Pokémon Legends: Z-A

[Mr EliteL]

Developer: Game Freak
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Action Role-Playing
Release Date: 2025
Official Website: N/A

A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon. Find out more when Pokémon Legends: Z-A comes to Nintendo Switch in 2025!

[Moonface]

Only curious about the Pokémon Legends: Z-A so just checked out the trailer for that. Definitely takes place in the same region as X/Y does, and the Z is clearly for Zygarde. I don't know off the top of my head what the A is standing for though.

Edit: I closed the video when the logo appeared stupidly thinking there was nothing after it and completely missed the reveal that Mega evolutions are coming back. I wonder if we'll get any new ones or if it'll just be the same lineup XY had.

Also shoutout to Gen 5 just being ignored for any remake or new entry in favour of skipping right from Gen 4 to Gen 6.

[Dragon Lord]

I think Gen 5 remakes will still be on the way eventually. Maybe not this year or next year, but I'd say I'd be surprised if we didn't hear about Gen 5 Remakes by 2026.

I'm definitely down for another Legends game though. Granted I still have to go back and actually finish Legends Arceus, but they definitely laid down the foundation for something great and I hope to see them build on that instead of taking a big step back like they have been with the main Pokemon games for a while now.

I hope that if this game does well, they'll be more motivated to continue the Legends series further and some day we might see a Legends game taking place in Jhoto.

[Moonface]

So I thought Pokémon Legends Z-A was two separate versions of PLZ and PLA, but turns out I just misinterpreted the wording at the end of the trailer.

Having thought on the trailer longer, I think we might go forward in time for this game instead of backwards like Arceus did. The official Nintendo account posted on social media that the game takes place entirely within Lumiose City, and there's no way the version from XY is enough to support a whole game; furthermore, the trailer having a tech/digital aesthetic screams of futuristic. I'd say we go into the future and assist with expanding Lumiose City.
The game taking place only in a city should also mean performance for the game is better, because draw distances and rendered objects can be limited by buildings blocking sight views. It'd be cool if the game could implement a feature similar to Splatoon where the city is inhabited by the avatars of other players who can display messages, because the city hub areas in the Splatoon games are awesome and I love that aspect of them.

[queenzelda]

Only curious about the Pokémon Legends: Z-A so just checked out the trailer for that. Definitely takes place in the same region as X/Y does, and the Z is clearly for Zygarde. I don't know off the top of my head what the A is standing for though.  

I'm thinking A is meaning AZ the King who created the ultimate weapon after all. Maybe we'll get more context as to why.

[Moonface]

Only curious about the Pokémon Legends: Z-A so just checked out the trailer for that. Definitely takes place in the same region as X/Y does, and the Z is clearly for Zygarde. I don't know off the top of my head what the A is standing for though.  

I'm thinking A is meaning AZ the King who created the ultimate weapon after all. Maybe we'll get more context as to why.

That's not from XY is it? If it is I don't recall it.

Also, I stupidly thought there were two versions of this new game; Pokémon Legends Z and Pokémon Legends A. Granted, it wouldn't have changed my question had I realized at the time.

Anyone reckon PLZ-A will be a cross-gen title that comes out for Switch and as a launch title for the Switch 2? If I'm not mistaken it's the only Nintendo game with a 2025 release date, and they have a track record of putting the swan song game of their current console as the launch title of their next one.

[ShiraNoMai]

I definitely think this could be a cross-gen launch, but also, Pokemon has been known to skip initial console launches in favor of working on something that will "better showcase the new hardware". Black and White 2 (released on DS when 3DS came out) are good examples of that, and perhaps FireRed/LeafGreen (I know those were 2004 releases but I can't recall if they launched right after the other).

[Moonface]

I definitely think this could be a cross-gen launch, but also, Pokemon has been known to skip initial console launches in favor of working on something that will "better showcase the new hardware". Black and White 2 (released on DS when 3DS came out) are good examples of that, and perhaps FireRed/LeafGreen (I know those were 2004 releases but I can't recall if they launched right after the other).

B2/W2 was probably able to get away with staying on the DS because that was when the series was still sprite based and I assume didn't have performance issues that became present in X/Y and every game that followed it. Since I doubt Game Freak will manage to release Z-A without it having any performance issues (partly due to the limitations of the Switch) it would be a good move for it to at least benefit from better performance if you play it on the Switch successor (as would some other Switch games from Nintendo would such as BotW/TotK).


Since it hasn't been brought up yet and is something we can all hope and speculate on until we hear anything else about the game, what starters do folks hope to see for Legends Z-A? For reference, Arceus used Cyndaquil (Gen 2), Oshawott (Gen 5), and Rowlet (Gen 7), even though the game is a prequel to Diamond/Pearl which is Gen 4.
Assuming Z-A will only pick Pokémon that have been starters in other games already (but not any of those used in Arceus), that leaves this as the pool of candidates:

1. Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle
   
2. Chikorita, Totodile
   
3. Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip
   
4. Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup
   
5. Snivy, Tepig
   
6. Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie
   
7. Litten, Popplio
   
8. Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble
   
9. Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly
   

I doubt anything from Gen 9 gets used because they're too recent, and if Z-A follows the trend Arceus did then nothing from Gen 6 would be a starter. Gen 8 seems slim to me so I'm not expecting any of those starters to be one, and I wouldn't want anything from Gen 1 being a starter because I'd rather the other starters get another time to shine. I'd love Totodile to be a starter but that's only because he's my boy, but Gen 2 already got used for Arceus so I doubt it'll get used again and the same goes for Gen 7 and Gen 5. Taking all that into account, it would leave Generations 1, 3, 4, and 8 as potential pools if Game Freak intend to only use new pools except for Gen 9 (being too recent) and Gen 6 (being the same gen as XY).
If Game Freak take anything from Gen 1 it better not be Charmander. I hate how much they fall back on that thing just because of Charizard.

[Dragon Lord]

Give me Charmander or Mudkip and I would be happy. Don't really care for or am indifferent to the rest of the starter pool. In the event that neither of the two I'd want to see are added, I'll probably just do my usual ditching my starter once I get a full team I'm happy with.

[queenzelda]

Yes, AZ is from Pokemon X/Y. 

Quote from doing a google search and if you play the game, you find out about him playing it.

"AZ is a mysterious character who appears in Pokémon X and Y. He was once the king of the Kalos region and is the creator of the ultimate weapon. In modern Kalos, he appears as a disheveled homeless man. His incredible height, standing at over 9 feet (3+ meters), is a result of his exposure to the ultimate weapon. AZ’s tragic backstory involves a war, the loss of his beloved Pokémon, and his quest for redemption. His tale is shrouded in mystery and sorrow." source

So of course the game will probably focus on his creating the ultimate weapon at some point is my assumption.

[Moonface]

Yes, AZ is from Pokemon X/Y. 

Quote from doing a google search and if you play the game, you find out about him playing it.

"AZ is a mysterious character who appears in Pokémon X and Y. He was once the king of the Kalos region and is the creator of the ultimate weapon. In modern Kalos, he appears as a disheveled homeless man. His incredible height, standing at over 9 feet (3+ meters), is a result of his exposure to the ultimate weapon. AZ’s tragic backstory involves a war, the loss of his beloved Pokémon, and his quest for redemption. His tale is shrouded in mystery and sorrow." source

So of course the game will probably focus on his creating the ultimate weapon at some point is my assumption.

Oh, it's that guy you find in the snowy area of the game quite a way into the story. I forgot about him entirely even though I met him and played through XY enough to face Yveltal, although even if I remembered the character I never would have recalled what his name was to realize that was who you were talking about.
As for whether it focuses on him creating the ultimate weapon, that probably depends on whether Z-A is set before or after XY. I think it's going to be way in the future though going by the visuals of the announcement trailer. Plus, it seems besides how he built it, we know everything else about the Ultimate Weapon and the events that surround it so it wouldn't really leave much to explore. I also don't think it would play a role anyway since Z-A is taking place solely in Lumiose City with a focus on an urban redevelopment project, and that's another reason I think the game is absolutely set in the future because Lumiose isn't big enough in XY to be the setting for an entire game.


For starter choices, I'd want Totodile the most because I just love the stupid little shit and I would never want to evolve him.  Don't know who I'd want for fire/grass though, and I still can't come up with a prediction for what three Game Freak would pick beyond my earlier post speculating what gens they wouldn't pick anything from.

[Moonface]

Figured I'd split this out the main Pokémon thread since enough posts were made about this game specifically to warrant it.

So, although there has been a lack of news about the game since the initial reveal, a user on Pokémon fan site PokéBeach made an interesting speculative post about when Legends: Z-A might release.

They point out that usually TPC releases a new card set roughly two weeks within the release of a new game, with the new trading card set being themed around the new game release. However, the next set of trading cards are to be released in early 2025 and do not have any relation to the Kalos region whatsoever, leaving them wondering if Legends Z-A will be releasing in Q2 or Q3 of 2025 rather than Q1.

Obviously it's all speculation, but they do at least make a solid point with evidence to back up their thoughts. Game Freak also recently announced a recruitment campaign that will take place on August 30th, with the aim to hire new staff across a broad number of positions, so perhaps they're planning to put more time and people into Z-A? If not for Z-A maybe they'll do another smaller Pokémon game like Let's Go Eevee/Pikachu for early 2025 to let Z-A be held back for later in that year?

I still think Z-A will be a launch title for the Switch successor and I doubt that will release before April 2025, which would make Z-A launch in Q2 by default. At the same time though Pokémon has never cared about giving more time to any of its games because the merch release dates take priority and the games always have to cater to that, so it's hard for me to fully buy that Z-A would actually get the time/resources it needs to address the issues most Pokémon games have had since moving onto the Switch.

What do you folks think/hope for based on all of this?