I don’t know how it started, but I name all my Pokémon trainers Glitch.
Could be a mainline game or a spinoff like Pokkén Tournament DX and Pokémon Go — it’s always the same name. Glitch alternates between male and female trainers, black and purple hair. Sometimes their fashion is on point, like in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the latest entry in this long-running franchise (and one of the more fashion-forward installments). Sometimes they’re regulated to the various school uniform designs of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. But they’re always Glitch.
Just like my trainers, the Pokémon games have undergone transformations between installments, some cosmetic, some substantial. But at their core, they remain the same; they’re always Pokémon through and through. Game Freak stumbled upon a near-perfect gameplay formula some 30 years ago, and has only recently truly tried to iterate on it with entries such as Pokémon Legends: Arceus (new time period, your trainer is in danger now). Throughout any and all iterations, the core gameplay loop of capturing and battling with adorable monsters has remained consistent for nearly as long as I’ve been alive.
Like Arceus before it, with its lack of gyms and focus on creating a Pokédex, Pokémon Legends: Z-A throws a few deviations into that formula. It’s set entirely in a single location, Pokémon X and Y’s Paris-inspired Lumiose City, ditching the region-spanning adventures of past games. Pokémon are meant to coexist alongside people, trainers and non-trainers alike, in ways we’ve only seen snippets of before.
Even more drastic than that is Z-A’s real-time battle system. It’s here that the series’ near-perfect gameplay loop sees its biggest evolution yet, ditching methodical turn-based bouts for something more chaotic. And it’s thoroughly enjoyable, even as I find myself ready for another turn-based entry. Though these alterations to the classic Pokémon formula sound like they make for a wholly new experience, Pokémon Legends: Z-A is as familiar as any other Pokémon title.
Upon first arriving in Lumiose City, whatever plans your created character had as a tourist are thrown out the window; you’re immediately recruited by Taunie (if playing as a male character; Urbain if female) to join her team of trainers. You’re gifted one of her Pokémon as your starter and are set off in the Z-A Royale.
The Royale is the epicenter of Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It’s similar to the traditional “gym badges to Elite Four” progression of past games. But here, you battle a handful of trainers to earn the opportunity to take part in a promotion match. Win and you’ll be elevated to the next rank, with the final goal of reaching rank A.
Trainer battles take place at night, and sneaking around the designated battle zones is quite entertaining. I’m always trying to get a jump on an opponent and fire off a free attack, since everything happens in real time. Moves operate on cooldown timers, meaning you and your opponent can sometimes attack each other simultaneously (and knock each other simultaneously). It’s a lot to get used to at first. Even after playing for nearly 30 hours, I still feel like there’s plenty to learn in terms of using my Pokémon’s moves in ways that enhance each other. Positioning also plays a large factor in battles as your Pokémon will follow you around or go to designated spots to get moves off (some are long-range, while others need to be up close and personal).
The real-time action makes battles go so fast that I find myself sometimes cycling through moves in the same order, even when this amounts to a suboptimal strategy. There’s no time to breathe in Z-A, and plenty of chances to get overwhelmed. Pokémon battles rely on feedback after using an attack, and that info is still present on screen in Z-A, but whips by quickly. Sometimes, you can’t even read it because taking your eyes off your opponent will spell certain doom.
Ultimately, I find myself going through the motions in a lot of battles. I’m enjoying those motions, but I’m not noticing the nuances of them as I might during a turn-based fight. This isn’t an issue in most other real-time, action-focused games; audible cues or time slowing down will signify attacks landing or perfect parries. Pokémon Legends: Z-A lacks effective UI for player feedback. Instead, it just has chaos. It’s fun chaos, but chaos all the same.
Outside of battle, you’ll explore Lumiose City. It’s relatively small, though densely packed. Deep into the game, I’m still finding new shops and rooftops to visit. It’s also full of charm, and fully realizes the vision of Pokémon and people living together. Pidgey populate its sidewalks, flying away when you get near like the real-life pigeons getting in my way when walking in New York City. The Pan Trio monkeys gleefully hang from lampposts, and bug-Pokémon like Kakuna attach themselves to trees.
A focus on urban life is a new direction for Pokémon, and a welcome one. Even so, exploring Lumiose becomes rote eventually. You may stumble upon an alley you haven’t been to, but you wouldn’t know it. The architecture lacks character, and most rooftops and sewer paths offer little variety. While I haven’t been to Paris, the inspiration for Lumiose, I’ve lived in NYC for nearly a decade. It’s a city where no two blocks are the same, and they’re all vibrant with differences that give them soul. Lumiose City doesn’t have that. It has tan buildings with blue or red roofs and flatly rendered balconies.
Where Lumiose City really shines, oddly enough, is indoors. I loved how Pokémon battles in Sword and Shield take place in football-like stadiums, giving them real weight and meaning. On the flipside, battles in Scarlet and Violet take place on a court with two random people watching. It’s a total letdown. Z-A finds a balance between the two. You’ll battle in restaurants with patrons watching as they dine. A fancy battle society will invite you to a tournament, and you’ll battle on its penthouse court with a chandelier (not Chandelure) hanging above. My favorite location is the elegantly decorated headquarters of the Rust Syndicate with its moody lighting and magenta walls. Various individual battle locales brim with character that’s absent from the larger city as a whole.
I’ve been doing everything Pokémon Legends: Z-A offers for years at this point, yet I can’t stop from doing it again.
Throughout the Royale, as well as quelling rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon and filling out the Pokédex, there’s an inescapable feeling of, “I’ve played this before.” Despite new battle mechanics and a lived-in urban area to explore, it’s impossible to shake the layer of predictability that covers Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Familiarity isn’t necessarily a bad thing — we’ve been enjoying these games for decades. There’s comfort to be found in the familiar, doubly so when it’s a childhood favorite.
Pokémon is judged by different standards than other franchises, fairly or unfairly. Their boundless potential has been realized one baby step at a time in the Nintendo Switch (and now Switch 2) generation. Sword and Shield put Pokémon in the overworld, but they were regulated to designated zones and the tall grass of routes. Arceus showcased Pokémon in their natural habitats, ripe for capture, but essentially relegated battles to being an afterthought. Scarlet and Violet presented a fully open world — perhaps what should be the final evolution of this series — yet it was largely ugly and a technical nightmare. (Which Pokémon Legends: Z-A is not, thankfully.)
Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes its own steps forward, and is met with similar roadblocks as its predecessors. It can’t escape from the weight of players having been here, done this before. I’ve evolved Totodile up to Feraligatr before. I’ve caught Pikachu before. I’ve had an entire team of Eeveelutions before. I’ve caught Legendaries and completed a Pokédex before. I’ve named my trainer Glitch and given him purple hair before.
I’ve been doing everything Pokémon Legends: Z-A offers for years at this point, yet I can’t stop from doing it again. Pokémon is still able to grab hold with Krabby-like claws and not let go. Such is the delight and burden of that near-perfect formula from 1996.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is out now on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. The game was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2. You can find additional information about viraltrendingcontent’s ethics policy here.
