Pokémon Legends: Z-A is not just a sequel to The Pokémon Company’s latest spin-off/experiment to its traditional Pokémon series, but also the first Pokémon game launching on Nintendo Switch 2. Though I’m not convinced the experience will be great on Switch, after 30 minutes of hands-on time with it on Switch 2, I’m starting to believe this will be the best Pokémon game in years.
Before diving into what I played, I have to say: it’s the first Pokémon game this generation that I legitimately think looks good. Perhaps it’s the extra power of the Switch 2; perhaps Game Freak’s beating around Pokémon Violet and Scarlet’s launch put an increased focus internally on the company’s visuals. Regardless, Pokémon Legends: Z-A looks awesome, and – I still kind of can’t believe this even though I saw it with my own eyes – it runs at a buttery smooth 60 FPS. I didn’t see any noticeable drops during my half-hour with it, even with a lot of effects on screen.
My demo consisted of two parts: three trainer battles within a nighttime-exclusive battle zone, and a fight against a Mega-Evolved Absol. Stay with me here: Pokémon Legends: Z-A’s combat reminds me most of Final Fantasy XII, something I previously suspected more and more as I heard more and more about its combat. It’s real-time, but rather than mashing buttons to attack, you select moves in real-time that your Pokémon performs, then, while waiting for that move’s cooldown to complete, use other moves. All the while, I’m dodging and running to get my Pokémon out of harm’s way and utilizing stat-affecting moves to prime the opponent’s Pokémon for my next move.
It’s an exhilarating change to the Pokémon formula, and its MMO-like cooldown-focused combat reminds me of Final Fantasy XII’s hybrid combat that fell somewhere between real-time and the timed combat of its MMO predecessor, Final Fantasy XI. I like switching Pokémon on the fly, using my knowledge of effectiveness to bring the right one out from my party, and I especially like sneaking up on unaware trainers to start the fight with a big advantage. These battles were simple, but I can already see how the challenge could ramp up in the full game.
In fact, I got a taste of that challenge in a 1v1 fight between my Lucario (capable of mega-evolution) and a Mega-evolved Absol. Not only did I have to balance my attack moves with my defensive ones like Protect to avoid fainting, but as the trainer, I had to dodge out of harm’s way to prevent Absol from hurting me. Though Absol began the fight Mega-evolved, Lucario didn’t. I had to attack Absol to build up Lucario’s Mega-evolution gauge and pick up orbs Absol released when I stunned it. With that gauge full, I was able to really deal some damage to Absol, and it’s clear the key to winning these fights is Mega-evolution and keeping your Pokémon in that state by collecting orbs to refill the gauge in real-time.
This fight against Absol felt like an MMO boss fight where I had to pay attention to its moves and react and counter appropriately. Absol even had an AOE attack that blanketed the arena in damage after a brief charging period I could interrupt with a super-effective attack. This fight wasn’t easy – I actually lost my first go – but it’s a level of challenge I’m happy to see in a Pokémon game. Even my second bout was a challenge, and I completed the fight with just seconds to spare before my demo ended.
I’ll be honest, at first, I felt a bit embarrassed losing this fight on my first attempt – I can’t remember the last time a Pokémon game challenged me this much. But then I realized what this could mean for the full game. In the mainline Generation games, I rarely resort to using stat-affecting and non-offensive moves; it’s not all that necessary to win fights, including the Elite Four and Champion. The fact that it was essential in my fight against Absol tells me Pokémon Legends: Z-A is going to challenge me in ways I’ve yearned many years for. And I can’t wait.
