Good day, Pokémon Trainers! It’s a good day to be a Pokémon fan. As arguably the most critically well-loved Pokémon game Pokémon Legends: Arceus is getting a sequel. While not a direct follow-up to the story of Arceus I’m sure, we are still getting one in its genre with Pokémon Legends Z-A. It was the “last but definitely not least” of the Pokémon Day Presentation where it was announced. So I’m sure there’s quite some hype surrounding the new game. I myself have sort of maybe, kind of, totally just accidentally watched the trailer five times already! So let’s take a moment to make some early speculations and wonder about this new game!
Some Background Info
Before we begin speculating I think it’s best to give some background information so that we are all up to speed. From the trailer we can safely make a guess that the game takes place in Lumiose City. Lumiose City is in the Pokémon region of Kalos. Kalos is the region where the Sixth Generation of games Pokémon X and Pokémon Y take place.
This is worth noting because people were heavily speculating the region we would be going back to is Unova, from the Fifth Generation of games. There were many homages to Unova in the newest Ninth Generation games’ final DLC. So it is definitely a surprise to see we are going back to Kalos instead. Speaking of Kalos though, it’s inspired by the real life country of France. And Lumiose City itself is inspired by France’s capital city Paris.
Days of Future Past?
Most of Pokémon Legends: A-Z’s trailer is presented in this futuristic neon wireframe style. The recent mainline Pokémon game has certainly been following a time travel, future, and past sort of theme with their recent games. First, Legends: Arceus sent you to the Sinnoh region’s past. Then Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had future and past paradox Pokémon. And finally, the two DLCs for those games took place during a traditional Japanese festival and within a futuristic artificial island academy respectively. So going by that train of logic, it makes perfect sense for the next game to have a futuristic setting. Since then we’d follow a pattern of:
Past > Past and Future > Future
But hold on. Remember I said “most” of the trailer is in this aesthetic. Because the beginning and end of the trailer have this old sketchbook look to them:
So my first thought was that maybe this game will feature time travel. I do have an alternative hypothesis which I will get to later but for now, let’s carry on.
Z-A? AZ?
So one character from Gen 6 that I often hear people want to know and see more of is AZ. Without spoiling much what I can say is that AZ is a rather enigmatic character and is heavily tied to Kalos’s history. Going with the time travel angle, perhaps we can know more about AZ in this game. Z-A is the opposite of AZ after all. This is also why I think it’s worth noting that AZ canonically has a brother. Perhaps he will have a role in the game as well?
Zygarde and Ragnarök
So I’m putting on my “Dashing Design” hat for a bit for this. The green Z in Z-A’s logo is obviously referring to Zygarde. The final Pokémon of Kalos’s main legendary trio that never got its own game before now. All three of Kalos’s main legendaries are inspired by Nordic mythology, including Zygarde. In fact, Zygarde’s 50% form might be a direct reference to Jörmungandr, a giant serpent from Nordic mythology.
And Nordic mythology speaks of an apocalyptic event known as Ragnarök. So, I feel more strongly about this theory. Perhaps, this game will start in a futuristic setting, an apocalyptic event will take place (the firing of the ultimate weapon important in Kalos’s lore), and then we as the player will help rebuild the city to its former futuristic glory. It will fit the previous Legends game’s theme, where you help a fearful colony build a thriving city by working together with Pokémon. And it would also explain why this “Redevelopment Plan” bit is so emphasized in the trailer. Also Z-A, from end to beginning. It all just fits.
A New Precedence for Gimmicks?
So one of the most exciting parts of the trailer was the return of Mega Evolution. Something fans of the main series titles have been clamoring for a while. I personally have been wondering how Gamefreak will handle past generational gimmicks when they bring the old regions back. Do they compete with the current gimmick? As any member of the competitive VG circuit can tell you, Mega Evolutions created a bit of a balancing issue for PvP.
But if they are brought back through the more single-player focused Legends games, then these past gimmicks can have a safe home without creating trouble for the competitive scene.
Some Additional Thoughts
So these ideas are courtesy of my fellow GOHub member MeteorAsh15, which I will now iterate on here.
- Some major event (like the ultimate weapon mentioned before) prompted Lumiose City folks to rebuild the city, which will be a major theme of the game.
- There were some parts of the large city of Lumiose that were unexplored in the original X and Y games. We might be able to explore those now. MeteorAsh15 suggested that people would discover new mega stones in these parts.
- Xerneas and Yveltal might get new forms. To add to this, they could get some mega-adjacent forms like Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. The only sixth-generation Pokémon that ever received a mega evolution was Diancie, which I actually talked about before.
Conclusion
I’m sure I’m not the only one excited for a new Legends game. This presentation was the very definition of short and sweet. With solid news for both GO and the mainline games. so to stay true to that I will also leave this conclusion short and sweet.
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!
