Pokémon Legends Z-A is shaping up to be a pretty strong entry in the sprawling Pokémon franchise. It has already showcased improved visuals from the somewhat technically lackluster Scarlet and Violet, the introduction of familiar and new faces, and, perhaps most importantly, the brand-new real-time combat that will completely change how people play a Pokémon game. It is all very impressive and somewhat reminiscent of the Pokémon Legends Arceus reveal, which, outside of its somewhat choppy framerate, proved to be a massive hit with fans, even before more concrete details about the game came out.

Players and Nintendo want Pokémon Legends Z-A to be just as good, if not better, than the groundbreaking Pokémon Legends Arceus. However, while it is doing a lot right, Z-A is missing the key ingredient that made Arceus such an enormous success. In one fell swoop, Game Freak has abandoned the defining trait of the Legends series, thus potentially condemning Z-A to feeling like just another mainline game, rather than a part of this once-unique spin-off series. It is a shame, but by leaving behind Arceus' best feature, Z-A can only ever be half the game that it was.

Pokémon Legends Z-A Is Missing The Time Travel Element

It Looks Exactly Like Pokémon X & Y

After playing Pokémon Legends Arceus, I assumed that the "Legends" part of the title referred to both the titular legendary, and the fact that it was set in the past. After all, a legend is a tale of heroics that happened long ago, something people can learn from, aspire to, or enjoy hearing about. That word is also what separates the main Pokémon games and this spin-off. It lets you know that you're not playing just another Pokémon game, but rather a brand-new, fresh, and unique experience unlike anything else. Essentially, that word holds an immense amount of significance.

So, it's disappointing that Game Freak ignored its importance with Z-A, a game that is a part of the same series but has seemingly little to do with it. Of course, it will focus on a specific legendary, but that only ever felt like a small part of Arceus anyway. It was a part of Legends Arceus' narrative, but the encoming experience had little to do with it. The important differentiating factor between Legends Arceus and the mainline games was its setting, one that not only allowed it to explore Pokémon's rich history but also embodied an entirely different tone.

Pokémon Legends Arceus was a more contemplative and melancholic experience, even despite its quirky characters. It is a game that tells the player to slow down, not rush through its many natural environments, but rather take in their surroundings, breathe, and think about what to do next. It did this through its gameplay as much as the physical surroundings, forcing players to position themselves before throwing Pokeballs, to be aware of their surrounding dangers, and to sneak through treacherous environments. Not only is Z-A not remotely difficult, but it has also robbed itself of that change in tone.

Arceus Succeeded Because It Showed A Different Side To Pokémon

It Felt New Among A Sea Of Overly Familiar Games

This is all because Pokémon Legends Z-A's setting is neither set far enough into the past nor the future to really encapsulate a different side of Pokémon. It is ostensibly an extension of Pokémon X & Y, with Lumiose City serving as a great backdrop, but one that is indistinguishable from X & Y's iteration. Arceus wasn't just Diamond and Pearl again, but an entirely different experience, one that didn't rely on knowledge of those games for one to enjoy it. Rather, it told their origin in an interesting way while offering players a glimpse at a side of Pokémon rarely seen.

Outside the underrated Pokémon Conquest, players rarely get to travel to the series' past. Each game has a contemporary setting with a slight futuristic twist, which, while perfectly suitable for the mainline games, feels out of place for the Legends series. While I don't doubt that Z-A will, in some way, change its central location over the course of the game, it would have been far more interesting to see how Lumiose City became the sprawling metropolis it is in X & Y, rather than how it has developed in the handful of intervening years since X & Y's release date.

Z-A could have even explored what happened to Lumiose City hundreds, if not thousands, of years after the events of X & Y, and what the future means for a world that relies so heavily on its Pokémon for a number of tasks.

Z-A could have explored what happened to Lumiose City hundreds of years after the events of X & Y, and what the future means for a world that relies so heavily on its Pokémon. Perhaps the world of Pokémon has a technological revolution that sees the tasks once carried out by Pokémon become completely automated, thus rendering them useless, at least practically speaking. Perhaps Lumiose City becomes the last beacon of hope for those who still want Pokémon to be at the core of their society, and the game could have explored the role of Pokémon through that lens.

Pokémon Z-A Needs Its Own Unique Twist

It Needs To Stand Out From The Mainline Games

Regardless, Pokémon Z-A needs its own unique twist, much like how Arceus leveraged its new setting to create a completely different Pokémon experience. Of course, Z-A has revamped its combat significantly, which is a huge innovation for the franchise. However, while that will be interesting and a slight deviation for the first few hours, it isn't enough to make Z-A stand out, especially as future mainline Pokémon games will likely adopt its combat model. Z-A needs something more, something fundamental to its narrative, to its world, to its tone and atmosphere, much like Arceus did.

Otherwise, frankly, what is the point? If Pokémon Z-A is just another Pokémon game with the same setting as a previous entry in the mainline series, just with new combat, then why isn't it Gen 10? What really sets Z-A apart from all the other Pokémon games that came before it? I can point to a number of things that make Arceus a "Legends" game. It isn't just the aforementioned dramatic shift in setting, tone, and exploration, but also how it completely changed how players progress, putting a far greater importance on the Pokédex for the very first time.

Pokémon Legends Z-A needs to earn the Legends name by doing something more than being just another Pokémon game. It can't just be that a legendary is at the heart of the story. Otherwise, that would make Scarlet and Violet a Legends game, as they quite literally make their legendaries a part of their narrative. Pokémon Legends Z-A has absolutely missed a huge opportunity to take its city-based narrative in a fresh and interesting new direction, and that is a shame for fans and a worrying indication for the future of this spin-off series.