Pokémon Legends: Z-A
is a 2025 action role-playing game developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Part of the ninth generation of Pokémon video games, it is a sequel to the sixth-generation titles Pokémon X and Y and the second entry in the Pokémon Legends sub-series, following Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The game takes place entirely in the Kalos region's Lumiose City, five years after the events of X and Y.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced in February 2024 as an exclusive to the original Switch console, before it was later announced that it would also receive an enhanced port for the Switch 2. It was released on 16 October 2025, to generally positive reviews. Critics praised the battle system, but found the city setting to be visually restricting. Paid downloadable content, Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension, was announced on 12 September 2025, and was released on 10 December 2025.
Gameplay
At the start of the game, three starter Pokémon are available: Chikorita and Totodile, and Tepig. As opposed to previous Pokémon games which featured turn-based combat, Legends: Z-A uses a real-time combat system that takes into account the positioning of the player character, their Pokémon, and the timing of used moves, and allows Pokémon to move around and dodge attacks while in a battle. During Pokémon Battles, the player can fill a gauge by collecting Mega Energy in order to temporarily Mega Evolve their current Pokémon, although the length of time their Pokémon remains Mega Evolved can also be increased by continuing to damage the opponent or opponents. New to the title is the ability to launch pre-emptive strikes on opposing trainers that wander a specific place in Lumiose City called a Battle Zone during nighttime hours, in a nightly competition called the Z-A Royale, while opposing trainers are capable of the same technique and can stun your Pokémon for a few seconds. There are also side quests in the form of bonus cards that the player can find and fulfill the objectives of to achieve points for accessing rank promotion battles.The game also has a multiplayer mode called the Battle Club, where up to 4 players can participate in Link Battles to defeat the most Pokémon in a given time period, or Ranked Battles, where players battle each other directly for rank points and earn exclusive Mega Stones. Character customization also returns with improved options.
Plot
Setting
The game takes place in the Kalos region, which was first introduced in the 2013 video games Pokémon X and Y. The plot takes place five years after those games' events, during an urban redevelopment project in Lumiose City, which is based on Paris, being undertaken by a company called Quasartico, Inc. The game takes place entirely within Lumiose City, where Pokémon coexist with humans in locations known as Wild Zones. During nighttime hours, Battle Zones appear for the Z-A Royale, where trainers wander and can challenge and be challenged by the player to Pokémon battles. The player character's goal is to advance from Rank Z to Rank A via promotion battles with certain trainers to have a wish granted. During the course of the story, the Legendary Pokémon Zygarde takes an interest in the player character. There is also a new, mysterious phenomenon within Lumiose City where wild Pokémon spontaneously Mega Evolve and go berserk. One of the player character's goals is to subdue these Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon in the form of real-time boss battles similar to the Noble Pokémon battles within the prior title, Pokémon Legends: Arceus.Story
Lumiose City is in the midst of an urban redevelopment project led by Quasartico Inc. to restore the city's condition after an incident involving Team Flare five years prior, creating "wild zones" where Pokémon live in the city. The player character arrives as a tourist to Lumiose City, and befriends either Taunie or Urbain, who gives the player their starter Pokémon – Chikorita, Tepig, or Totodile – and brings the player to Hotel Z owned by the 3,000-year old AZ and his Floette. The player then joins the citywide Z-A Royale tournament, where participants compete to rise from the lowest Rank Z to the highest Rank A, with those reaching Rank A being granted a wish by Quasartico.As the player easily defeats trainers in the lower ranks, they attract the attention of Quasartico and its CEO Jett, who recruits the player to handle "Rogue Mega Evolution", a recent phenomenon in Lumiose City resulting in wild Pokémon Mega Evolving on their own. The player's rank is raised to Rank F, and they defeat multiple Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon throughout the city with the help of the Hotel Z-based Team MZ as they continue to progress in the Z-A Royale. In doing so, they also attract the attention of the Legendary Pokémon Zygarde. After defeating a former Team Flare member to reach Rank A, the player learns from former Team Flare leader Lysandre – now known as "L" having survived the destruction of the ultimate weapon due to Zygarde's intervention, but cursed with the same immortality afflicting AZ – that a device called "Ange" within Prism Tower at the center of Lumiose City had been emitting Mega Energy which had caused the Rogue Mega Evolutions. The player also learns that AZ was responsible for the construction of "Ange", which was activated by Team Flare's actions in X and Y.
The device is activated one night, leading the player and Team MZ to the tower. Taunie/Urbain successfully reaches the device with AZ's Floette, but the device malfunctions and transforms the tower into a gigantic, metallic plant monster threatening to destroy the city. The device also showcases the move 'Light of Ruin' from Mega Floette, where Zygarde swoops in to shield the player. With the help of other trainers from the Z-A Royale such as Grisham and Canari, the player and Zygarde successfully defeat the monster by Mega Evolving Zygarde and destroying the device. AZ watches from Hotel Z as Ange is destroyed, before dying shortly after. After Ange's destruction and AZ's burial in Wild Zone 4, Taunie/Urbain and the player agree to use their wishes from the Z-A Royale to restart the competition as the Infinite Z-A Royale.
''Mega Dimension''
With the crisis in Lumiose City averted, a visitor arrives on the rooftop of Hotel Z, revealed to be Kalos Champion Diantha's daughter Ansha and her companion, the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa. Ansha wanders off into an alternate dimension resembling Lumiose City with Team MZ in pursuit and fending off its unusually powerful wild Pokémon within, with a distortion appearing above Prism Tower. Corbeau of the Rust Syndicate contacts them and arranges a meeting concerning the dimension which they call "Hyperspace Lumiose", concluding that if left unchecked, it would merge with Lumiose City and trap its inhabitants within. Team MZ works with the Rust Syndicate as well as Quasartico's Vinnie and Shalour City's Gym Leader Korrina, along with Ansha to create donuts that allow them to use Hoopa's powers to make further trips into Hyperspace Lumiose. She also confides to the group of a wish to meet and capture a Legendary Pokémon she saw while inside and present it to her mother.The player, Taunie/Urbain, and Korrina investigate Hyperspace Lumiose, defeating Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon within. During their investigation, the player and Team MZ begin having shared nightmares. Corbeau eventually tracks the source of Hyperspace Lumiose, which is maintained and created by a Pokémon in the distortion above Prism Tower. With the aid from the other trainers from the Z-A Royale, the player, Korrina, and Taunie/Urbain enter the distortion and conclude based on their nightmares that the cause of Hyperspace Lumiose's expansion is the Mythical Pokémon Darkrai, having absorbed Mega Energy from Prism Tower during the crisis. After encountering a dream-like manifestation of AZ and saying their goodbyes, they confront Darkrai, with it undergoing Rogue Mega Evolution as well. The trio subdues Darkrai and the player captures it, ending the threat of Hyperspace Lumiose.
After Hyperspace Lumiose stabilizes, Team MZ and the Rust Syndicate identify the Legendary Pokémon Ansha has been pursuing as Rayquaza. Theorizing that the other two of the Hoenn region's super-ancient Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre are key to meeting it, Corbeau tasks Team MZ with entering their dimensions and capturing them. After defeating their Primal forms and acquiring them, the Rust Syndicate and Mable determine that Hyperspace Lumiose needs to react to a strong wish to meet it to appear. Korrina tells Ansha about Groudon and Kyogre, to which she reveals that her mother told her stories of the cataclysmic event caused by their Primal forms and Rayquaza undergoing the first recorded Mega Evolution to avert it. Her wish resonates with Hyperspace Lumiose, causing a distortion leading to Rayquaza's dimension to appear, allowing them to enter and confront it. Rayquaza undergoes Rogue Mega Evolution during the battle, and is successfully defeated and captured. The player presents it to Ansha, who declines taking it from them and instead decides to tell her mother about her adventures as well as staying in Lumiose with Team MZ.
Development and release
On 27 February 2024, Legends Z-A was announced during a Pokémon Presents presentation with a release window of '2025'. At the end of the trailer, the Mega Evolution mechanic, which was first introduced in X and Y, was also confirmed to return. During the next Pokémon Presents, on 27 February 2025, a second video was released, giving more information on the plot and gameplay elements with an updated release window of 'late 2025'. During the Nintendo Direct on 2 April 2025, it was confirmed that Pokémon Legends: Z-A would get an upgraded version on Nintendo Switch 2 alongside many other Nintendo Switch games. The game was released on 16 October 2025 for both Switch and Switch 2. Z-A was showcased again during a September 2025 Nintendo Direct, during which Mega Evolved forms for the X and Y starters were revealed. These forms were stated to be unlocked from the game's online ranked battles, with the Mega Stones for these forms split between three seasons. Alongside the base game reveals, a paid DLC was also announced: Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension. The DLC is centered around the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa and features the debut of two Mega forms of Raichu. The DLC was released on 10 December 2025.A demo of the game was made available for attendees of the 2025 Pokémon World Championships at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.