New ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ Gameplay Trailer: Kalos Reimagined

Pokémon Legends: Z-A was first announced at the 2024 Pokémon Presents, the game debuted with a cinematic trailer teasing a redevelopment project for the Kalos’ region central hub, Lumiose City. One year later The Pokémon Company has finally released gameplay footage and an extended look for its next mainline game. Watch the Pokémon Legends: Z-A gameplay trailer below.

What Is ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ About?

In Pokémon Legends: Z-A we will experience the Lumiose City Urban Redevelopment program, a plan meant to make Lumiose City a place where people and Pokemon can co-exist. The redevelopment program is conducted by Quasartico Inc, a new corporation in Kalos created by company CEO, Jett. The gameplay also teases Zygarde’s 10% forme as well as Zygarde Cells, how Zygarde will impact the story this time around is yet to be revealed. You can view the Gameplay trailer and extended look below:

What Happens In The Pokémon Legends: Z-A Trailer?

In the gameplay trailer, we’re introduced to our new protagonists who share a shocking resemblance to Professor Sycamore and Grace from the Pokémon X & Pokémon Y games. We then transition to a shot of the Prism Tower. We cut to various locations in Lumiose City with people and Pokémon such as Clauncher, Fufrou and Sandile followed by a look at our starters for this new game. Chikortia and Totodile are from the Johto region while Tepig is from the Unova region. We see the starter Pokémon interacting with the protagonists as well as a tease of the new battle system. We also get a shot at the trainer walking on and jumping from rooftops.

We get a glimpse of our rival Urbain / Taunie (depending on which protagonist you choose at the start of the game) followed by the return of Mega Evolution with familiar faces such as Mega Lucario, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Charizard X and others though there were no new mega evolutions teased. We get additional shots of some new characters we’ll see in Pokémon Legends Z-A such as Jett and Vinnie who are the CEO  of Quasartico Inc and Jett’s Secretary respectively. We see the return of AZ who now owns Hotel Z and his partner Pokémon Eternal Flower Floette before witnessing a shot of Zygarde 10% Forme. After the logo, we see a Rotom Phone teasing a “promotion match” which may be this game’s equivalent of the Pokémon League Championship.

Which Features Are In Pokémon Legends: Z-A?

The extended look for Pokémon Legends: Z-A gave us all the details on gameplay mechanics but old and new, see all the available mechanics below:

• Wild Zones – In Pokémon Legends: Z-A most Pokémon reside in the all-new wild zones, dedicated areas where you can battle and catch Pokémon. Each zone is labelled with a different number though and scattered throughout Lumiose City. The catching mechanic first introduced in Pokémon Legends: Arceus also makes a return.
• Real-Time Battles – Pokémon Legends: Z-A will ditch the turn-based battle system from previous games in favor of an all new Real-Time Battle system. Good Timing and successful Dodging are essential to victory in this new system. Your Pokémon’s moves also come with a cooldown now.
• Mega Evolution – First introduced in Pokémon X & Pokémon Y, Mega Evolutions make a return in Pokémon Legends: Z-A turning the tide of battle by enhancing the power of each move.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches worldwide on Nintendo Switch systems later this year.

Thanks for reading this article about the Pokémon Legends: Z-A gameplay trailer. If you enjoyed it, consider checking out the rest of our Pokémon Presents coverage and our Gaming section.