The annual Pokemon Presents showcase on February’s Pokemon Day has come and gone, and, as expected, fans got a hefty update on Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Announced during the previous Pokemon Day with a CG teaser, Pokemon Legends: Z-A has finally revealed its gameplay and release window, with a lot to dissect already. Like its preliminary information advertised, the entire game takes place in Pokemon X and Y’s Lumiose City, with Pokemon-catching supplied by Wild Zones set up as part of the city’s redevelopment efforts to make habitats for people and Pokemon to coexist.
In many ways, Pokemon Legends: Z-A looks like what a new Legends title should look like, and in others, it’s quite different from its predecessor. Whereas Pokemon Legends: Arceus played out across several giant maps, this game might be the first in the series to truly be in one unbroken space, depending on how interiors are handled. Game Freak is finally on the cusp of realizing its open-world ambitions that started back in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and it’s doing so in style. The next biggest surprise is likely Z-A’s battle overhaul, which will bring the Pokemon games closer to their anime counterparts than ever before.
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How Pokemon Legends Gave Pokemon An Action Makeover
Action mechanics shaking up Pokemon’s gameplay formula has been the forte of the Pokemon Legends series, starting with Legends: Arceus implementing third-person throwing mechanics and player-versus-Pokemon fights. They were large shifts, and the new Pokemon-catching system is arguably Legends: Arceus’ greatest strength. Its battle overhaul with different attack styles and altered stat scaling also made the experience feel quite different, but it was still coached in what Pokemon games normally do. Pokemon Legends: Z-A, on the other hand, is breaking new ground by adding real-time action elements to its combat, breaking decades-old Pokemon traditions in ways that the series once seemed intent on keeping forever.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Has Become Bold With Its Battles
Being in the hazy area between a mainline Pokemon title and a side game does give Pokemon Legends the power to make bold moves like that, and it already looks like it’s going all-in on its new approach. Pokemon moves are now governed by cooldowns instead of Power Points. Moves can have different wind-ups, ranges, and areas-of-effect, and partner Pokemon will even move alongside the player to dodge attacks. The full impact of this change, and how it interacts with mechanics like status effects and abilities, will only become evident closer to launch, but what’s visible now does look awfully familiar.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Is Handling Evasion More Like The Anime Does
Suddenly, Anime Trainers Ordering Pokemon To Dodge Isn’t So Foreign
The Pokemon anime has played a large part in the franchise’s global popularity, but that has also left plenty of fans with a keen awareness of how different it is from the games. It’s not considered an issue, as it makes sense to portray Pokemon battles without turns in other mediums, but some consistent tropes and strategies across the Pokemon anime’s seasons have been pretty easy to poke fun at. One of the oldest is a trainer ordering their fighting Pokemon to “dodge it,” which was at odds with how the games calculate attack accuracy and automatic evasion chances — until now.
With Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s new fighting system, the Pokemon games have suddenly joined the Pokemon anime in using real-time framing, and that means that trainer-ordered dodges are technically an option. How moving the player character and their Pokemon works hasn’t been detailed yet, but move commitments and ranges mean it is important to do. Pokemon switching also needs to be done during the action, which the anime, and certain Pokemon manga, only occasionally take into account. The ability to command Pokemon to dodge likely wasn’t in fans’ predictions for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, but they can’t turn down the chance to homage the Pokemon anime.
