The Pokemon Company revealed the release window for the next major Pokemon game, along with a brand new title, at Thursday’s Pokemon Presents event. A year since it was first unveiled, we finally got to see a proper trailer for Pokemon Legends Z-A, the next mainline game in the 29-year-old franchise.
The title, which takes place in the Parisian-style Lumiose City in the Kalos Region (the setting of Pokémon X and Y), will arrive in late 2025. Confirming the rumours, we also got a glimpse of Mega Evolutions, which are triggered by using a Key Stone bracelet worn by trainers and the Mega Stone held by their Pokemon.
This time round, the starter Pokemon will be Chikorita (a grass type Pokemon), Tepig (Fire type) and Totodile (Water type). Seeing as Nintendo is prone to releasing big games during the holiday period in the US, we’d expect a November launch at the earliest.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A marks the franchise’s biggest release since 2022, a year that saw both Legends: Arceus and Scarlet & Violet hit the Switch. The hybrid console also hosted Sword & Shield, which launched in 2019. Of course, we’re now waiting for the Switch 2 to release this year. For now, it seems like Z-A could be officially deemed a Switch title that you can play on the Switch 2 thanks to backwards compatibility.
But, the Pokemon Company did drop a massive hint about a new game that could launch on Switch 2. During the show, we learned about Pokémon Champions, a multiplayer game that celebrates the greatest battles in the franchise’s history. The teaser showcased players facing off across generations — starting with tethered Game Boys, moving through the DS era, and culminating in battles on the Switch and iPhone.
At the end of the clip, Takato Utsunomiya, The Pokemon Company COO, said Champions would be released on mobiles and the Nintendo Switch “family of systems” - which could potentially mean the Switch 2. On, the other hand, it could also just mean it will be backwards compatible with the new console. For now, there’s no release date, so we can expect Nintendo to reveal more soon - maybe even during that Switch 2 direct it has planned for April.
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