Pokémon Legends: Z-A Revealed, Lumiose City and Mega Evolution Confirmed

Just over two years after their first foray into a stand-alone prequel that drastically changed the gameplay style of this massive franchise, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has officially been revealed by Pokémon, GAME FREAK, and Nintendo. The announcement trailer only gave players the slightest glimpse at what's to come, but the past can tell us plenty about what they've already confirmed. We'll take a look below at what players can look forward to and when the Pokémon Legends: Z-A release date is set for.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Revives Lumiose City and Mega Evolution

Like many early Pokémon announcements, the Legends: Z-A trailer was heavily stylized and stopped short of showing any actual gameplay footage just yet. What we did see was a slow reveal of blueprints for Lumiose City, the largest and most important central location in the Kalos region.

Kalos first appeared when Pokémon X & Y was released on Nintendo 3DS back in October 2013. Now, more than a decade later, players will be finding their way back to the region during an earlier era in the same way Pokémon Legends: Arceus served as a prequel to Pokémon Diamond & Pearl. Exact details on the time period weren't confirmed, but based on the trailer it looks like Pokémon Legends: Z-A will be based around the industrial revolution and the actual building of Lumiose City.

A later tweet by Nintendo of America confirmed the core game is "set entirely within Lumiose City." However, they've released post-launch DLC with recent games expanding the areas players can explore. There's always a chance that other parts of the Kalos region will become accessible later, but the story of Pokémon Legends: Z-A may find itself fully contained within that location. At the very end of the trailer, we did get one last huge piece of news by them showing the Mega Evolution symbol.

Mega Evolution utilizes the Mega Ring and specific Mega Stones to allow temporary mid-battle transformations that make Pokémon even more powerful. The unique forms that already exist should be due back, and we might get even more new Mega Evolution forms as part of this release.

As of now, the Pokémon Legends: Z-A release date is targeted for 2025. They stopped short of confirming a specific part of the year, but players will no doubt learn more about the launch day as it draws near and we get additional looks at this journey back in time.