Pokemon Legends: Z-A feels like a franchise reinvention
During a recent preview event, I played over an hour of *Pokemon Legends: Z-A* on the Nintendo Switch 2. I got to explore Lumiose City, customize my character, battle trainers, and even went toe-to-toe with a Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon. As someone who has played every entry in this series, *Pokemon Legends: Z-A* forced me to think about and interact with Pokemon in an exciting new way.
The first thing I did in *Legends: Z-A* was explore a Wild Zone. These designated areas of Lumiose City are marked by green outlines on the city map and are where wild Pokemon roam free. Similar to the system established in *Pokemon Legends: Arceus*, you can walk right up to a wild Pokemon and toss a Pokeball at it without having to initiate a battle or watch a cutscene. That said, some Pokemon can turn hostile if you attempt to capture them and fail. Tossing a Pokeball from behind will increase your chances, and depleting a wild Pokemon’s HP will temporarily stun them, making them easier to catch.
I quickly got into the habit of capturing as many wild Pokemon as I could, sometimes not even stopping as I tossed Pokeballs while running down the streets and alleyways of Lumiose City. Each Wild Zone is home to specific species of Pokemon, and when viewing one on the map, you can see silhouettes of Pokemon in that Wild Zone that you haven’t captured yet. Catching all of a Wild Zone’s Pokemon will mark it as 100 percent complete.
Before moving on to the next area, I stopped to customize my character. I was immediately blown away by the sheer volume of choices. You can customize your shirt, pants, socks, shoes, hat, and now, earrings. It’s a stark contrast from the minimal options in *Pokemon Scarlet* and *Violet*. Some clothing items even have alternate colorways you can choose from if you want to match a set. Various clothing shops around Lumiose City feature their own unique inventories for players to browse and purchase from.
Alpha Pokemon, a hallmark of the first *Legends* game, are back in *Z-A*. These large, red-eyed creatures are as intimidating as ever and can sometimes appear when you least expect it. I climbed to the rooftop of a building, only to find a level forty-something Alpha Pikachu waiting for me. I promptly turned and went back down the ladder. However, I did battle and defeat an Alpha Houndoom and Alpha Binacle while exploring. The Houndoom was on a street near a pack of Houndours, leading to a chaotic 3-on-1 battle. Luckily, a well-executed Waterfall from my Gyarados was able to KO multiple Pokemon at once.
This brings me to the single most exciting part of my *Pokemon Legends: Z-A* preview: the battles. In our own Ozzie Mejia’s first preview of the game, we wrote about how the majority of battles take place at night during the Z-A Royale. Getting to battle other trainers really illustrated how impactful the change to real-time battles truly is. It feels like a reinvention of the series.
With battles no longer running on a turn-based system, moves now use a cooldown instead of PP. More powerful moves have longer cooldowns, and players can freely swap the four equipped moves for a Pokemon from the menu. Several moves have also been reworked to fit this new system. For example, Toxic Spikes now creates a physical barrier of spikes that sit on the battlefield. If an opposing Pokemon walks through them, they’ll become poisoned.
Pokemon move around the battlefield to follow their trainer. Therefore, if you can properly anticipate an attack, you can quickly move out of the way to dodge it. Defensive moves like Protect can be timed to nullify incoming hostile attacks. It’s the first time the series has properly replicated the feeling of watching Ash Ketchum improvise and bark commands at Pikachu in the Pokemon anime.
*Pokemon Legends: Z-A* runs on a day-night cycle, and when night falls, players are treated to a cutscene reminiscent of the Blood Moon sequences from *Breath of the Wild*, where other trainers take to the streets of Lumiose City. I used my newfound battling skills to take on a series of trainers, trying to get surprise attacks before they could see me.
There are several challenge sheets players can grab that provide objectives to complete for bonus points at the end of a battle. For example, one challenge may require defeating an enemy with an Electric-type attack. The streets and rooftops are also littered with medallions that can be collected for extra points. All of this experience contributes to earning your next rank up, as you try to progress from rank Z to A.
However, ranking up involves more than just earning points. Once you’ve reached the required total, you participate in a rank-up battle. Mine took place inside a café, where I battled a man in a rectangular arena as patrons looked on. He was stronger than the standard trainers I had been facing throughout the night, but I was able to get the best of him. For reaching the next rank, I was rewarded with items and money.
Lastly, I got to take on a Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon. Specifically, I fought Mega Victreebel with Naveen by my side. Normal attacks did minimal damage to the angry Pokemon, but they did contribute toward filling the Mega Evolution meter on my screen. There were also small crystals I could collect to fill the meter faster. Once full, I was able to Mega Evolve my Pokemon and fight with renewed power.
When a Pokemon is Mega Evolved, its moves become Plus Moves, increasing their damage output. Naveen and I were able to defeat the rampaging Victreebel, and I received its Mega Stone as a reward.
This was just a small sample of what *Pokemon Legends: Z-A* has to offer, but my preview made it abundantly clear that this is an ambitious entry in the series. The countdown is on until I can finally dive into the full experience on October 16.
*This preview is based on an early demo of Pokemon Legends: Z-A played on the Nintendo Switch 2 at a private press event.*
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146059/pokemon-legends-z-a-demo-preview
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