Pokémon Legends Z-A Review: From Lumiose With Love

I have spent the majority of my nearly 30 years of life living in some semblance of the same mid-sized city that feels almost stagnant in its local culture, despite a consistently expanding and increasing population. So when I do get the opportunity to travel to new places that have a sense of community and history that can be felt simply by walking around, I am often one to try and take in as much of that culture as possible.

That, in part, is why I think I enjoyed my time with Pokémon Legends Z-A so much. Lumiose City, a place I have visited dozens of times on my 3DS over the years, once more invited me into its streets to take in the sights and sounds, interact with a colorful cast of new characters, and finally experience a story that does Kalos and, at least one of its legends, justice.

Now, I am almost always going to be excited for a new Pokémon game, so the initial interest was already there when Game Freak announced yet another entry in the Legends series that would bring us back to Kalos and include a new battle system that takes the franchise into real-time combat. 

And, after spending well over 40 hours battling and parkouring across Lumiose, I can say Pokémon Legends: Z-A gave me exactly what I wanted out of this multifaceted sequel, with a few disappointing, if predictable, letdowns that continue to plague the franchise’s modern entries.

Seeing Pokémon take on real-time combat for the first time in that initial gameplay reveal is what truly put my expectations for Legends: Z-A higher than what I had for Scarlet and Violet. And, when I got to go hands-on with the game at the 2025 Pokémon World Championships, those expectations were backed by how much I enjoyed the limited demo. 

The classic, turn-based battle system has its own level of depth that you can see on display in VGC tournaments or single battles across communities such as Smogon, but translating the core of Pokémon’s iconic battles to a new system could make or break an entire experience. 

Going into the game, I knew I was going to pick Chikorita because I wanted to explore how a bulky Grass-type with access to a mix of support moves could best make use of this new battle system. And, through a mix of Reflect, Leech Seed, and more, I felt like the Johto Grass-type helped me adapt to things quicker than Totodile or Tepig would have.

From attempting to master how your passive positioning as a trainer impacts the flow of combat, breaking old habits when training your Pokémon’s moves, mastering Plus Moves, and the return of Mega Evolution, Game Freak gave a fresh feel to a 20-year-old formula, while also maintaining what makes it so special. 

There was less to worry about when it came to catching Pokémon, since the changes made for Legends: Arceus were one of the most beloved parts of that initial entry in this series. The same methods carry over with some tweaks that, while adding some restrictions, maintain how fun it is to run around and catch as many Pokémon as possible. 

The main difference is in the buffer window you get when you knock out a Pokémon in battle, where you will still have a chance to catch that Pokémon before it disappears. It does feel like this change forces you to battle more wild Pokémon compared to Legends: Arceus. 

It isn’t inherently a bad shift in a game that puts more of a focus back on battling, but it might frustrate you if you prefer just rolling around and throwing Poké Balls without needing to commit to combat. You can still do that here, but it will just be less effective overall.

Mable’s Research Rewards also feel like a modernization of Professor Laventon’s Pokédex Research Tasks, though not as detailed. You won’t need to catch the same Pokémon to get points, as Mable points you toward catching Pokémon of the same type, evolving various species through different methods, and even battling trainers. 

The rewards for that research are a mix of useful TMs, some items to help with training, and, eventually, the Shiny Charm—if you are willing to grind the final pages out. 

Side Missions are also back, rewarding you for spending time exploring and helping out the people of Lumiose City by giving you useful Held Items, teaching you about game mechanics, or providing interesting little stories to split up the Z-A Royale grind.

Now, let’s talk a bit about Mega Evolution. 

As a causal concept, I like Mega Evolution and am happy some species of Pokémon get new forms that help them escape from being mediocre as the series continues to add more options. And it is a great way to hype up Pokémon fans by showing popular Pokémon becoming even more powerful with new designs that serve as marketing tools.

What I don’t like is how restrictive the mechanic is when it comes to team building and the eventual meta implications, the latter of which I won’t harp on too much since Pokémon Champions isn’t even out yet.

In Legends: Z-A, there are 230 different Pokémon listed in the game’s Pokédex, prior to DLC coming out in 2026. Of those 230 Pokémon, 61 species can Mega Evolve, leaving you around half the Pokédex to choose from if you don’t want to use only Pokémon that can Mega Evolve in your party. 

Considering most Pokémon with a Mega Evolution are more popular options, this won’t matter to many players. But in a game where Mega Evolution is pushed harder than ever before by the story and in battles, especially in the Rogue Mega encounters, it felt harder to build a balanced team without having a lineup filled with Mega Stone-holders.

Sure, my Pangoro could still throw hands with the best of them during normal Pokémon battles, but once I was staring down a Rogue Mega, it often felt like he wasn’t able to keep up.

That isn’t the only pitfall Legends: Z-A falls into, either, as the selection of wild Pokémon you can find throughout Lumiose City relies heavily on your progression through the game’s main story. Sure, there are some rare spawns you can find outside of the Wild Areas, and you will unlock new zones every few main story missions, but it was still noticeable when you could explore the entire city and only have a few dozen species to catch between bouts of progression.

For example, I love Heliolisk and wanted to use one on my team just like I did back in X and Y, but you can’t get Helioptile until closer to the second half of the game, even though it is obtainable early on in the 3DS games.

And that leads into my biggest area of concern coming into the game, Lumiose City being the sole location for the story.

I think Game Freak did a good enough job making the city feel lived in, and the way you get to interact with so many NPCs that all have something different to say about the city they live in at varying scales is a first for the series that I really enjoyed. It feels like you are seeing the impact of what happened in X and Y five years after the fact, with everyone from the main cast to a random old man contemplating life itself.

As someone who prefers more contained exploration to the vast open world alternatives, I enjoyed traversing Lumiose City in a new way. Sure, I was a little bored with the same streets and rooftops by the time I was closing in on the final hours, but the game looks fine, runs well, and doesn’t overstay its welcome if you don’t want to explore every alleyway like I did.

In the best and worst ways, Legends: Z-A’s map made me feel the same way I did when I was in high school playing Y on my 3DS. Including plenty of moments where I was just as lost.

I did want to ask… where are the roller skates or the rideable Gogoat? Both of those feel like complete no-brainer inclusions for traversal options, yet they are nowhere to be found, outside of a sidequest exploring what happened to the Gogoat ride services. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one or both reintroduced in the DLC.

While writing this review, I didn’t spend a lot of time with the multiplayer Battle Club and its chaotic four-player matches. From the little I did play, it is a fun way to try and experiment with new strategies and has some actual competitive depth for anyone who really wants to try and maximize their team’s potential. Even if I’m still not a fan of them locking new Mega Stones behind the online multiplayer, since that will stop some players from getting them due to missing out on ranked seasons or not wanting to pay for Nintendo Switch Online. 

Whenever a new game in a franchise gives me the chance to go back to an older location and with added story, I tend to walk away pleased with the experience. So I shouldn’t find a Pokémon game going back to old story beats and adding to them as frustrating as I did in Legends: Z-A.

After sitting with my thoughts for a few days, I can say that enjoying key moments and the use of Lumiose City as a character of its own did not fully balance out the holes that remain unfilled, or were outright never dug, for both new and returning characters.

Without spoilers, Legends: Z-A uses plenty of connective tissue, both through characters, locations, and plot pointsto strengthen the connection to X and Y, while also building out a new original narrative. However, only two of those returning characters feel like they are properly utilized for a story that is trying to be a direct sequel.

I don’t need dozens of returning characters constantly popping up to remind me of my original journey through Kalos, but it would have been nice to see a few more familiar faces or more time with the trainers they do bring back. Having Emma back after she was one of the highlights from Gen 6 is great, until you see her almost entirely relegated to the Looker Bureau after the extremely long tutorial segment.

It wasn’t that I needed more characters; I just wanted more moments with the ones who were already present. A theme that, ironically, is echoed by the final hours of the game’s story.

And, to the game’s credit, I liked all of the new characters, especially with how silly the writing can get, and the main story centering around the Z-A Royale and Rogue Mega Evolution is fine. It took me about 40 hours to beat the game’s main story, while 100 percenting every Wild Zone and doing most Side Missions along the way, and I had a good time overall.

As I mentioned earlier, Lumiose City feels lived in, and a lot of the new characters feed into that feeling with how much they care for the city, its people, or its Pokémon. 

Team MZ is a fun group that you will connect with over time, and the various “Gym Leader substitutes” you will face during the Z-A Royale are well designed and interesting, if a bit tropey. I always perked up whenever a new Promotion Match was on the horizon, because that always meant I would get the chance to catch new Pokémon and meet fun new characters to further enhance the cast of Lumiose locals.

I can’t get into the specifics without spoiling things, but by the time I walked away from my time with Legends: Z-A, I did so caring a lot more about Lumiose or Kalos than I had going in from my previous visits. And the final hours of the story are something really special that I think Game Freak can build on.

With that said, the post-game is very barebones and offers very little outside of a pair of boss fights to round out the narrative. Everything else is just cleanup or repeating things you have done already for minimal reward, which is disappointing compared to how compelling the Pokédex completion or Area Zero were in Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet, respectively.

That leaves me worried, because Mega Dimensions has a lot of weight to carry for a DLC, which also leaves me concerned about some future projects.

If you like Pokémon, especially Legends: Arceus, Z-A is worth your time and does a lot to improve on the good decisions implemented in the franchise’s other recent releases. Yes, plenty of modern flaws, such as cheap camera work and a lack of voice acting, still hold the game back from being something truly special, but the gameplay is still a blast, and that is what most people are looking for in a Pokémon experience. 

If you don’t have a Nintendo Switch 2, the version of Legends: Z-A on the original Switch appears to be a viable option too if you don’t want to purchase a new console just to play the game. But you should probably look at some comparison videos and reviews on the older hardware before diving in for yourself.

I haven’t written a “proper” game review in over a year, so this was a bit of a grind to get done without absolutely destroying my early drafts (largely because I don’t love my own review work most of the time.) Regardless, I didn’t have a place to write about Pokémon for Legends: Z-A at launch and wanted to put my thoughts on paper to get them out of my head.

If you enjoyed reading my review and want more Pokémon talk, I did a spoilercast for Legends: Z-A with Kenneth Shepard, from Kotaku, and Hayes Madsen, from Inverse. We spent around two hours yapping about the game’s story, characters, gameplay, and the future of the Pokémon franchise. So give it a watch on YouTube or listen on your podcast service of choice while you grind out some Z-A Royale battles.

And, as always, all my work here on BoosterBlogs is done independently. The best way to support that work is to share it around, subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on socials.