Pokémon Legends Z-A surprised me. I had the chance to play a couple of demos of the upcoming game at Gamescom 2025, each showcasing core segments that’ll make up much of its playtime. The first was a preview of the Z-A Royale battle zone, in which you fight a series of trainers in order to rank up. The second, then, was a more climactic battle against a single Mega Evolved Pokémon, which felt pretty much like a boss encounter.
While I wasn’t afforded the chance to explore the setting of Lumiose City proper, I was pleasantly surprised by how well Pokémon Legends Z-A’s new real-time battle system works. In fact, it reminded me a ton of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system from classic Final Fantasy titles. More on that later.
Another highlight was the overall performance. I played the game’s Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, and it felt well-optimized for the new platform, holding a solid 60 frames per second (fps) with no noticeable dips. Granted, my playtime took place in smaller, controlled environments, but it did mean that battles felt smooth and responsive overall.
The royale we
So let’s get into it. As you might already know, Pokémon Legends Z-A is shifting away from the series’ tried and true turn-based battles to something a bit more free-flowing. What we have here is something of a real-time/turn-based hybrid. You’re free to control your trainer with the left stick, while issuing battle commands is assigned to the four face buttons.
Being able to reposition your trainer isn’t just for show either; they can be harmed by the opponent Pokémon’s moves as much as your own pocket monsters, so that’s something else you’ll need to be keenly aware of during battle. You also have access to a dodge roll for quick emergency maneuvers.
Choosing your Pokémon’s moves feels a lot more deliberate here. Instead of picking them from a list, you’ll instead hit one of the face buttons to immediately issue the command. Doing so places that move on a short cooldown, so you’ll need to wait a little before you’re able to use it again.
Another thing that grants a sense of immediacy to battles is the act of swapping out Pokémon. There were a number of occasions where I was able to avoid a fatal blow from the opponent by swapping my own out for another ‘mon. This seemed to completely evade the attack, and prepped my new Pokémon for their own turn.
While not a direct one-to-one, the fast-paced nature of battles reminded me quite a bit of the aforementioned ATB system from games like Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. In those Squaresoft classics, you had to wait for a bar to fill before you were able to take a turn. Enemies were also governed by the same rules to an extent, often making for an intense back-and-forth where you’d pray your own turn would come before your foe’s.
Instead of one universal bar, Pokémon Legends Z-A applies cooldowns to your Pokémon’s abilities. You can’t just spam Water Gun or Ember to quickly finish off the opponent; you’ll need to mix things up by throwing in a defense-dropping Tail Whip or a move nullifying Protect, for example.
Ultimately, it’s a system that seems to work great. It’s a refreshing change from the stricter turn-based style of previous Pokémon entries. But at this point, it’s difficult to get a grasp on the depth of battling in Z-A. The trainers I fought against were fairly easy, so I’m hoping that battles later on in the game will focus on strategy and the careful timing of attacks and abilities.
Mega job
My first demo section focused on an introduction to the Z-A Royale. In execution, this felt quite similar to Gyms in previous games. You’re locked into an area of the map and must progress through while taking on trainers en route to the end.
You do have a chance to get a pre-emptive strike on trainers before battle, too. You can crouch and make use of the environment to hide from and sneak up on trainers, catching them off guard before they can act. It’s in your best interest to do so as well, as opponent trainers can very much pull your trousers down if you just wander directly at them. Not literally, of course.
But after clearing the final trainer, your Z-A rank will go up. From Z, all the way to A, as the game’s title suggests. So that’s probably going to be 26 Z-A Royale instances in total, unless there’s some form of post-game progression that we’re not aware of yet. Hopefully, there will be.
The second demo then moved on to a battle with a Mega-evolved Absol. We’re given a Lucario, which is also capable of Mega Evolution. However, it’s not quite as straightforward as a straight-up Mega vs Mega encounter. Our Pokémon starts this battle in its normal form, and it’s here where Absol’s attacks are the most dangerous; Lucario can’t take many hits from this powerful creature.
I first had to whittle away at Absol with attacks, which made it drop collectable orbs that gradually fill Lucario’s Mega Evolution gauge. When full, that’s when Lucario can undergo the transformation and really take the fight to Absol.
The fight felt impressively cinematic and really sold the power of Mega Evolved Pokémon. It wasn’t just my Pokémon that was at risk of attack, as Absol wasn’t shy to send some attacks towards the trainer. So not only do you have to send commands to your own Pokémon, you’ll need to look out for your own well-being, too.
Defeating Absol brought the second demo to a close, as well as my time with Pokémon Legends Z-A at Gamescom 2025. In short, I’m a lot more optimistic about the game now than I was previously, and I’m looking forward to diving into the full thing when it launches on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 16, 2025.
