Former American President George W. Bush’s famous and hilarious gaffe, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me— you’re able to’t get fooled again,” unfortunately does not apply to my recent relationship with thePokémonseries. The actual proverb – fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me – is sadly a little too forgiving as well, for I’ve been fooled byPokémonthrice in recent years, and I’m determined not to let it happen again withPokémon Legends: Z-A.
Following a year of silence from The Pokémon Company and developer Game Freak,new information onPokémon Legends: Z-Awas finally shared on this year’s Pokémon Day, February 27. The Lumiose City-set entry is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to 2022’sLegends: Arceus, and the next game in a subseries that delightfully experiments withPokémon’s tried-and-true battle mechanics.I will not be buyingLegends: Z-A, though, because the last threePokémongames I purchased have left a bad taste in my mouth.
I Didn’t Finish The Last 3 Pokémon Games I Bought At Full Price
Please Don’t Yell At Me, I Know This Is My Own Fault
After being an avidPokémonfan when I was younger, I took a bit of a hiatus from the series, partly due to never owning a 3DS. Between the releases ofBlack 2 and White 2in 2012 and the twoLet’s Gogames in 2018, I didn’t play anyPokémon. My big return to the series was withSword and Shield–Pokémon’s transition to home consoles. Despite all ofSwSh’s myriad issues, I enjoyed coming back; I finishedSword, and thought it was at least a passable starting point for Game Freak’s foray into more modern 3D rendering.
I playedPokémon Black and Whiteon the DS, but for some reason never felt compelled to playB2W2on the same system.
In the following years, however, I would buyBrilliant Diamond,Legends: Arceus, andVioletall at full price, and I never went on to complete any of their main stories. I had already playedPearlback when it released, and found the remake fine but not captivating.Arceuswas actually a decent evolution for the series, andI was convincedPokémoncouldn’t go backto its original battle mechanics after such innovation. The repetition started to set in, though, and the story wasn’t interesting enough to get me to stick it out.
I think I completed two gyms before realizing I was genuinely loathing my time with the game.
Worst of the three, I’m still upset that I purchasedPokémon Violet. Even with all the known technical issues, theglowingPokémon SVreviewsconvinced me to give it a shot. I should have listened to my doubts;it ran terribly, looked even worse, andPokémon’s big debut into open-world gaming didn’t even bring any of the good stuff fromArceus. I think I completed two gyms before realizing I was genuinely loathing my time with the game.
Sadly, these are still premium purchases. As is the case with most Nintendo exclusives, all three games (five if you want to count the dual releases) are still listed for their full price of $60. Four years later, a remake of a game that first came out in 2006 is being sold for full price. We’re not here to relitigate Nintendo’s brand protectiveness, but it’s worth considering when looking ahead toPokémon Legends: Z-A’s release later in 2025.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is A Visual Catastrophe
The Largest Multimedia Franchise In The World Is Releasing 2025’s Ugliest Game
This is beating the world’s deadest horse at this point, butPokémongames are visually atrocious, and as a consumer, it’s becoming insulting.Sword and Shieldwere raked over the coals for their graphics, and the series has only negligibly improved in the six years since. Even more laughable, each new installment brings worse performance, with a myriad of bugs and horribly inconsistent frame rates.
The trees are somehow even worse than the onesSword and Shieldwere endlessly lambasted for.
Pokémon Legends: Z-Awill be no different, and its most recent trailer proves that. This is the gameplay’s first impression, promotional material that was likely vetted thoroughly by Game Freak, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo, yetthe texture work, animations, and art design are so far below the industry average it’s almost unbelievable.
The trailer includes a showdown between Totodile and Tepig to show offZ-A’s new battle mechanics, which would otherwise be great steps for the series' gameplay if they weren’t overshadowed by the sterile and flat environment. Bricks on the ground are blurry and have no texture; ivy growing on the walls has no depth and is unconvincing; the trees are somehow even worse than the onesSword and Shieldwere endlessly lambasted for. Earlier in the trailer, three Sandiles barely have bespoke animations as they slither through the dirt. They look like they’re clipping through the ground, with only a wisp of a dust cloud in the air to indicate it’s on purpose.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A Confirms The Return Of A Mysterious Pokémon Not Seen Since X & Y
Pokémon Legends: Z-A will introduce Eternal Flower Floette as a key part of the new story, exciting players about the long-missing Pokémon.
It’s also disheartening to see frames drop in the trailer. I can overlook some technical hiccups, likeBreath of the Wildchugging in Korok Forest orTears of the Kingdomturning into a slideshow when I’ve got too many cannons firing from my ramshackle vehicle, because those games are otherwise gorgeous and innovative.Pokémon’s mainline art style throughSwSh,Arceus,SV, and nowZ-Ais completely uninspired, and is frankly cheap considering the same franchise is known for incredible pixel work in games past,beautiful trading card art, and its long-running anime.
I Won’t Be Buying Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Maybe Pokémon’s Not For Me Anymore
I desperately wantPokémonto be good again. WhenZ-Awas announced, I was actually a little excited; in my opinion, building onArceusis clearly the way forward for the series. APokémongame set entirely in one city could be really interesting, and I could finally dabble inZ-A’s Mega Evolutionsafter missing the excitement inX and Y. But I braced myself for the worst, and that’s what I got on Pokémon Day.
The Pokémon Company seems content to release sub-par, even broken products. And why shouldn’t it?Scarlet and Violetbarely functioned on release, but still sold over 10 million copies in three days – not only a series record, butthe best console-exclusive video game launch of all time, according toGamesRadar. All this tells me is that quality does not matter, because thePokémonbrand will sell regardless.
I’ve been tricked by my nostalgia three times in a row now, but the illusion is gone withPokémon Legends: Z-A. It simply looks dated and cheap, so I will be content to sit this one out. It’s going to enjoy tremendous sales, and I’ll be happy for thePokémondie-hards who have fun with it, but I’ve stubbornly learned my lesson that maybe it’s time to just let go.Z-Aproves that thePokémongames series is content to rest on its laurels and release objectively bad products, so I won’t be wasting my money.
