“Pokémon Legends: Z-A,” the first “Pokémon” game to launch on the Switch 2, is nearly here, and Nintendo has revealed a Snorlax-sized amount of Pokémon that will appear in the game. The news comes alongside an hour-long demo of the game, a sequel to 2022’s open-world spinoff “Pokémon Legends: Arceus,” that showcased the new catching and battling mechanics.
To start off, there is more character customization than any previous “Pokémon” game. You can dress your trainer in dozens of different hairstyles, outfits, hats, glasses, backpacks — the possibilities are endless, making your character feel more personalized than ever before. Once your outfit is set, it’s time to actually catch some Pokémon in the wide-open Lumiose City from “Pokémon X and Y.”
Lumiose City is divided into wild zones, where you can catch Pokémon, and battle zones, where trainers fight to rise from rank Z all the way up to A. The wild zones are scattered around the city and have distinct day and night cycles, with exclusive Pokémon roaming around at different times of day. Before you dive into a battle, though, you can select your Pokémon’s four attacks from a larger pool of known commands. If you want a more defensive move-set or to inflict status conditions, like poison or paralysis, you can now swap those moves on the fly between battles.
Like “Arceus,” the wild Pokémon battles in “Z-A” can move quickly, but larger alpha Pokémon put up more of a fight and can now damage your trainer. During a tough battle against an alpha Houndoom and a pack of Houndours, I commanded my Gyarados to use water attacks while my trainer dodged fiery blasts and avoided fainting. Luckily, there are cafes that will heal your wounded team just like Pokémon Centers.
Trainer battles also get an upgrade with bonus objectives that give you extra points to increase your Z-A ranking. Some of the bonuses include sneaking up on enemies to get a surprise attack, landing a one-hit K.O. or using a certain type of move to initiate a battle. The rest of the demo included a fight against the newly revealed Mega Victreebel that grew gigantic and went rogue.
“Pokémon Legends: Z-A” releases on the Switch and Switch 2 on Oct. 16. Below, see the 142 Pokémon that are confirmed so far to appear in the game. There will also be Mega versions of several Pokémon, including Charizard X and Y, Alakazam, Slowbro, Victreebel, Gengar, Kangaskhan, Pinsir, Gyarados, Dragonite, Ampharos, Steelix, Scizor, Tyranitar, Gardevoir, Sableye, Mawile, Altaria, Banette, Absol, Salamence, Lopunny, Lucario, Gallade, and Hawlucha.
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