Lumiose City in Pokémon Legends ZA
Screenshot via The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Legends Z-A coming late 2025 with revamped battle mechanics

The game mechanics look cool, but Pokémon Legends Z-A will still take a while to release.

The Pokémon Company asked players to be patient for the release of Pokémon Legends Z-A as it revealed it’s coming in late 2025, without specifying a release date.

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The reveal came during the Pokémon Presents 2025 livestream on Feb. 27.

Legends Z-A battle mechanics brings some dynamics to combat. It mixes the traditional move-based style of main series Pokémon games with some dynamic positioning of your Pokémon on the field, which means you can manually dodge moves now. It also adds ranges to moves, which you have to take into account during battles.

Mega Evolutions are returning in Pokémon Legends: Z-A

The new Legends: Z-A trailer revealed that Mega Evolutions are back. It’s unclear if new Megas will be added, but these are the Megas confirmed so far:

  • Mega Ampharos
  • Mega Charizard X
  • Mega Kangaskhan
  • Mega Absol

Pokémon Legends Z-A starters confirmed

Chicorita, Tepig, and Totodile will be Pokémon Z-A starters, as revealed in the Pokémon Presents 2025 livestream on Feb. 27.

Pokémon Legends Z-A’s is bringing back Legends: Arceus mechanics

The extended look into Pokémon Legends: Z-A revealed that players will be able to catch Pokémon in a similar way to Legends: Arceus.

Players can aim their Pokéball at wild Pokémon without entering combat, and the odds of capturing them vary with how unaware they are of your presence.

Pokémon Legends Z-A’s Lumiose City

The Legends Z-A story happens entirely in Lumiose City, in the Kalos region from Pokémon X and Y.

In this setting, Lumiose is being redesigned to be co-inhabited by humans and Pokémon, which means players can find, battle, and capture Pokémon inside the city itself inside Wild Zones.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced during Pokémon Day 2024, exactly one year ago. Back then, it built up hype among players since many expected it would borrow or adapt the unique catch and exploration mechanics existent in Legends: Arceus, which was a massive hit on the Switch.

Pokémon Legends Z-A releases in 2025 on the Nintendo Switch and should also be available on the Switch 2 through backwards compatibility.


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Image of Bhernardo Viana
Bhernardo Viana
Working in the gaming industry since 2015 with a bit of everything, which made me love different games for different reasons. Huge Pokémon and Slay the Spire fan now dedicating some time to getting good at the Pokémon TCG.