Summary
- Pokemon Legends Z-A may receive a 10+ ESRB rating, making it more mature than previous mainline games.
- The ESRB rating for Legendary: Z-A indicates “fantasy violence”, breaking the series’ 29-year tradition.
- Other regions’ ratings, like the UK, remain consistent, suggesting the US ESRB sees the game as more mature.
Pokemon has always been a game that has skewed towards a younger audience. Sure, millions of us adults play it, but the series is fundamentally for the youth.
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Pokemon Legends: Z-A may be making things at least a little more mature than previous mainline entries in the series, though, as according to a preliminary ESRB rating, it could be the first to receive a 10+ rating.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Is The First Mainline Pokemon Game In 29 Years To Receive A 10+ ESRB Rating
First spotted by the team over at GamesRadar, Pokemon Legends Z-A is showing as having a 10+ ESRB rating on Nintendo’s official website.
According to the ESRB, a 10+ rating generally means a game is “generally suitable for ages 10 and up” and may include “cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence, mild language, and/or minimal suggestive themes.”
While Legends: Z-A isn’t going to include any suggestive themes, sorry Vaporeon fans, it will contain “fantasy violence.” This is the reason for breaking 29 years of tradition, as all previous mainline games have all only featured “mild fantasy violence.”
GamesRadar notes that there are previous games in the Pokemon franchise to receive a 10+ rating, those in the Rumble spin-off series. Those games feature real-time combat, much like Legends: Z-A, so it’s feasible that this is the reason for the latest entry’s increased age rating.
In regions where the ESRB isn’t the primary ratings board, things haven’t changed too drastically, if at all. Historically, in the UK, for example, the mainline Pokemon titles have all received a 7 rating from PEGI, with Pokemon Legends Z-A provisionally given the same score there, so it’s interesting that the ESRB sees this game as being markedly more mature.
Its rating isn’t the only change that Legends: Z-A appears to be making to the series. After its first gameplay reveal during last month’s Pokemon Presents, eagle-eyed players noticed that you may now be able to capture Pokemon after they’ve fainted.
- Released
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2025
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo, The Pokemon Company