Earlier this year, we gave you our information and predictions about the upcoming video game, Pokemon Legends Z-A. Well, we were wrong about some stuff.
First the starters– a little advice, kids! Never get your advice from a pack of cards. We said the starting Pokemon would be Turtwig, Litten and Totodile. It was really Chikorita Tepig and Totodile (1 out of 3!).
The game has something that many people saw coming: real time battles! You can run around, use moves, and dodge incoming moves, so it’s good for people who have fast reflexes. It also means that– picture this (because it really happened to me)– you are against Steven Stone, champion of Hoenn, you have one Pokemon left (Sceptile), one more hit will let you win, but then, right when you press x scissor, you get hit by giga impact and Sceptile faints. Luckily I had a Pokemon that knew destiny bond (a reviving move) and more speed than Metagross, and I managed to win. If they did have real time battling then Sceptile, I could have dodged more easily. Before, the outcome was based on a randomizer, but now you have more control over your fate.
Mega Evolution is also coming back, and that means fans are scrambling to figure out if there will be new Mega Evolutions and who will get them. A Mega Evolution is a temporary transformation that makes certain Pokemon into a special battle form. There is a lot of speculation that the Mega Evolutions will affect Chandelure, Azumarill, Starmie, and Dragonite, but people have also been hoping for Flygon Megas. This is a big deal because the last game with Mega Evolution came out almost 10 years ago in 2017. At the time, Mega Evolution was just an afterthought only available for a few Pokemon. But now, it’s front and center!
It was amazing that people could choose who they battle in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, right? What a great feature! That does not exist anymore. But luckily they only have one Pokemon like Pansage or Florges, and it was nice that you could Mega Evolve at the start of a battle and blow away your competition immediately right? That does not exist. Five moves are needed to Mega Evolve (maybe they need to hit, maybe they don’t, who knows?). There will possibly be new mega evolutions but nobody knows for sure what they will be. But there are some theories!
You can catch Pokemon in wild zones during the day, but at night (bum bum buuummm!), that’s when the trainers come out. If you beat enough trainers your rank goes up! (Yay you!) But… what happens to the wild Pokemon at night? It also means that you don’t have as many environment changes as PLA (Pokemon Legends: Arceus). It has all these variables, like at night in a valley and it’s snowing and there are no trees. It gets complicated!
And what’s a Pokemon Legends game with lore? AZ is back and he is running the hotel. If AZ is unknown to the readers, then here is a quick intro! So 3000 years ago there was a war between Pokemon, and AZ’s Floette was sent to fight in the war. His Floette died, so AZ managed to make a doomsday device that killed a ton of Pokemon just to bring back Floette. When Floette saw the destruction that her resurrection had caused, she left AZ. But then, 3000 years later (present time), Floette has come back to AZ in one of the most emotional final scenes of any Pokemon game (in second place it’s the lily scene at the end of Pokemon: Sun and Moon).
In the new game we also have a CEO of a major company, and people are saying it would be a plot twist if she wasn’t evil! Her name is Jett, and she is seen with her secretary (/husband? We don’t know much about them), Vinnie. Jett and Vinnie are in charge of an “urban redevelopment plan.” Now going down the list of characters we also have your rival, either named Urbain or Taunie depending on which character you choose. If this is confusing, here’s a little hint! If you choose the male character you get Taunie, and if you choose the female character you get Urbain. Pretty simple.
That’s pretty much it! Pokemon Legends Z-A is coming out October 16 2025. Keep an eye out for any official news, and peace out!