region Sinnoh: Last News

Nintendo has confirmed the release of Pokémon Legends Z-A, which is due 2025.The announcement came yesterday as part of the annual Pokémon Day celebrations and despite The Pokémon Company confirming it had several “exciting” plans, it still took fans by surprise for a number of reasons.Not only had Game Freak been hinting at a remake of Pokémon Black & White following the success of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in 2021 but Nintendo had never confirmed that Legends: Arceus was anything more than a standalone title.However, Pokémon Legends Z-A is due for release some time in 2025 and will take players back to the Parisian-inspired central city of Pokémon X & Pokémon Y.“A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is under way to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon,” said the official description, with the trailer also hinting at the return of fan-favourite feature mega-evolutions, which haven’t been used since 2014’s Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.While Arceus took players back in time to a very early version of the Sinnoh region, known as Hisui, the futuristic look of Lumiose City has fans speculating that Z-A will see them time travelling into the near future.The Pokémon set to feature in Z-A have yet to revealed, but the trailer leans heavily on generation six with Aegislash, Litleo, Pyroar, Klefki, Talonflame, Furfrou, Gogoat, Fletchling, Sylveon, Espurr, Flabébé and Hawlucha all showcased, alongside a lot of Pikachu action.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus has been a huge hit for Nintendo, with the new game enjoying an even bigger UK launch than its predecessors, remake duo Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.As noted by games industry business site GI.biz, Pokémon Legends: Arceus accounts for almost half of all boxed game sales in the UK last week, and beat out another new entry, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection.Nintendo Switch games dominated the charts as a whole, with Mario Kart 8: Deluxe the second best-selling game of the week, despite launching in April 2017, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons in at number four, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at six, and the Switch version of Minecraft at seven. However, it’s also worth noting that these charts only reflect physical game sales, not digital purchases.Part of the appeal of the latest Pokémon game may be that it is a major departure for the series.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is a big step for Game Freak and The Pokemon Company. It represents a departure from anything the studio has done to date and shakes up the decades-old Pokemon formula in a huge way.