Predictions for Pokemon Legends receive mixed reactions

Pokemon Legends Z-A is the newest Pokemon game that Pokemon has announced. This game will follow suit with the previous Pokemon Legends game released back in 2022, which takes the player on an adventure in the past, or more specifically the past of the Pokemon games  Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. However, instead of taking us to the past of these games, fans will be taken to the past of Pokemon X and Y. Even though many fans are excited for this game, some are concerned about the gameplay and how Pokemon plans to run with the game’s story.

So what do we know about Legends Z-A’s story? As of currently we know that mega-evolution is going to return. Mega-evolution was a popular Pokemon gimmick that was introduced in generation 6 or in the X and Y games. By mega-evolving your Pokemon, it would allow you to evolve them beyond their normal evolution stages and give them various status boosts when compared to their usual form. Although you could only mega evolve once per battle, only 46 Pokemon currently can mega-evolve, and the mega-evolution would end and the Pokemon revert back to its normal form after a battle concluded, it was a very fun mechanic that gave some older Pokemon an upgrade and allowed the Pokemon company to create new and unique Pokemon designs for old favorites to the excitement of many Pokemon fans. 

After mega-evolution’s success, this gimmick was used in future games such as Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, remakes of past games. Mega-evolution was also seen in Pokemon Moon, Ultra Moon, Sun and Ultra Sun, although it could only be used after the post game, as the new Pokemon gimmick in that game was instead z-moves, which allowed your Pokemon to use an extremely powerful move once per battle. This continued a long trend of new gimmicks for each new Pokemon title; Pokemon Sword and Shield had dynamaxing where Pokemon grew in size to release devastating attacks on your opponents for three turns. Pokemon Legends Arceus introduced agile style and strong style moves, which either allowed moves to move before the opponent, though admittedly making the move weaker, and moves that made the Pokemon lose turns but for an extra punch on whatever move they used. Finally, in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokemon, players were able to terastilze giving them a crystal-like appearance and giving their moves stat boost depending on what tera type (special Pokemon type) they had. 

The gimmicks for each Pokemon game weren’t all great. The many gimmicks tried to live up to mega-evolutions’ popularity and legacy. Unfortunately, for many of these gimmicks, they completely flopped. So for fans who have been waiting for mega-evolution to make a comeback, their calls have been answered, and they are ecstatic to be able to mega-evolve their Pokemon again and perhaps even be able to get some new mega forms for this new game. 

With mega-evolution making a comeback, you would think that Pokemon fans would be excited about the game, right? From the trailer we also learned what the story will revolve around. In Pokemon X and Y the character travels throughout the Kalos region, a region based off of France respectively. In this new game, you will be in Luminous City, the Paris equivalent in the Pokemon universe, where you will learn about and perhaps even help with the building of the famous city. Because of this and what we have been hearing from the Pokemon company, some fans have been fearing that unlike the previous Legends game, Pokemon Legends Z-A won’t be an open map for the player to explore. 

Fans are also quite disappointed with its story. Although it is admittedly cool to learn about the city’s history. Pokemon X and Y were also the games that introduced us to an interesting history within the Pokemon universes lore. This lore being that there was in fact a war within this region. The X and Y games describe a story about a great weapon that was originally crafted to revive Pokemon but in the end used as a weapon of destruction that ended the war. Compared to the story of Luminous City’s construction, you can probably see why many fans are dissatisfied with the story they chose for Pokemon Legends Z-A; some fans even joking that they are only going to buy the game because of the mega-evolution comeback.

For other news, that’s all we really know about the game, apart from its release trailer dating it to release in 2025 and some rumored leaks. For fans this game could possibly bring new content for mega-evolution and maybe even get some more lore to answer other questions about the Pokemon universe.