Former American President George W. Bush's famous and hilarious gaffe, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me— you can't get fooled again," unfortunately does not apply to my recent relationship with the Pokémon series. The actual proverb – fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me – is sadly a little too forgiving as well, for I've been fooled by Pokémon thrice in recent years, and I'm determined not to let it happen again with Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

Following a year of silence from The Pokémon Company and developer Game Freak, new information on Pokémon Legends: Z-A was finally shared on this year's Pokémon Day, February 27. The Lumiose City-set entry is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2022's Legends: Arceus, and the next game in a subseries that delightfully experiments with Pokémon's tried-and-true battle mechanics. I will not be buying Legends: Z-A, though, because the last three Pokémon games I purchased have left a bad taste in my mouth.

I Didn't Finish The Last 3 Pokémon Games I Bought At Full Price

Please Don't Yell At Me, I Know This Is My Own Fault

After being an avid Pokémon fan when I was younger, I took a bit of a hiatus from the series, partly due to never owning a 3DS. Between the releases of Black 2 and White 2 in 2012 and the two Let's Go games in 2018, I didn't play any Pokémon. My big return to the series was with Sword and Shield – Pokémon's transition to home consoles. Despite all of SwSh's myriad issues, I enjoyed coming back; I finished Sword, and thought it was at least a able starting point for Game Freak's foray into more modern 3D rendering.

I played Pokémon Black and White on the DS, but for some reason never felt compelled to play B2W2 on the same system.

In the following years, however, I would buy Brilliant Diamond, Legends: Arceus, and Violet all at full price, and I never went on to complete any of their main stories. I had already played Pearl back when it released, and found the remake fine but not captivating. Arceus was actually a decent evolution for the series, and I was convinced Pokémon couldn't go back to its original battle mechanics after such innovation. The repetition started to set in, though, and the story wasn't interesting enough to get me to stick it out.

I think I completed two gyms before realizing I was genuinely loathing my time with the game.

Worst of the three, I'm still upset that I purchased Pokémon Violet. Even with all the known technical issues, the glowing Pokémon SV reviews convinced me to give it a shot. I should have listened to my doubts; it ran terribly, looked even worse, and Pokémon's big debut into open-world gaming didn't even bring any of the good stuff from Arceus. I think I completed two gyms before realizing I was genuinely loathing my time with the game.

Sadly, these are still purchases. As is the case with most Nintendo exclusives, all three games (five if you want to count the dual releases) are still listed for their full price of $60. Four years later, a remake of a game that first came out in 2006 is being sold for full price. We're not here to relitigate Nintendo's brand protectiveness, but it's worth considering when looking ahead to Pokémon Legends: Z-A's release later in 2025.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is A Visual Catastrophe

The Largest Multimedia Franchise In The World Is Releasing 2025's Ugliest Game

This is beating the world's deadest horse at this point, but Pokémon games are visually atrocious, and as a consumer, it's becoming insulting. Sword and Shield were raked over the coals for their graphics, and the series has only negligibly improved in the six years since. Even more laughable, each new installment brings worse performance, with a myriad of bugs and horribly inconsistent frame rates.

The trees are somehow even worse than the ones Sword and Shield were endlessly lambasted for.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be no different, and its most recent trailer proves that. This is the gameplay's first impression, promotional material that was likely vetted thoroughly by Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo, yet the texture work, animations, and art design are so far below the industry average it's almost unbelievable.

The trailer includes a showdown between Totodile and Tepig to show off Z-A's new battle mechanics, which would otherwise be great steps for the series' gameplay if they weren't overshadowed by the sterile and flat environment. Bricks on the ground are blurry and have no texture; ivy growing on the walls has no depth and is unconvincing; the trees are somehow even worse than the ones Sword and Shield were endlessly lambasted for. Earlier in the trailer, three Sandiles barely have bespoke animations as they slither through the dirt. They look like they're clipping through the ground, with only a wisp of a dust cloud in the air to indicate it's on purpose.

It's also disheartening to see frames drop in the trailer. I can overlook some technical hiccups, like Breath of the Wild chugging in Korok Forest or Tears of the Kingdom turning into a slideshow when I've got too many cannons firing from my ramshackle vehicle, because those games are otherwise gorgeous and innovative. Pokémon's mainline art style through SwSh, Arceus, SV, and now Z-A is completely uninspired, and is frankly cheap considering the same franchise is known for incredible pixel work in games past, beautiful trading card art, and its long-running anime.

I Won't Be Buying Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Maybe Pokémon's Not For Me Anymore

I desperately want Pokémon to be good again. When Z-A was announced, I was actually a little excited; in my opinion, building on Arceus is clearly the way forward for the series. A Pokémon game set entirely in one city could be really interesting, and I could finally dabble in Z-A's Mega Evolutions after missing the excitement in X and Y. But I braced myself for the worst, and that's what I got on Pokémon Day.

The Pokémon Company seems content to release sub-par, even broken products. And why shouldn't it? Scarlet and Violet barely functioned on release, but still sold over 10 million copies in three days – not only a series record, but the best console-exclusive video game launch of all time, according to GamesRadar. All this tells me is that quality does not matter, because the Pokémon brand will sell regardless.

I've been tricked by my nostalgia three times in a row now, but the illusion is gone with Pokémon Legends: Z-A. It simply looks dated and cheap, so I will be content to sit this one out. It's going to enjoy tremendous sales, and I'll be happy for the Pokémon die-hards who have fun with it, but I've stubbornly learned my lesson that maybe it's time to just let go. Z-A proves that the Pokémon games series is content to rest on its laurels and release objectively bad products, so I won't be wasting my money.

Source: GamesRadar