Pokemon Legends: Z-A fans are unhappy about a popular Pokemon Legends: Arceus being cut from the game. With the kind of success that Pokemon Legends: Arceus enjoyed after it came out, it was impossible for Pokemon Legends: Z-A to avoid comparisons entirely. Pokemon Legends: Z-A came out three months ago today, and despite facing backlash for decisions like cutting abilities and changing the gameplay loop and battle style entirely, it’s still arguably a good entry in the series that does a lot of things right.
Yet, Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s ranked-exclusive Mega Stones sparked a massive discussion about the reliance of the series on the Nintendo Switch Online subscription for extra content, which applies in several instances to Z-A itself. By comparison, Pokemon Legends: Arceus was designed as a single-player game that could be completed entirely solo, including completing the Pokedex and catching Arceus, so no extra steps were involved or needed to achieve this, such as the fact that NSO was not needed. Now, things are quite different, and Z-A has proven that some decisions should be reconsidered before releasing Pokemon Wind and Wave.
I Just Started Playing Pokemon Legends: Z-A and I’m Already Disappointed
My Pokemon Legends: Z-A adventure just started, but I’m already underwhelmed with certain aspects of the game.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A Cuts The Best Item in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Reddit user AdventurousForm6406 made a post about how game-changing it was to have Pokemon Legends: Arceus‘ Linking Cord available. This is not the first post about this issue, and the fact that it got over 3,600 upvotes in less than 24 hours, three months after the game came out, sends a clear message.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s trade-exclusive evolutions are a very strange choice, because while it would make perfect sense to have them in a full-fledged new generation alongside version-exclusive critters and even new trade-only Pokemon, Z-A doesn’t include any new species or forms besides Mega Evolutions. As such, you can’t get the following Pokemon in the base game without trading:
- Slowking (requires trading Slowpoke with King’s Rock)
- Scizor (requires trading Scyther with Metal Coat)
- Aromatisse (requires trading Spritzee with Sachet)
- Slurpuff (requires trading Swirlix with Whipped Cream)
Steelix is not available in Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s base game until you start the One Who Gives post-game mission, but you can only catch one Alpha Steelix as a fixed encounter, with no way to get it outside of this mission or trading. All other trade-only Pokemon other than these five can be found in the wild.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A DLC Doesn’t Atone For Its Trade-Exclusive Sins
Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s DLC partly fixes this, as all Pokemon in the game can be found in Hyperspace Wild Zones, even DLC-exclusive critters. This is true for all but one Pokemon — Milotic. For whatever reason, Milotic still needs online trading to be obtained, making the DLC Pokedex impossible to complete solo. This further calls for the Linking Cord to be used again in future games, especially for returning Pokemon that cannot be found in the wild.
One might argue that trade-exclusive evolutions in Pokemon have always been a thing, and that would be right, except for Pokemon Legends: Arceus. If Pokemon Legends: Arceus could feature the Linking Cord to make trade-only critters available solo, then any game after it also has or had this option. In the case of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, it was a deliberate choice to give meaning to trading. However, considering that the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is not free, the counterargument is that the game being priced as a triple-A title should allow fans to complete it with no extra costs, not counting DLC.
Not only that, but Pokemon Legends: Z-A‘s Mega Sceptile can’t be obtained in Season 5 without a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, as it’s an exclusive reward from ranked battles. This is not the only Pokemon subject to this treatment:
- PLZA Season 1 featured exclusive Mega Greninja.
- PLZA Season 2 featured exclusive Mega Delphox (and Greninja, if unobtained).
- PLZA Season 3 featured exclusive Mega Chesnaught (and also Greninja and Delphox, if unobtained).
- PLZA Season 4 featured exclusive Mega Baxcalibur (and also Greninja, Delphox, and Chesnaught if unobtained).
- PLZA Season 5 features exclusive Mega Sceptile (and also Greninja, Delphox, Chesnaught, and Baxcalibur if unobtained).
- Season 6 will offer Mega Swampert, which can’t be obtained elsewhere.
- Season 7 will offer Mega Blaziken, which can’t be obtained elsewhere.
While these are Mega Evolutions, there are at least seven Pokemon that cannot be obtained with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Combined with the lack of a Linking Cord, this number will be eight at the very least, counting Milotic, and possibly nine if the unreleased Mega Garchomp Z is also a ranked reward.
- Released
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October 16, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
