Today was Pokémon Day, marking the release of the original Game Boy titles in Japan, and Nintendo and The Pokémon Company used the occasion to reveal what’s coming next for the franchise. The big news was the announcement of the next major core entry in the series, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which won’t be coming until 2025. This means 2024 will be the first year in a long time without any new console Pokémon game, although fans may not actually be that upset by that, as many have been urging Game Freak to take more time with their games following the messy launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
We only got a gameplay-free teaser for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but presumably, it will feature the more open-ended gameplay and focus on hunting and catching critters rather than on battling like its predecessor Pokémon Legends: Arceus. The trailer does imply players will now explore a more urban environment, specifically Lumiose City, which is located in the Kalos region first introduced in Pokémon X and Y. The fact that the new game is set in the world of X and Y also has fans speculating mechanics from that game, like Mega Evolutions, may be returning as well. But hey, enough of my preamble, check out the teaser for Pokémon Legends: Z-A for yourself, below.
“An exciting new adventure awaits players within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon.”
The other major announcement from the Pokémon Presents show was Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, a new mobile version of the classic TGC. In addition to being able to trade and battle others via your phone, the cards will now have new 3D effects, including “immersive” cards that have full diorama-like scenes you can explore. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket will launch sometime in 2024.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will launch on Nintendo Switch sometime in 2025, which confirms that we’ll still be getting games on Nintendo’s very mature hardware next year. Of course, the big question is, with Switch 2 likely launching in early 2025, will Z-A also be on Nintendo’s new hardware? Nothing has been confirmed, but I suspect it will indeed be a crossgen game. That may explain why we didn’t see any gameplay, as they’ll probably want to promote the game using the Switch 2 version. But again, nothing’s confirmed – we’ll have to wait and see how things pan out.
