Pokémon Legends Z-A - Demo - A First Look
15-08-2025 14:00 UTC by Joe Merrick (Serebii).
At the Pokémon World Championships in Anaheim, California, I was lucky enough to be invited to be amongst the first in the world to play the Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition demo.
This demo was very focused and came in two different parts. The first part was an introduction into the Z-A Royale and the second part was a battle against a Rogue Mega Evolution Pokémon. Both parts gave me 10 minutes or allowed me to finish before it was over. There was no element testing out the day mode of the game where you can search out for wild Pokémon.
The Battles
The battle system, as originally revealed, is different from past traditional main series games in that it has a real-time system. You can send a Pokémon out at any time and when locked on to a Pokémon, a display will appear in the bottom right, this is your move selection. Rather than selecting each move through a menu, it instead is done with the face buttons on the controller with each button corresponding to a move the Pokémon has, so the B Button will be one move, the X button another and so forth. The moves are then done on a cooldown before it can be used again, so you could rapidly unleash an onslaught of moves but it will then mean you have a bit of a wait time and your Pokémon will be vulnerable.
They will also follow you as you walk around and some moves can be commanded from a further distance while others will have the Pokémon move up to the opponent. However that does mean that the Pokémon may not necessarily go precisely where you want them to, but they will keep close to you where possible.
This made the battles feel more dynamic and akin to what has been seen in the animated series in the past but still felt very Pokémon. Alongside damaging moves you have status moves such as Growl which can be used in various ways. While the demo showed the early part of the game, I can already see there will be need for good strategy here in later game rather than just mash damage buttons repeatedly. Status conditions were also in and Poison damage even persisted after the battle while my Fletchling was out
Switching Pokémon is done with the D-Pad at any time, you scroll through left and right and you select with up. In addition to that, you can run with the B button and roll with the Y Button.
Unlike Pokémon Legends: Arceus, this game has hold items in it as well so you can attach items to Pokémon for various effects. The ones I saw in the demo were just Berries but this leaves things open for more.
Z-A Royale
With this demo, I got to get a look at the battle system for Trainer battles. In the Z-A Royale, I was given the task of defeating three trainers in order to earn points and a Challengers Ticket in order to access the Royale.
As this was early game, the trainers were fairly simple with a Weedle, Bunnelby and Bellsprout so they were fairly simple to beat but gave a good look at the battle system. Being able to sneak up on trainers really gives an advantage, but when you're the recipient of it, it can be devastating; alongside the three trainers there was a fourth that was nearly 10 levels higher than my Pokémon. I hoped to bruteforce it but they snuck up on me and wiped out all of my Pokémon in one hit with me not dealing much damage.
Rogue Mega Evolution Pokémon
The second part of the demo was a Rogue Mega Evolution battle. In this segment, I chased Zygarde 10% Forme throughout Lumiose City until it took me to a rooftop where an Absol was. It started to Mega Evolve on its own causing AZ to send a Lucario with a Mega Ring up to help.
This battle is reminiscent of the Noble Pokémon battles and battles with Arceus from Legends Arceus in that you're in an area with the Pokémon going for you. More than your Pokémon, the Absol went for me and could knock me out which would cause me to lose the battle. It had moves of both close range and distance so you need to act accordingly.
As moves land on the Absol, it starts to drop some energy orbs. These are picked up in order to charge your Mega Gauge which, once full enough, allows for you to Mega Evolve. This allows for you to do even more damage but the gauge will gradually deplete so it is only for a limited time but Absol does drop more the more damage you inflict so in theory you could keep it Mega Evolved until defeating.
Though Absol was a low level Rogue Mega Evolution, there was still more strategy involved. I made sure to Protect as it used Dark Pulse which, in this battle, causes multiple hits when Lucario was stuck in the wave, I used Aura Sphere to attack in the distance and Rock Smash to lower Defense followed by Bullet Punch for a quick hit. Eventually I managed to defeat the Absol
These battles are likely to get more difficult so I am really excited to play more.
Final Thoughts
While playing, the game ran super smooth and it looked great. In the segment before Rogue Mega Absol, I got a look around the city and it looked great and how I imagined Lumiose City being while playing Pokémon X & Y back in 2013. It was such a fun play and it really has me wanting to play more. It's still early and hard to say how well the new systems will work in an overall game but what I played here seems like it's a cool new evolution of the Pokémon Legends formula. It has me wanting to go back and that's always a good sign; it's new and fresh but still quintessentially Pokémon.
If you are at the Pokémon World Championships or Gamescom and you have the opportunity to play, give it a shot.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch 2
Footage captured with: Off-screen
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