For quite some time, the Nintendo Switch era has been a source of frustration for many Pokémon fans. The journey from Sword and Shield, through Pokémon Legends: Arceus, to Scarlet and Violet, showed a gradual but often stumbling effort by Game Freak to refine the core mechanics of capturing, exploring, and battling in a fully 3D world. Unfortunately, this period was also marked by a noticeable decline in overall polish, visual presentation, and performance across those three titles.
However, I’m thrilled to report that Pokémon Legends: Z-A decisively puts an end to that trend. It continues the successful gameplay experimentation of its predecessors by boldly transforming the meticulously crafted turn-based battle system into an engaging, action-oriented experience. Critically, it achieves this by focusing on a more manageable world scope, resulting in a game that feels tighter, more polished, and significantly more enjoyable than anything we’ve seen from the series in years.
The entirety of Pokémon Legends: Z-A unfolds within Lumiose City, a bustling, Paris-inspired metropolis I fondly remember from Pokémon X and Y, which took place five years prior to this new adventure. A sudden surge of Wild Pokémon invading the city has led to escalating tensions between them and the human inhabitants, necessitating the creation of ‘Wild Zones’ to maintain separation. You arrive by train into this charged atmosphere as a young adult (yes, an actual adult, not a ten-year-old! Your companions even discuss jobs and rent, a refreshing change!), initially without a clear purpose beyond tourism. Soon, you’re recruited by Team MZ, a group dedicated to protecting the city by day and proving their strength nightly through a local competition: the Z-A Royale.
The game’s setting is truly central to its narrative and themes, a rarity in the Pokémon series. The way characters and the story so intimately focus on Lumiose as a community strongly evokes memories of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. By not requiring you to traverse immense, empty landscapes on a generic badge-collecting quest, Z-A allows for a deeper exploration of its characters. You form genuine bonds with a group of friends who regularly assist you in battles and other tasks, developing relationships far beyond the superficial rivalries of past games.
Lumiose City is also brimming with side quests, offering abundant opportunities to connect with its diverse inhabitants. Intriguingly, most of these characters aren’t typical Pokémon trainers. You might find yourself helping a Furfrou groomer teach her Scyther new styling tricks, assisting a perfume maker in sampling Pokémon odors, luring mischievous Trubbish away from a cafe, or chasing Pokémon disrupting an electrical worker’s ‘Holovator.’ Much like the charmingly bizarre side quests in the Yakuza games, these encounters are often delightfully silly, featuring creative and eccentric scenarios where your character inexplicably emerges as the most capable individual in the room. With over 100 side quests involving everything from battles and specific Pokémon catches to teaching moves, trading, evolving, item acquisition, and even parkour, completing them all in the 35 hours it took me to finish the main campaign and some post-game content proved to be a substantial, rewarding challenge.
Never before has a Pokemon game’s setting been so integral to its story and themes.
Continuing the comparison to the Yakuza series (I promise, this is the last one!), Z-A’s narrative is deeply civic-minded. Your primary objective isn’t merely to become stronger or complete a Pokedex; it’s about training to protect your new home city. As you progress, you encounter various characters with conflicting visions for Lumiose City’s prosperity. Z-A thoughtfully grapples with real-world ideas, exploring the complexities that arise when different groups—human and Pokémon alike—share the same space with diverse needs, and who should be prioritized when conflicts arise. The game doesn’t offer simplistic answers but instead provides compelling metaphors for civic and environmental issues, consistently emphasizing compassion in finding solutions.
A notable drawback, however, is the absence of voice acting. While I’ve played Pokémon games for so long without it that its omission didn’t generally disrupt my experience during general gameplay and text box reading, it became glaringly apparent during major story cutscenes. Seeing characters dramatically gesture and move their mouths in complete silence was jarring and broke immersion. It’s high time Game Freak catches up with other story-driven games and incorporates voice actors, at least for pivotal narrative moments.
Speaking of Game Freak needing to modernize, let’s address performance.
On newer Nintendo Switch models, Z-A runs remarkably well, delivering a smooth and consistent 60 frames per second. While NPCs and objects still appear somewhat abruptly, it’s a vast improvement over the erratic pop-in seen in previous titles like Scarlet and Violet. I encountered no agonizingly slow character animations or game-breaking bugs; none of my Pokémon got stuck in the environment. Loading screens are so quick that reading the tips on them is a challenge. Overall, I played through the entire game with performance rarely crossing my mind, which is a testament to how far Z-A has come compared to its two predecessors.
However, for players on older Nintendo Switch models, the experience isn’t quite as smooth. Loading screens are a bit longer, and the environment can appear shimmery when rotating the camera, with some textures noticeably blurrier or lower quality. The framerate aims for 30 FPS but often struggles to maintain it, leading to noticeable choppiness during busy scenes. Object and character pop-in issues are also more significant at closer distances. For instance, an early cutscene might show a crowd that vanishes when the scene ends, only to slowly materialize as you approach. While none of these issues are game-breaking, they accumulate to make the game feel less polished. If Scarlet and Violet hadn’t set such a low bar, I’d be harsher, but for those accustomed to previous Switch 1 Pokémon games, this will still feel like an upgrade. The game itself remains great, but I sincerely hope this is the last Pokémon title developed for older Switch hardware, as these performance compromises are becoming tiresome.
Despite the improved performance, Z-A’s visuals aren’t uniformly impressive. A common criticism is that Lumiose City often looks plain and uninspired. Many building exteriors repeat, appearing as flat, two-dimensional images with painted-on windows and balconies, akin to a Looney Tunes backdrop. While there are some visually distinct areas like a snow-covered Wild Zone, a graveyard, and a sandy region, much of Lumiose consists of repetitive parks, cafes, and paving stones. Most buildings remain inaccessible.
Yet, Lumiose being visually uninteresting doesn’t mean it’s uninteresting to explore. Z-A largely remedies a major flaw I found in both Arceus and Scarlet/Violet: their vast, empty worlds lacked compelling reasons for deep exploration. Those games aimed for grand scale but delivered open areas devoid of true detail, filled with repetitive Pokémon and scattered, meaningless items. Their caves were bland tunnels, mountaintops barren, and landmarks rarely offered worthwhile rewards. Z-A is different.
By intentionally shrinking the world to a more manageable size, Game Freak invested the time and creativity to populate it with thoughtfully placed rewards. Sometimes these are items such as TMs or collectible Colorful Screws, found at the end of surprisingly engaging platforming segments. More often, the true rewards are rare Pokémon. While most are confined to Wild Zones, some genuinely exciting monsters lurk in the city streets. Initially, you’ll encounter common Pokémon: Pidgeys and Fletchlings pecking around in parks, Kakuna dangling from trees, or maybe a Trubbish munching on some garbage. But persist in your exploration, and you’ll discover alleyways, courtyards, and rooftops concealing rarer finds: an Ariados dropping from a sewer ceiling, Gastly appearing in a dark corner at night, or a lone Eevee trotting down a secluded backroad. I vividly remember a moment of excitement upon reaching a difficult rooftop only to find a rare Dratini. These moments breathe life into Lumiose and make it a true joy to explore.
Indeed, there’s so much to commend that I’ve almost overlooked Z-A’s most groundbreaking innovation: its battle system. Pokémon is now an action game! The last vestiges of the turn-based system have been jettisoned, and it’s fantastic!
It’s truly remarkable how effectively Game Freak translated the familiar elements of monsters, moves, status effects, items, and types into a completely different genre. Instead of waiting for turns, you control your character directly on the battlefield while your Pokémon engages in combat. By default, your Pokémon follows you, offering an indirect but interesting way to influence their positioning and even dodge incoming attacks. Holding ZL causes your Pokémon to focus on its opponent, allowing you to select and unleash moves. In battles against wild Pokémon, you must simultaneously maneuver your character out of harm’s way, as they can inflict damage or even knock you out, adding a compelling new layer of strategy to how you position both yourself and your monster for optimal offense and defense.
It’s impressive how well Game Freak managed to translate combat into a completely different genre.
Based on early trailers, I initially worried this shift would devolve into mindlessly spamming offensive moves, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The indirect movement system, though initially a bit clunky, introduces a rich strategic layer of positioning, blending dodging with attacking. The moves themselves are wonderfully complex, both in their variety and in how Game Freak adapted them to the action genre while preserving their essence. Short-range moves, for instance, are quick but expose you to danger, while long-range attacks require a wind-up but keep you safe at a distance. Moves like Protect and Detect are reconfigured as parries, and area-of-effect moves like Fire Spin and Sand Trap create ground hazards that you can strategically lure enemies into.
Status effects have also received a significant overhaul: paralysis drastically slows movement, while confusion might cause your Pokémon to wander unpredictably. Mega Evolutions are revamped with even more intricate layers, including a meter to fill, the ability to Mega Evolve multiple Pokémon in a single battle, and ‘Plus Moves’—powerful attacks mirroring Mega Evolved Pokémon capabilities, usable by any team member under specific conditions.
One of the system’s greatest strengths is its intuitive nature, rewarding veteran Pokémon knowledge within this new framework. Everything largely behaves as you’d expect. While I hope the core Pokémon series doesn’t abandon turn-based battles entirely, I would love for the Legends spin-off to continue evolving this action system. Arceus revolutionized Pokémon catching; Z-A has masterfully revolutionized the other crucial half of the series. I can’t wait to see how the competitive community embraces this new meta.
Beyond the innovative combat, the campaign itself offers varied challenges. Casual players might find some sections, like the Z-A Royale, a bit too easy. Here, you earn points by defeating trainers to climb ranks, but the battles often feel like a joke. Sneaking up on opponents for an advantageous first strike is trivially easy, often leading to quick victories. While this might encourage rapid progression for monetary rewards, it diminishes the sense of accomplishment, especially when the story abruptly boosts you 17 ranks at once. It might prevent the game from being an agonizing 100-hour grind, but it certainly makes the Royale feel a bit silly.
However, the game isn’t without its tougher moments. Wild Areas can present challenges with powerful Alpha Pokémon summoning smaller allies to overwhelm you. The most enjoyable and difficult encounters are the story battles against Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon. These formidable foes are aggressive, often targeting your trainer directly, forcing a delicate balance of dodging and strategic Pokémon positioning to chip away at their large health bars. Some Rogue Mega Evolutions feature devastating second-phase attacks, from transforming the arena into a bullet-hell to creating copies or executing surprise swipe attacks. Game Freak has clearly gone to great lengths to ensure each new Mega Evolution shines in these memorable encounters. Just wait until you face Mega Starmie!
Verdict
Pokémon Legends: Z-A finally feels like Game Freak hitting its stride in the 3D Pokémon era. Lumiose City, though not always visually stunning, is engaging to explore thanks to exciting Pokémon encounters, well-developed characters, and amusing side quests. These elements combine to deliver a more intimate and emotionally mature Pokémon story. The game’s complete overhaul of its battle system from turn-based to action works surprisingly well, offering an intuitive experience for veterans and casual players alike, while also hinting at intriguing possibilities for competitive play. Although performance on older Nintendo Switch models could use some improvement, it’s a significant step up from its predecessors and even better on newer Switch hardware. After years of feeling a sense of quiet resignation at the end of a Pokémon review, it’s truly refreshing to feel genuinely excited to keep playing for many more hours.