A preview has never affected my hype level quite like Pokémon Legends Z-A.
I went in apathetic and walked out hungry for more. This isn’t the Pokémon you grew up playing.
Turn based combat is out. Real-time battles are in. And the effect it has on the series’ moment-to-moment gameplay cannot be overstated.
It’s more engaging. It’s more active. And it’s a whole lot more fun.
Legendary Shake-up
Nintendo invited me to play about 90 minutes of the game at its Melbourne office last week.
It was broken into three segments: wild battles, trainer battles and a fight against a mega-evolved Victorybell. I didn’t get a sense of the story or get to freely explore Lumiose city. Battles were the focus and it took all of about two seconds to understand how much had changed.
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In wild zones, Pokémon attack you. And they attack in packs!
Get hit a couple of times and your trainer will pass out and wake up at a nearby Pokémon Centre; so you better get a Pokémon out to defend yourself.
Your party of up to six Pokémon is displayed in the bottom left of the screen. You can cycle through them, summon and call them back with the D-Pad. Once they’re out, you’ll need to target their opponent with the left trigger and start selecting the attacks you want them to perform.
A Pokemon’s moves correspond to the A, B, X and Y buttons.
Instead of waiting for your turn to strike, each move is now on a cooldown. You can use any move as much as you’d like and as frequently as those cooldowns allow.
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You don’t just have to worry about where your Pokémon is standing, but you do have to be mindful about where your trainer is. Stray too close to other Pokémon and you can quickly find yourself surrounded. But if you’re smart about where you stand, you can draw (and dodge) a Pokémon’s attacks, leaving your partner free to attack it.
It’s a delicate new dance I’ve never experienced in a Pokémon before, akin to the overhaul Final Fantasy VII received in its remake.
New, but familiar start
Diehard fans may be a little disappointed that the classic turn-based strategy is gone, but this is a Legends game. That series is all about playing with the formula and has a licence to push the series in new directions.
As a casual fan once obsessed with Pokémon Blue and Silver as a kid, it’s a welcome improvement.
Speaking of Pokémon’s second generation, they make up the bulk of the starters in Legends Z-A.
Totodile and Chikorita return, but Cyndaquil has somewhat inexplicably been replaced with Tepig from Pokémon Black and White.
I lost track of new Pokémon a long time ago (frankly, the newer ones have never captured my heart), so a focus on the names and faces I know and love is much appreciated.
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The final thing to know is that the game runs so well on the Nintendo Switch 2.
It’s not pushing graphical limits like PlayStation’s Ghost of Yotei or an art style as memorable as Hollow Knight: Silksong, but everything looks clean, sharp and buttery smooth; which couldn’t be said about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the original Nintendo Switch.
That’s enough to have me excited to play more when Pokémon Legends Z-A arrives on October 16th.
