Starter Pokémon in Legends Z-A
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Pokémon Presents: all announced games and information
On Pokémon Day, the Pokémon Company presents new projects featuring the cute pocket monsters. These include the eagerly awaited spin-off Pokémon Legends: Z-A for the Switch and a new mobile game reminiscent of Pokémon Stadium.
On 27 February 1996, the first Pokémon games - Red and Green - were released in Japan. Since then, Pokémon fans have been celebrating Pokémon Day on this date. There are usually a few surprises and new announcements to celebrate the day. This year, too, in a Pokémon Presents livestream.
You can watch the entire presentation in the embedded video. I have summarised all the important information below.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A: one last great adventure for the Nintendo Switch
The spin-off title Pokémon Legends: Z-A was already announced on Pokémon Day 2024. Since then, however, there has been no new information about the successor to Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Now developer studio Gamefreak shows first gameplay impressions in a detailed trailer:
Unusual for a Pokémon game: the entire adventure takes place in a single city: Illumina City. The Paris-inspired centre of the Kalos region is already familiar to fans of the 3DS games Pokémon X & Y.
Illumina City is undergoing a major remodelling. The city is to be literally transformed into an urban jungle. Both humans and Pokémon should feel at home there. To this end, Wild Zones are being built throughout the city where the cute creatures can live and move freely. They are small, wild oases in the city.
Source: The Pokémon Company
The wild Pokémon in these zones can of course be caught. The catching system is reminiscent of its predecessor Legends Arceus. You sneak up on a wild pocket monster and throw the ball. If they are too strong, your partner Pokémon can weaken it.
Speaking of partners - as in Legends Arceus, you can choose from three starter Pokémon from different generations. This time it's Chikorita and Totodile from Pokemon Gold & Silver (2001) and Tepig from Pokémon Black & White (2011).
Source: The Pokémon Company
The battle system in Pokémon Legends: Z-A is completely new. Instead of turn-based battles, there are now Pokémon battles in real time. The attacks of your pocket monsters have different ranges and areas of effect. This means you are constantly running across the playing field to position your Pokémon as optimally as possible for the next attack and to avoid enemy attacks.
You trigger the attacks directly using the ABXY buttons. The whole thing is reminiscent of the MMO-inspired combat system in the Xenoblade Chronicles games from Monolith Soft.
Source: The Pokémon Company
Fans of the 3DS games X & Y can also look forward to the return of Mega Evolutions. Your Pokémon transform into incredibly powerful versions of themselves for a short time during battle. I'm excited to see how this element will harmonise with the new real-time system.
Source: The Pokémon Company
You'll have to be patient a little longer before the spin-off is released. The Pokémon Company only gives the end of 2025 as the time frame. Contrary to earlier rumours, the game will not be released for the Switch 2, but for the Switch 1.
The last major Pokémon games, Scarlet & Violet, were released in 2022, meaning that it has been a long time since two major Pokémon adventures were released. This raises the hope that Legends: Z-A will not be a technical disaster at launch, as Scarlet & Violet were.
Pokémon Stadium returns as Pokémon Champions
Surprisingly, the Pokémon Company announces a new competitive game: Pokémon Champions. This is a spiritual successor to the popular Pokémon Stadium games (Nintendo 64).
You compete in huge stadiums with your Pokémon team against other trainers in online battles. The trailer shows both Mega Evolutions and Terastallization from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.
For long-time trainers and collectors, Pokémon Champions is compatible with the Pokémon Home database. This means you can also send your pocket monsters from Pokemon GO or Scarlet & Violet to the stadiums.
Source: The Pokémon Company
The game is set to be released for both Switch and mobile devices. Pokémon main development studio Game Freak is responsible for planning the project. However, development will take place at The Pokémon Works - a new subsidiary that will take care of games outside of the main series in the future. It is still unclear when the game will be released.
Pokémon Concierge: new season of the Netflix series
The ultra-cute stop-motion series Pokémon Concierge is returning to Netflix with new episodes in September 2025. The first trailer is already available:
You can watch the first four episodes of the first season for free on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.
Numerous updates for existing games
For Pokémon Scarlet & Violet there are new raid events and special items to celebrate the day. New content is also available for the following mobile games: Pokémon GO, Pokémon Masters EX, Pokémon Café Remix, Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon Unite and Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket.
For the latter, ranked battles have been announced for the end of March and Mega Evolutions for 2025. Read the article by Cassie to find out why the mobile game is worth a look:
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Domagoj Belancic
Senior Editor
Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.chMy love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.
