Summary
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A is set for a late 2025 release, featuring new gameplay mechanics and historical critters.
- The addition of Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is a positive change, offering new forms and moves.
- Cutting the elemental monkeys would be a disservice, as they are long-awaited critters that deserve representation.
Even though the game was originally thought to be released early this year, possibly in the spring, Pokemon Legends: Z-A was recently confirmed to be a late 2025 game during Pokemon Day. The game showed itself with a new, in-depth gameplay trailer that revealed a lot of interesting facts about the setting, the story, how battles work, and what kind of Pokemon will be in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Divided into zones across Lumiose City, the city’s streets and rooftops will all host different critters that players will be able to battle with the new dodge mechanics and catch after they are defeated, much like the anime. Despite confirmation of some long-lost Pokemon coming back, though, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is still missing six key critters.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A featuring Mega Evolutions is a good thing, as Game Freak has the chance to not only bring back all the beloved critters from Gen 6, but also add new forms and moves to make battles all the more refreshing. Megas are a big part of the latest trailer, showcasing how the mechanic works in the game, but so is the exploration of Lumiose City and the act of catching the Pokemon that inhabit it. With the trailer confirming both Furfrou and Patrat, Pokemon Legends: Z-A has a moral obligation not to cut the so-called elemental monkeys.
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Elemental monkeys is a term to address the three 1-stage evolutionary lines of Gen 5 Pokemon that include Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour. These three Pokemon, alongside their evolutions (Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour), have been missing from mainline titles ever since the Nintendo Switch was released, and they are thus stuck in Pokemon Home with no modern game to be transferred to. This applied to other Pokemon as well, but things changed over time.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet brought back all starter Pokemon from the franchise with the second DLC for Gen 9, thus removing Snivy and Tepig, as well as their evolutions, from the list of critters stuck in Pokemon Home. Now, Pokemon Legends: Z-A has confirmed the return of Furfrou and Patrat, meaning Watchog is most likely part of the game too, thus leaving the elemental monkeys as the only critters that still lack representation in games available on the Nintendo Switch. With the Nintendo Switch 2’s release closing in, and with Pokemon Legends: Z-A most likely being available on the new console as well, it only makes sense to feature the elemental monkeys.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Would Do More Harm Than Good by Cutting Elemental Monkeys
Cutting Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour from Pokemon Legends: Z-A would not only continue this unfortunate and unnecessary trend, but it would be indirect confirmation that the elemental monkeys are the least favorite “children” of the series. Since these three Pokemon and their evolutions all fall into the same subfamily of critters, it would make no sense to feature one or two but not all three. Given that these critters are bound to return to modern games at some point, it would be fair for their first appearance on Nintendo Switch to potentially also be their first on Nintendo Switch 2 in order to get even, so to speak.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s starter trio is arguably one of the oddest in all mainline games, if not the, as it features two Pokemon from Gen 2 and one from Gen 5. With Tepig being part of the trio and formerly one of the missing Pokemon on Nintendo Switch, the game would be remiss not to include the elemental monkeys in some shape or form. Even if players have to complete the Pokedex to get these critters, or otherwise some hard challenge, it’s only right that the elemental monkeys get to be available on the Switch before curtains fall alongside other long-missing creatures like Patrat and Furfrou. It remains to be seen whether Pokemon Legends: Z-A will truly make good on this, but skipping this game would mean that the next shot the elemental monkeys have at a Switch appearance would be with Gen 10.
