Pokmon Legends: Z-A is the Pokmon game I always wanted, and with some fine tuning it could be perfect

Date:
Tue, 14 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Description:
Pokmon Legends: Z-A proves that sometimes you can improve on perfection, though it needs a little fine tuning.

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Pokmon Legends: Z-A feels like a mega evolution for the franchise.

It draws on elements from the core series of games, the battle mechanics ripped from the anime, the exploration and freedom pioneered by Legends: Arceus , and a story focus that I feel we havent seen since the Gamecubes XD: Gale of Darkness which, alongside its predecessor Colosseum, are my two favorite Pokmon titles. REVIEW INFO Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
Release date: October 16, 2025

The final concoction produces a game that lands perfectly between familiar
and fresh. Its so delightfully moreish, I have struggled to rip myself away
to write this review or really do anything else other than play it since being sent my copy to try ahead of the games launch.

While there are a few areas where Legends: Z-A narrowly missed the mark namely, difficulty scaling, theres some battle bugginess, and Lumiose City isnt quite varied enough to carry a whole game on its back Legends: Z-A is easily the best Pokmon game Ive played in years. Id go as far as to say that this title might be the best since Mega Evolution was last seen in a mainline game.

My hope is that we see the series lean more deeply into what makes Z-A excellent, as with only a few minor tweaks, its formula could be perfect rather than near-perfect. The best city there ever was

Visiting Lumiose City the largest in the Kalos region for a vacation, the player character is drafted in to help save it from a phenomenon known as Rogue Mega Evolution, which sees wild pokmon randomly mega evolve and cause havoc without a trainer (which shouldnt be possible).

Theres also brewing tension between the people of Lumiose and Quasartico
Inc., a technology firm renovating the city and introducing new Wild Zones spaces in the streets which have been converted into safe havens for wild pokmon (allowing you to find and catch a pokdex worthy array of critters without ever leaving the city). (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

While I love the Wild Zones, and generally exploring rooftops, looking in trees, and delving into all sorts of hidden spaces to find new additions to
my pokdex, the folks of Lumiose are not too pleased with their streets and parks being taken over by dangerous wild mons.

When Legends: Z-A was announced, like many, I was skeptical that a single
city could support a whole adventure, but it almost does.

Theres a lot more of Lumiose to explore since the last time we visited I
mean a lot, lot more and its densely packed streets are filled with shops, side quests, parkour challenges, and the aforementioned wild pokmon, making
it feel like a much more bustling space than any Pokmon game city has ever felt before.

Though the city can start to feel a little samey once youre many hours into your journey.

The wild zones do mix things up, but they arent quite large enough to feel like truly distinct biomes Id love it if varied habitats much more drastically changed the landscape, or added a good range of exploration challenges to the space they overtake. This way, the map could feel like it evolves drastically as time goes on and would help sell the idea that Lumiose is being over taken by wild pokmon.

There are some changes, but in my playthrough so far, Lumiose has yet to feel unfamiliar.

Another minor gripe here: I wish the pokdex did a better job of highlighting specifically where non-Wild-Zone pokmon can be found as there are a few mons I know Ive battled on a random rooftop somewhere, but now cant locate again for the life of me. (Image credit: Nintendo) Battle time

Another departure for the game is its approach to battling a core component of the franchise which has remained practically unchanged since its introduction all the way back in Red and Blue .

Much like Legends: Arceus, you are as much a part of the fight as your partners take too many hits and youll be knocked out. However, the big
change is rather than the usual turn-based affair, fights are now real-time.

You can select moves as quickly as they cool down each attack has its own timer and this allows for more aggressive as well as more reactive defensive tactics. You can spam damaging moves in quick succession with a faster mon,
or you could hold up a Protect to defend against a finishing blow as your foe goes to launch it rather than wasting it on a weaker or set-up move where it wouldnt be as useful. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

Theres also some level of positioning. Based on where the player moves, your pokmon will follow perhaps moving out of the way of attacks, which are now not only categorised as either physical or special, but also in how they materialise in different ways, such as ranged attacks, melee range attacks, charge attacks, and area of effect attacks.

With the debut of Pokmon Champions, the competitive scene will still focus on classic turn-based fights, but with Legends: Z-A s online connectivity and a couple of battling competitions already planned, I am excited to see what new metas can be derived from this more anime-like approach to battle.

I do hope we see it return; however, I do think the battling needs two
tweaks. For a start, I wish the type of attack (melee, ranged, etc) a move is was shown in the attack description to help remind me when Im outfitting my Pokmon with its move pool my current approach is somewhat trial and error.

I also found that because battles can happen anywhere, sometimes the environment causes some positioning bugs, including a Pokmon lining up for a ranged attack when a foe is much too far away, or Pokmon getting stuck on geometry, causing them to fight a wall rather than move to actually seek out their intended target.

Here Ill throw in a mention of the Z-A Royale, this titles alternative to the classic Gym Challenge. Instead of seeking out eight Gym Leaders for a badge, players must instead fight opponents in Battle Zones set up each night in Lumiose to earn a challenger ticket, to then take on a promotion match in order to progress to a new rank starting at Z, and ending at A. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

Progressing through the 26 ranks is far less tedious than I thought it might be, and the Battle Zones keep me coming back every night.

Thats because to build up points (and cash to afford the games wide array of mega stones), you must not only win fights but also complete optional challenges, which ask you to use specific moves or tactics in battle.

This shift away from Gym Leaders also helps to keep your opponents generally feeling more varied, as even if they openly have affinity towards a specific type, their teams generally arent one-note meaning you cant simply sweep
with one super effective partner. Call this a challenge?

Pokmon titles arent known for their difficulty, but its quite easy to outpace Legends Z-A if, like me, youre the sort of trainer whos desperate to complete their pokedex and complete every side mission as it appears.

Even just by pushing yourself that bit further in a Battle Zone (especially with a high-tier Red Canari plush that boosts your EXP) can mean you quickly become 5-10 levels higher than your competition unless you decide to regularly swap some mons out as you discover new companions for your team.

Being so over-levelled can make standard trainer battles feel somewhat trivial, and I wish there was some kind of difficulty scaling option so that my foes kept pace with me better. Perhaps with larger or higher-level teams. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

At the same time, there are some challenges.

The Rogue Mega Evolution battles feel like proper boss fights, and the structure of wild zone brawls is a free-for-all that is, if you disrupt five wild pokmon, then youll be faced with a five-on-one battle. In these boss and multi-mon brawls, it becomes apparent that as hardy as your team is, you, as
a squishy human, arent as resilient.

Ive not blacked out from my Pokmon being knocked out (so far), but Ive definitely been bested by my player character being hit too many times while
I still had a full team to protect me.

I get its a game aimed mostly at younger players so the difficulty cant spike too high, but as the franchise persists as a game with a fanbase made up of kids and adults alike, and as the series pursues a more open-world design which can easily lead to over exploration and overlevelling, Im firmly of the belief that difficulty options are more essential than ever. (Image credit: Nintendo) Lets get mega

Ive yet to finish Pokmon Legends Z-A at the time of writing, Im about 25 hours into my adventure, and counting but Ive yet to discover any new
entries to the pokdex. BEST BIT (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company) Theres a lot of excellent moments the mega evolution cinematic, when it plays, is always hype but I actually just love the music so much in this game. It really sells the changing vibes of Lumiose, and every track is an audio delight.

Perhaps understandable given this title is set in modern-day Kalos only five years after we last visited the region rather than being somewhere
completely new to us, or set in a region we know but in the distant past,
like with Hisui in the last Legends game.

Instead, were treated to a grand selection of brand-new mega evolutions.
Some, like Hawlucha and Victreebel, have been spoiled by trailers, but just know there are plenty more on top of all the megas we already know and love.

I wont be spoiling how many new megas weve got or which pokmon are lucky enough to receive a new final form but the picks cover a surprisingly broad range of fan favorites and more niche picks, and every new mega I saw felt like an excellent addition to the lineup. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

There's also one other change to this mechanic. Rather than being able to
mega evolve once per battle, and needing to recharge your bracelet at a
Pokmon Center, you instead charge up your mega meter over time and can then mega evolve any of your pokmon, provided they have their corresponding mega stone in hand.

I love this change because it allows you to push on with your quests without constantly needing to heal, as well as allowing you to mix up your plans on the fly even using two megas in one fight if needed.

That said, I did find this meant my teams generally gravitated towards almost exclusively mega stone-wielding mons. A problem only exacerbated by Rogue
Mega Evolution battles, which are near impossible to defeat without megas
and its not all that convenient to train up new mega pokmon as and when you need them, further cementing your team into one that generally ignores any item that isnt a mega stone so that you're ready for any challenge. No spoilers

Much like the new mega pokmon, Im not about to spoil the games plot here,
just know that I think its really fun.

Legends Z-A isnt likely to win any awards for narrative design, but it succeeds in every metric for what I want from a Pokmon adventure. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company)

That is it puts you at the center of the narrative in a way that makes sense; the missions offer a good range of low, medium and high stakes action that keep you on your toes and the adventure feeling varied; and the game doesnt waste your time at the start you can get right into the action with thankfully minimal exposition front loaded unlike some recent Pokmon entries (* cough* Pokmon Scarlett / Violet * cough*).

I thought Legends: Arceus was what I always wanted from a Pokmon game, but I was wrong. What I wanted was Pokmon: Legends Z-A .

It finds a way to simultaneously mix things up while gripping perfectly to a few core Pokmon pillars such that the end result can feel very different yet very recognisable all at once.

Yes, there are a few bits of fine-tuning to be done on this new formula, but its one that I desperately hope we see more of in the future.

If youre a Pokmon fanatic like me, who are we kidding, I know youve already preordered the game before reading any reviews. Everyone else with a Nintendo Switch 2 , however, should definitely consider picking this title up even if youre a lapsed fan or never touched a Pokmon game before.

Pokmon Legends: Z-A feels like it could be the dawn of a new era for the series, one where the franchise understands what it wants to and should be
an understanding I sometimes wonder might have been lost since Pokmon games left 2D graphics behind with Pokmon Black 2 and White 2 .

I desperately want to see more of what Pokmon Legends: Z-A delivered and
that one announced DLC wont be enough, Im certain of it. For now, Im going to continue to savor this treat while I can, and I look forward to what the next Legends game and the Generation X games will bring when theyre ready. (Image credit: Future / The Pokmon Company) Should you play Pokmon Legends: Z-A?

You want a fresh take on a Pokmon adventure
Pokmon Legends: Z-A feels like a one-of-a-kind pokmon adventure right now,
in all the right ways.

You like limited open-world adventures
This games manageable version of an open world is ideal for players who love to explore, but dont want to try and find every nook and cranny in a map that is far too big for its own good.

You have a Nintendo Switch 2
Ive tried a lot of what the Nintendo Switch 2 has had to offer so far, and this is easily one of the best games out there for the fledgling system. Dont play it if

You crave a difficult game
Pokmon Legends: Z-A is great, but it isnt all that difficult, so those looking for a challenge may need to look elsewhere.

Youre a Pokmon purist
While I love the ways Pokmon Legends: Z-A mixes up the formula, if you just want a classic Pokmon game, this isnt what youre after. Accessibility
features

Beyond the Switch and Switch 2's built-in accessibility features like text-to-speech, the ability to remap buttons, and to change text size, among
a few others, Pokmon Legends: Z-A has no additional accessibility features. How I tested Pokmon Legends: Z-A

I played Pokmon Legends: Z-A on my Nintendo Switch 2 for 25 hours which has allowed me to experience a lot of what the game has to offer, including many side quests and a lot of story, though I have yet to roll credits at the time of writing this piece.

I played it in handheld and docked mode using standard Switch 2 hardware though I do use an 8Bitdo Ultimate 2 controller when Im playing a Switch 2 game on my TV spreading my time fairly evenly between each method. The game ran fine throughout all my tests in both modes.

As this is an early preview, none of the online functionality works, but this was the only key feature I wasn't able to try.

First reviewed October 2025



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/gaming/nintendo-switch/pokemon-legends-z-a-review


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