to rebuild in the aftermath. That history always sounded compelling but under-explored. “ZA” in the title suggests that we might be learning more about that era and about the old king AZ whose family was central to it all.
I felt that the original Pokémon Legends: Arceus was somewhat lacking in its world design, mostly defined by uninhabited natural landscapes. The original Lumiose City however was one of my favorite areas in Pokémon because of how much there was to see and do. Details like the art galleries, luxury hotels and fashion boutiques are things I’d love to see come back. The credits post also featured a major storyline where you do detective work in the back alleys of the city, and discover young people struggling with poverty. It could be the foundation for more side quests dealing with city life. With this new game revolving around the city and its history, one would hope that they can justify the world with plenty of similar detail and more.
The Mega Evolution System
The last thing teased in the initial announcement trailer was the return of the Mega Evolution system. It was one of the main features of XY’s setting and has since become a favorite. Battle mechanics in Pokemon games (like Passive Abilities or Triple Battles) usually weren’t that important to the setting, but Mega Evolution was treated like a piece of world history.
You spend the first hours of the game making your way out to the town where this phenomenon was first discovered. The people of Kalos built a monumental tower to the sky to commemorate that discovery, and to pass down their knowledge to a chosen few. After proving yourself worthy at the 3rd Gym, you can use the mechanic yourself and find Mega Evolution Stones hidden throughout Kalos’ map.
On the Mega Stone chart, each Stone corresponds to a specific Pokémon and would alter their identity with updated stats, abilities, and character redesigns. Yet unlike a normal evolution, the changes weren’t permanent and could only be triggered once per battle, one at a time. Use one and you give up the option to use another.
Mega forms were a highlight of the original game for me 10 years ago. Seeing old faces reimagined several years later was fun, and I like how the Mega Stones were integrated with the game’s history and geography. Since other mechanics like Z Moves or Dynamax were dropped after a short time, I’m happy to see them bring this one back in the Legends series to build on it.
At the time of writing, we have no hard date for ZA, but fingers crossed the devs have the time necessary to execute their vision.
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