Good day, Pokémon trainers. Today, February 27 marks Pokémon Day, a day to celebrate the first release of Pokémon in Japan in 1996! As with every year, a Pokémon Presents took place with a whole host of announcements, including a full three and half minutes look at the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A! So without further ado, here are all the new and exciting things we can gather from this new entry in the Pokémon franchise.
A New Battle System
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will introduce a whole new way to battle with your Pokémon! Instead of the traditional fully turn-based battle system, it seems Legends: Z-A will feature a fully real-time action combat system. This system emphasizes timing and movement. You will be able to tell your Pokémon to move around the battlefield and moves now have different ranges, with some requiring you to get in close to your opponent while others can hit from far away.
Not only that, each move seems to have a cooldown timer so you cannot use the same move repetitively. On an entirely personal note, I am a game developer myself. And I always dreamed that if I worked on my own Pokémon game in some distant fairyland, the battle mechanics would be something like this. But there is still one more important part of this new battle system.
Mega Pokémon and Attack+
As announced in the teaser last year, Pokémon will once again be able to Mega Evolve. And based on what’s seen in the trailer, it seems Mega Evolution now puts a “+” sign at the end of all four of a Pokémon’s moves. It’s not clear what this indicates. But my theory is that, if a Pokémon mega evolves all of its moves are updated so that they not only do more damage but potentially have smaller cooldown timers and larger attack ranges.
The Location
Battles are all well and good. But where will they be taking place? Well as we already got to know from the teaser last year, the game will take place in Lumiose City in Kalos. And that seems to continue to be the case, the game seems to take place entirely in Lumiose City. Which begs the question of how do you catch Pokémon in this setting.
A lot of theories had been proposed before this trailer. Such as underground tunnels beneath Lumiose. But now it’s confirmed that Lumiose City itself will have “Wild Areas” where Pokémon roam freely and can be caught by trainers.
The Characters
From Left to Right, Jett, Urbaine, AZ, Taunie, and Vinnie
The trailer introduced us to five new characters we will be meeting in Legends: Z-A. These include our prospective rivals, the creamy-haired Urbain and Taunie. Quasartico Inc.’s CEO Jett and her secretary Vinnie. And AZ. Wait. AZ?!
AZ and His Floette
So AZ and his Floette, referred to as Eternal Flower Floette, played a major role in Pokémon X and Y as these games also took place in the region of Kalos. Despite this, and the fact that AZ’s Floette is in those game’s files with a unique move no less, this Floette is never encountered outside of cutscenes. And much was left up to speculation. It seems we will get to learn more about this duo in Legends: Z-A. But this brings a closure to another debated topic regarding this new game.
Future or Past?
When Pokémon Legends: Z-A was first announced, one topic that was on everyone’s mind was “when” the game is taking place. After all, the previous Legends game took place hundreds of years in the past from all the other mainline entries. And the first teaser for Z-A did not provide a clear answer to that question.
Now it seems to be confirmed that Legends: Z-A will be taking place in some “near future”. As AZ seems to be looking more chipper than usual and with his Floette. Lumiose City also seems to be going through a sort of technology-powered renovation by the previously mentioned Quasartico Inc.
The Starters
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is looking up to be quite an adventure. But who will be your trusty partner in this new adventure in Kalos? The answer is Chikorita and Totodile from Generation 2 and Tepig from Generation 5. Quite a friendly trio. I am quite curious to explore why these three were the ones who have been chosen.
The Battle Maison?
Some sort of match is teased at the end of the trailer. We don’t know what this is yet so it’s all up to speculation. It could potentially be the Battle Maison, a facility in Pokémon X and Y where players could battle a series of trainers in a row with some specific rulesets. It could also be a replacement for the regular championships and gyms typically seen in the main series games.
Conclusion
And there you have it. This trailer has given us quite a lot of information regarding this new entry into the series. Yet there are also a lot of things we don’t know yet. Such as which Pokémon will be getting new Mega Evolutions and when the game will be released. Nevertheless, I am very excited for this game and I hope you are as well.
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
