Pokemon Legends ZA (PLZA) released for the Nintendo Switch with a Switch 2 enhanced version on Oct,16, 25 and I being basically a lifelong Pokemon fan had to check this one out because it belongs to the “Legends” spin off series which is basically the second in command when there isn’t any main series entries to release as the last main series games were Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in 2022 and those games released with mostly negative reviews due to visual’s, performance issues and most famously the tons of bugs the game included on release.

Now you might be asking, “How will this affect Pokemon Legends ZA?” and to that I say, it brings uneasiness to the release of a game as I was a bit nervous to go into this game, but I did anyway. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be a pretty accurate description of my feelings as, I pretty much enjoyed everything.

Before I get deep into my thoughts, I’ll provide a brief explanation of what this game is.

Pokemon Legends ZA is a sequel essentially to the 2013 3DS games Pokemon X and Y as it was a tradition for Pokemon to release a third definite version of games and many people awaited “Pokemon Z” to be announced, but it never was until Pokemon Legends ZA (PLZA) was announced and everyone online accepted it as the game they swore would happen in 2015.

The story of PLZA takes place 5 years after Pokemon X & Y in Lumoise City as the sole area the game has to explore. Now this sounds bad but there is so much to do in Lumoise City that, it makes you kind of appreciate this area more. Now one of this game’s strongest features is the character designs,.soundtrack and the new gameplay. I saw lots of love online for the new characters as each one of them has something to love to love except one after a certain point of the game, but that’s me spreading an agenda and not the objective truth.

The gameplay being a more “live” sense made battles feel more fun and less of a drag, as moves are now on a cooldown system instead of the traditional sense of a Pokemon battle. The characters were also a surprise to me as I didnt expect to like as many characters as I did my personal favorite being Naveen as just anything revolving this character was pretty good for Pokemon game standards he also has some comedic interactions with the other characters.

I interviewed a fan their opinion on the game and they said this “I’ve spent almost 100 hours in Legends ZA. As an avid Pokemon player, Legends ZA is a nice change of pace for the Pokemon series. There is a lot you can do in the game and the real time battle system really changes how you think in a battle compared to the turn based system in other games. I like how the story incorporates the characters you meet throughout the game more than previous games. The soundtrack references songs from the previous games that take place in the same setting which I really enjoyed as well as having some new themes that I regularly listen to. Definitely one of my favorite Pokemon games as of late”. I fully agree with the latter statement of this being my favorite of the Nintendo switch mainline games as Pokemon Sword and Shield felt alright as they were meant for new beginners and being kind of lacking in the story while Scarlet and Violet were a buggy mess with limited customization and meh visuals but a great story. PLZA succeeds at both aspects of making a Pokemon game good and memorable.This game is a pretty solid entry into the Pokemon franchise however it took them until the Nintendo Switch 2 to release to release a game without major cons. That being said I still had tons of fun with it.

If you’d like to watch the video version here it is https://youtu.be/qZ1vYk69GUg.