Game Freak and The Pokémon Company have captured the hearts of many Pokémon fans since 1996. Pokémon Legends: Z‑A is the newest entry into the PokéVerse to land on the Nintendo Switch 2, and whilst it brings in some fresh ideas, it sometimes feels a little too caught up in nostalgia.

Pokémon Legends: Z‑A is part of the Legends series, which sets itself apart from the mainline Pokémon games by being more focused on fast-paced battles and a more direct storyline. The quintessential Pokémon gameplay returns, focusing on capturing a variety of cute and quirky Pokémon. Still, it takes the traditional RPG format and brings it into a much more contained story and region, which may not be every Poké fan’s taste. 

Lumiose City, a Paris-esque city, returns from Pokémon X and Y, where humans and Pokémon live in a bustling metropolis. Arriving fresh off the train as a new trainer, my custom character quickly encounters the charismatic Urbain (or, depending on the character’s gender chosen, Taunie). Urbain very swiftly recruited my trainer into Team MZ to battle it out in the Z-A Royale, the ultimate city-wide Pokémon tournament. During the night, battle zones open up, and I was challenged by multiple ambitious trainers to battle with the ultimate goal of rising from Rank Z to Rank A. There’s much more to uncover under the surface, a mystery concerning Mega Evolutions and nefarious rivals. 

The premise of Pokémon Legends: Z‑A is an edgy new take on the Pokémon gym battle progression system of the mainline series. Early on, the breakaway from traditional turn-based combat to real-time combat was exciting and kept my trainer on their toe. It isn’t long before the fast-paced fights begin to feel tiresome, with move cool-downs often resulting in spamming whatever move was ready for use rather than waiting for moves to recharge.

Collecting Pokémon and strategically selecting a party based on strengths and weaknesses is key. With the introduction of Mable’s Research, additional TM Skills can be gained and assigned to each critter. Where Pokémon Legends: Z‑A lost some spark for me was the slow-paced progression.

Rising the ranks in the Z-A Royale feels like a daunting feat in the beginning. Starting at the bottom in Rank Z and moving up quickly loses its shine when needing to battle it out in Battle Zones at night to earn Challenger tickets before facing off against the next highest-ranked trained. I wasn’t excited to get to the next combatant the way I was when exploring various regions and facing off in the Pokémon League gyms of the mainline series. Thankfully, there is a point where the process is significantly sped up, but in the first few hours, the battles weren’t quite as exciting as I anticipated.

Lumiose City feels underwhelming to explore. The city doesn’t allow for that sense of adventure I’m accustomed to, and the lack of variety without rural, tropical, and beyond areas to journey through has lost much of its magic. Pokémon freely coexisting in the space alongside their human counterparts, and it was great to see them freely roaming the streets, rooftops and waterways. Pokémon can be captured in Wild Zones: areas like parks and graveyards where the creatures roam free.

The areas are so small that the Pokémon feel packed in, and the thrill of the chase was missing for me. Adding to that, the first few hours feel like a tutorial, with constant lessons in mechanics, which, while great for young gamers and new Pokémon players, may be helpful, but for existing fans, may feel a bit too stalling on freedom to go out and into the action.

The game performs well both handheld and on the big screen when the Nintendo Switch 2 is docked. However, the overall visuals of Lumiose City feel quite bland, lacking visual charm, which diminished my interest in exploring what the city had to offer. The characters and Pokémon look great, but Lumiose City as a setting lacked environmental variety and visual detail, often looking washed out compared to its inhabitants.

For a modern game, I was expecting a bit more to take advantage of the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch 2, and I’m hoping that, in future entries, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company give the series some extra polish. The game has some gorgeous cutscenes on occasion, which I would have liked to see at that level of detail across the visuals and audio.

Given the long-standing history, I would have appreciated it if the main characters had voiced dialogue to complement their lovable personalities. The music of Pokémon Legends: Z‑A doesn’t particularly stand out, with the real highlights being the combat music, whereas the day and night music running around Lumiose City feels uninspired. 

Mega Dimension paid DLC adds another two apparel sets inspired by the Mega Evolutions, Mega Raichu X and Mega Raichu Y. The outfits include all clothing and accessories, including two variations of outfit components: pink and blue shiny jackets and pants, hats, some stylish, futuristic visors, cool sneakers and a satchel. Early on, I enjoyed decking out in them for a little more pizazz than the basic Team MZ jacket. Of course, the base game has some great outfits when shopping opens up, and it’s worth a visit for even more customisation. 

If Pokémon Legends: Z‑A Mega Dimension is purchased before the release of the Mega Dimension DLC’s full additional story content, which is February 28th 2026, on top of the bonus outfits (available now), they will also receive a code for a Luxurious Poké Ball Set, including 12 PokéBalls in four variations.

Pokémon Legends: Z‑A has some interesting new ideas that I would like to see, in some way, implemented into the mainline games. The game might not capture players’ hearts. Die-hard Pokémon fans may enjoy this entry into the series, but I think it’s about time the Pokémon series had a mega evolution.

Written by: Yasmin Noble