Pokemon Legends Z-A's real-time battles injects the franchise with some much-needed excitement

After getting to play Pokémon Legends Z-A for roughly an hour, we came away thinking that the switch to real-time pokemon battling is absolutely the right decision.

The fact we’re heading back to the Kalos region for Pokémon Legends Z-A is rather fitting, since I know I’m not the only one who thinks the series is well overdue for a mega evolution. Although the franchise’s Nintendo Switch era has been trucking along just fine (especially financially), Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and particularly Pokemon Sword and Shield didn’t exactly make the jump to HD smoothly.

Pokemon X and Y, meanwhile, with its flashy 3D graphics, advanced evolution system, and debut of the Fairy type, was the last time I truly loved the series as a longtime fan. Lumiose City holds a lot of great memories for me.

It’s with this in mind that I went into my hour-long demo session primed and ready for Pokemon Legends Z-A to overwhelm me with nostalgia in a bid to regain my attention. And while the return of this familiar, French-inspired setting and certain classic Pokemon assures that, I still came away most impressed by everything this second Legends game hopes to do new.

For the first time in a long while it feels like developer Game Freak is taking actual risks. Will all of them pay off by the time the full game releases? Possibly. For now, however, there’s plenty to be excited about.

The big new feature this time around, of course, is the switch from turn-based to real-time Pokemon battling. Some player might see such a significant change as heinous, but here it helps give Z-A a better chance at forging its own identity.

And honestly, if you’re going to experiment with a fundamental system like this anywhere, it makes sense to do it in a Legends game. Battles are now faster paced as a result, with different tactical factors to consider that add a greater sense of urgency – for both you and the AI trainers you fight.

The first part of my preview saw me thrown into one of Lumiose City’s Wild Zones, which are available to access during the day and are can be accessed by entering any one of its neon green barriers. Exploring this area, though pretty confined, was a good way to catch me up to speed with most of the real-time battle system’s quirks, which largely boils down to sending out a Pokemon from your party and deploying different moves that are all tied to cooldowns.

This saves you from endlessly spamming Thunderbolt as, say, Pikachu, all while keeping you on your toes since you never know what move the wild Pokemon you’re battling might deploy next.

Fights held within Battle Zones play much the same, with the exception that you’re facing off against specific trainers littered around the area instead of cutesy Pokemon that don’t have a master. Segmenting both Wild and Trainer battles into separate parts of the city in this way is probably the correct design choice since it prevents the risk of having to engage in fights upon every step.

Having said that, I do worry that constantly placing up barriers indicated by different colours (based on the type of battles you can expect) might prevent Lumiose City from feeling like a living, breathing location as much as Game Freak is probably hoping. Right now, despite a decent level of verticality, this new rendition makes Lumiose City feel like an extremely gamey setting.

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Easy as ABC

That being said, one of the aspects I was most intrigued to see is how iconic Pokemon moves like Bite, Waterfall, Sleep Powder, and others would be depicted in real time. For the most part, Game Freak seems to be doing a good job, with the sight of Gyarados’ whirlpool swirling around any foe I threw it at always being appropriately bombastic and eye-catching.

Others, meanwhile, are less explosive by design, but so far Z-A is doing a lot to bring a slightly new perspective to such classic Pokemon staples. Even more so that Pokemon Legends: Arceus, there’s a clear attempt to reinvent familiar elements and push them forward.

Naturally, not everything with real-time battling is executed perfectly. For one thing, moving too far away from your opponent in a bid to catch a breather will see them gain back their health. Then there’s the fact that Z-A only ever lets you control your customisable trainer as opposed to the individual Pokemon.

It works, for the most part, yet there were times – particularly against a boss battle against a Mega Evolved Victreebel at the end of my demo – where my Houndoom would walk into pools of ejected poison through no fault of my own. It’s not… perfect. But I can forgive most of these real-time battling pitfalls for just how refreshing and faster paced it feels compared to the turn-based fights seen from the main series.

If there’s one aspect my time playing Pokemon Legends Z-A didn’t do a good job of highlighting, it’s the story. Granted, I fully expect this return trip to the Kalos region to play it mostly safe in this regard, casting players as an up-and-coming trainer with the goal of being the best ‘like no-one ever was’.

Even this has been given a slightly different spin, though, since gym leaders have been done away with in favour of a battle league where your goal will be to work your way up through the ranks of the Z-A Royale. However, I’m hopeful that there’s more than a few other story strands to follow, particularly since Lumiose City seems to be experiencing an outbreak of rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon – something that shouldn’t be possible without a Mega Bracelet-wearing trainer.

Ultimately, then, I came away from my brief time playing Pokemon Legends Z-A hopeful – more than I have been since the days of X and Y. Hopeful that Game Freak has found a handful of new ways to explore and enhance familiar franchise staples, primarily through the implementation of real-time battling, yes, but by also fundamentally shaking up your character’s main goal and locking the story down to just one city.

Would voice acting and less basic graphical style be nice? Sure, yet I’ve given up expecting this from a series that seems fearful of moving with the times. Pokemon Legends Z-A, however, if nothing else, represents a concerted attempt to do the opposite.

Pokemon Legends Z-A is scheduled to release on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 16, 2025.