After the Pokémon Presents earlier this year, we got our first real look at Pokémon Legends Z-A, including gameplay, new characters, and the game’s selection of starters. Today’s Nintendo Direct gave us just a bit more information, specifically explaining what the deal was with the mysterious teaser at the end of the previous trailers.
Pokémon Legends Z-A is the second of a new style of mainline Pokémon games, with a free third-person camera, an open world, and revamped combat. While Legends Arceus took place in an ancient Sinnoh region, Legends Z-A is a return to the Kalos region from Pokémon X&Y, allowing players to see what happened after that game’s campaign. Given that those titles are the only mainline Pokémon games without sequels or DLC, it’s been a highly anticipated return.
The game takes place entirely within Lumiose City, a huge Paris-like metropolis with multiple districts. Wild Pokémon will now appear in Wild Zones, closed-off areas within the city where the creatures are able to live peaceful lives undisturbed. While this feature appeared in the Pokémon Presents trailer, we only saw what the areas were like during the day. Today’s Nintendo Direct revealed they’re a bit different once the sun goes down.
At night, Battle Zones appear. While Wild Zones have an inviting green entrance, the Battle Zones are an aggressive red-orange and are full of trainers looking for challengers. Collectively, these encounters are known as the Z-A Royale, a competition where a trainer makes their way from Rank Z to Rank A. Rules here are similar to other games – eye contact with a trainer forces you into a battle – but the new action-based battle system allows for alternate approaches too, like the ability to ambush a trainer with an attack before they see you.
Reach Rank A, and you’ll “have a wish granted,” though it’s not entirely clear who grants the wish and how far their powers go. Examples in the trailer include a taxi driver hoping to abolish all public transit except taxis and a woman hoping the city will host a marathon, so don’t go into it expecting to solve world hunger or anything.
The inclusion of Battle Zones raises many questions. When you lose, do you drop ranks? How often can we battle in the daylight, outside of Battle Zones? Who’s hosting the Z-A Royale to begin with? We’ll have answers once Pokémon Legends Z-A drops on Switch in late 2025.
