Pokémon Legends: Z-A vs Arceus –  What’s New?

One of Nintendo’s biggest releases for the year will be Pokemon Legends ZA, the follow up to the surprise 2022 rethinking of the Pokemon franchise in Pokemon Legends Arceus. Arceus was a breath of fresh air for a franchise that had long since been crying out for a change from the shackles of routine – and it instantly went on to become one of the most beloved and popular Pokemon games of all time as a result.

Now, four and a half years later, we are getting a full follow-up to that game. But where it would have been very easy for Game Freak and The Pokemon Company to simply reskin Arceus and push out more of what players already loved, they have taken a very different tac with Legends ZA, which seems to be following in Arceus’ footsteps by keeping alive its spirit of experimentation and shaking things up, but going in completely different directions in the process. Here are ten critical differences between Legends ZA, and Legends Arceus. 

THE SETTING

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The most obvious and immediate difference between Legends Arceus and ZA is the setting – in that the two games go in entirely diametrically opposite directions with their respective settings. Arceus was set in the wilderness, in the untamed expanses of the Sinnoh region, and had players struggling to survive for themselves as they tried to explore, understand, and tame the wildlife. Legends ZA on the other hand is set entirely in one city – Lumiose City from 2013’s Pokemon X and Y. This makes this the first Pokemon game ever to take place in an entirely urban expanse, and makes ZA instantly different from its predecessor.

FOCUS ON TRAINER BATTLES

The other big difference – where Legends Arceus emphasized capturing Pokemon, to the extent that catching Pokemon was built into the main story of that game, ZA focuses on battling. One of the main objectives in the story is to climb the battle ranks as a trainer, from Z rank all the way up to A rank – and the way you do that is by getting into lots and lots of trainer battles throughout Lumiose City, and winning. You will still be catching Pokemon, of course – there are whole wild zones set up within Lumiose for that exact purpose – but it no longer appears to be the central, overarching goal for players like it was in Arceus.

MULTIPLAYER

This focus on trainer battles also means that ZA is far more focused on multiplayer than Legends Arceus ever was. Fans of that game may remember that while it did technically include online functionality, it was restricted mostly to trades with friends (which tied in well with that game’s focus on catching and completing the Pokedex). ZA is going to be more robust with its multiplayer functionality, with full support for PvP battles, for 2-4 players, including ranked and unranked modes. In fact, as of right now, there appear to be at least some key Pokemon that are impossible to access unless you participate in the multiplayer battles – so it is decidedly a bigger focus this time around.

BATTLE SYSTEM

We’ve spoken so much about the emphasis on trainer battles, but we haven’t actually talked about how the battles will work. Just like Legends Arceus represented the biggest shake up for the series’ longstanding battle system to date, with its blend of real time and turn based elements, as well as the addition of Agile and Strong styles, ZA represents an even bigger departure from the norm. The game, for the first time in the series’ history, ditches turn based battles entirely, instead embracing real time fights, with individual attacks mapped to cooldowns. This represents a complete reconcepting of the central conceit of how Pokemon games are supposed to play for the first time in, well, ever.

SET AFTER X AND Y

Speaking of the differences in setting, they extend not only to geography but also to chronology. You see, Legends Arceus was a prequel, taking place hundreds of years before any mainline Pokemon game, and following the early establishment of the Sinnoh region. Legends ZA on the other hand appears to be a sequel to X and Y and the very first adventures we had in the Kalos region. While this won’t be possible to be completely sure on until after the game is out and has been played, there are several characters in the game who appear to be returning from X and Y â€“ and who are looking way older now than they did then, implying this game is set after those ones.

MEGA EVOLUTIONS

Taking place in Kalos also means the return of the signature mechanic that Pokemon X and Y, the first games set in the Kalos region, introduced – Mega Evolutions. The fan favorite mechanic, which sees Pokemon temporarily achieve a stronger, more powerful enhanced state in battles, returns for the very first time in almost a decade. Legends Arceus obviously lacked Mega Evolutions entirely, so their presence in ZA will make for an instant change in how players approach team building this time around.

DLC

The first Legends game was a big success – as evidenced by the fact that it is getting a direct follow-up, which is getting placement as the prime Holiday release, unlike the first game which was unceremoniously shoved out the door in an awkward release spot in the middle of two other games. The success of the first game caught both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company off guard, and they both mentioned how they had not expected it to be as popular as it turned out to be. This was best evidenced by the fact that the game, which players loved, and which had so many obvious hooks to be expanded with post-launch content, never quite got any real meaningful DLC. Legends ZA on the other hand will be getting DLC – it’s already been announced in fact, a whole month before the game is even out.

SWITCH 2

The original Legends, launching in early 2022, was a Nintendo Switch game. It ran fairly poorly on the system – not as bad as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would, just under a year later, but still fairly poorly. When the Switch 2 came out earlier this year, Legends Arceus did not get any free or paid upgrades for Switch 2 enhancements either. That is not going to be the case for Legends ZA, which is Switch 2 enhanced, and is getting a whole Switch 2 Edition release alongside its regular Switch version; in fact, Legends ZA is going to be the next bundled game to come with the Switch 2 starting this October, replacing Mario Kart World. Running the game on the Switch 2 will make Legends ZA the first Pokemon game to run in full 60 frames per second at launch in over a decade – the last time a Pokemon game ran at a constant 60fps was Pokemon Emerald on the GBA in 2005.

THE STARTERS

Every Pokemon game sees you picking from one of three starters when you set out on your journey – and the trio you pick from changes in every game too, although of course, each game sticks to the Fire-Water-Grass typing triangle. Legends Arceus had you start out with either Oshawott, Cyndaquil, or Rowlett; in ZA, you pick between Chikorita, Totodile, and Tepig. It remains to be seen whether those Pokemon will get any new exclusive regional forms or Mega Evolutions in ZA, like Oshawott, Cyndaquil, and Rowlett’s final evolutions did in Legends Arceus.

POKEMON HOME

Like every other Pokemon game released since the Switch era, Legends ZA will support Pokemon Home â€“ but there are several catches, for the first time since the service’s introduction. For starters, much like happens with pretty much every new Pokemon release, Home support will not be present at launch, but will be added some time after – currently promised for 2026. But the new caveat is that Pokemon that are sent from Home into ZA may not be possible to retrieve back. Nintendo and Game Freak warn that the data structure of the Pokemon will change upon being sent into ZA, presumably because of the completely new battle and stat systems being used, and this may break compatibility with the other Pokemon games as a result. So if you are choosing to bring in any Pokemon into ZA, beware of the risks involved.