News

Pokémon Presents Provides More Pokémon Legends: Z-A Details

by Alex Fuller · Published July 22, 2025 · Updated July 23, 2025

The Pokémon Company held its latest Pokémon Presents presentation, revealing more details for various products, media, and events in the Pokémon franchise. Chief among the content was more information for the upcoming Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A takes place as Lumiose City is undergoing an urban redevelopment plan intended to “shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon”. Players are recruited into Team MZ by Urbain or Taunie, which is dedicated to keeping Lumiose City peaceful. Other members include fashion designer Naveen, who is partnered with Scraggy, and aspiring dancer Lida, who is partnered by Staryu. The game’s story involves incidents where wild Pokémon are Mega Evolving on their own, with Team MZ tasked by Quasartico Inc., which is leading Lumiose City’s redevelopment, with investigating them. The game will include new Mega Evolutions for Pokémon, such as Mega Dragonite. Team MZ also has apparent business with a group called the Rust Syndicate.

The game will change up the series’ traditional turn-based combat with a new real-time combat where trainers and Pokémon move around in real-time and unleash moves when commanded. New gameplay mechanics include precise timing for using moves and when swapping out Pokémon, as actions will take different amounts of time to launch and impact different sized areas. During the day, players will explore the city and can help citizens with various problems, while at night they compete in the Z-A Royale, where they attempt to climb its ranks.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A will release on October 16, 2025, on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo announced that it will be releasing a Nintendo Switch 2 console + Pokémon Legends: Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition bundle on the same day. The bundle will be priced at $499.99.

In other gaming news, The Pokémon Company announced new details for Pokémon Champions. Developed by The Pokémon Works in collaboration with Game Freak, it is planned to release for Nintendo Switch and mobile platforms in 2026. The strategy game will allow players to battle each other with Pokémon Home compatibility. The game will include Trial Recruitment, which lets players recruit Pokémon for a limited time to try them out and explore strategies. By obtaining Victory Points, players then recruit Pokémon permanently, or use those points to train their Pokémon as they wish. The game’s battle modes can be played in Single Battle and Double Battle formats. Ranked Battles and Casual Battles see players battle against other trainers around the world, with Ranked Battles dividing trainers into tiers based on their skill levels, while Private Battles let players battle against specific friends and family.

The company also revealed puzzle title Pokémon Friends. The game is developed in collaboration with Wonderfy Inc. and is available today on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. It sees players solve various Pokémon-themed brainteasers, with over 1,200 puzzles in total. In addition, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be receiving a free update geared for the Nintendo Switch 2. The update will improve the games’ graphics on the console. There will also be new in-game events over the next couple of months.

Finally, there were new trailers for the second season of Pokémon Concierge, which will be available on Netflix in September 2025, as well as Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu, a stop-motion animated series with Aardman Animations planned to release in 2027. There are also new events, content, and more for Pokémon Go, Pokémon Masters EX, Pokémon Café ReMix, Pokémon Sleep, Pokémon Unite, and Pokémon Trading Card Game.