Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Mega Evolution Changes Could Fix the…

Pokemon Legends: Z-A is fast approaching as one of the Nintendo Switch family’s big year-end titles, and the first Pokemon title to debut with a native Switch 2 version. As of the Pokemon Presents airing on July 22, 2025, the game is roughly three months away, and it feels like Game Freak is finally letting fans know exactly what to expect from it. Returning to Pokemon Generation 6's Kalos region during a time when Lumiose City is being redeveloped for better Pokemon coexistence, Pokemon Legends: Z-A isn't the Legends follow-up many expected, and it's full of plenty more surprises.

Besides being Pokemon's latest stab at a true open-world setting and its experimental all-urban setting, Pokemon Legends: Z-A is giving Pokemon's mechanics a major shake-up. Legends: Z-A's Z-A Royale tournament gives players a reason to hone their battle skills, and they'll need to do so now that the combat system is no longer turn-based. For the first time in a mainline Pokemon game, battling involves ordering Pokemon to use moves and reposition in real-time, which should make plenty of familiar features feel new all over again, and should help a returning mechanic crystallize into its best possible form.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A May Be Better Off Saving the Biggest Ace Up Its Sleeve for Launch

Game Freak and Nintendo may want to hold off on revealing one particular piece of Pokemon Legends: Z-A content in its entirety before launch.

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By Eric Warner

Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Mega Evolution Is Back In A Big Way

In the spirit of revisiting Pokemon's 6th generation, Mega Evolution has also returned to Pokemon’s main stage. By the look of things, most or all of the old Mega Evolution forms are returning, and leaks have teased that many more Pokemon are getting Mega forms of their own. As far as generation-exclusive battle gimmicks go, Mega Evolution remains a fan favorite, so seeing it come back, potentially with forward-compatible support for the Generation 10 games, has been one of Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s strongest selling points.

Mega Evolution Had To Change To Fit Legends: Z-A’s Real-Time Combat

However, Mega Evolution will not work the way it does in traditional Pokemon games. Instead of allowing a single Pokemon equipped with its corresponding Mega Stone to Mega Evolve until the current battle ends, or they’re knocked out, a small new HUD element briefly seen in trailer footage suggests that transformations will now be temporary and limited by a resource. Considering the power boost that Mega Evolved Pokemon receive, that makes sense for the potentially longer and more involved fights of a real-time game, and there may even be wider-reaching benefits in the full game.

Pokemon Legends: Z-A May Have Given Mega Evolution A New Lease On Life

Mega Evolution’s Restriction In Z-A Could Be A New Kind Of Freedom

What Legends: Z-A’s Mega Evolution looks like in action hasn't been fully explored yet, but its new time limit may actually be a solution to an existing quirk. Depending on the frequency and methods by which the Mega Evolution gauge fills, and whether this take on Mega Evolution supports canceling the transformation early, this mechanic could take on a more versatile role in battles. Pokemon could treat Mega Evolution like an ult in a competitive game, popping it mid-battle when necessary. Legends: Z-A’s battles care about move ranges, so those changing in Mega forms would add another layer of strategy to this mechanic.

Furthermore, the player could potentially use more than one Mega Evolution per battle. The Pokemon Legends titles are built as single-player experiences, so something that sounds overpowered like that has more of a place in Legends: Z-A than in a turn-based Pokemon game. Allowing one Pokemon to Mega Evolve multiple times, and potentially more than one Pokemon in a team to Mega Evolve in a single battle, would add a whole new dimension to how Mega Evolution is used. Depending on how Pokemon Legends: Z-A handles its Mega Evolution, the mechanic could reach greater heights than ever before.

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