Pokemon Legends: Z-A could be the Pokemon franchise’s first “urban” Pokemon game. Earlier this week, The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Legends: Z-A, a new installment of the Pokemon Legends series in which players look to “redevelop” Lumiose City, the central city of the Kalos region that first appeared in Pokemon X and Y. While it appeared at first that the game would explore the Kalos region in a manner similar to Pokemon Legends: Arceus (which featured the Hisui region, an early version of the Sinnoh region), several tweets made by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company makes it seem like the game will be set entirely within the confines of the city.
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“A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémon,” reads the official description of the game on the Pokemon Legends webpage. Additionally, Nintendo of America’s tweet about the initial reveal mentioned that the game would be set entirely within Lumiose City.
There are a few other clues within the small announcement trailer as well – a map of Lumiose City is divided into five parts, similar to the five main locations of Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Using a full-sized city as a setting could also help to explain a potential smaller Pokedex size (the first Pokemon Legends game had only 242 Pokemon species, while Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Pokemon Sword and Shield both had 400 Pokemon species).
Lumiose City is based on Paris, one of the largest cities in the world, and one of the great metropolitan areas of Europe. Only Moscow has a larger population than Paris in Europe, so it’s easy to see why The Pokemon Company would want to model an entire game within such a large city.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A will be released in 2025 on the Nintendo Switch.
