An upcoming Pokémon showcase will apparently only feature games made for the original Nintendo Switch, including Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
One of the only confirmed Switch games scheduled for 2025 is spin-off Pokémon Legends: Z-A, although nothing has been seen of the title since it was announced in February last year.
As it was revealed on Pokémon Day, on February 27, there’s a strong chance it’ll pop again during the expected Pokémon Presents showcase on the same day in 2025.
With Nintendo’s next console expected to be revealed this month, many expected Switch 2 software to be shown during the Pokémon Presents. An insider, however, has claimed this won’t be the case.
Speaking on Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings podcast, Jeff Grubb, who is usually reliable when it comes to gaming leaks, claims he has heard that all the games in the upcoming showcase will be ‘positioned’ as Switch 1 titles.
‘They will work on Switch 2,’ he added, ‘but there won’t be anything that is obviously made for Switch 2, which is normal for The Pokémon Company.’
If true, this suggests Pokémon Legends: Z-A will not be the cross-platform Pokémon game many were hoping for.
Its predecessor, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, suffered from major performance issues, as did mainline entries Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
While there’s a chance Pokémon Legends: Z-A has been perfectly optimised for the current Switch (developer Game Freak has been staffing up recently), many fans were hoping the inevitable power boost from the Switch 2 would also aid the game.
If it is built with the original Switch in mind, a Switch 2 performance patch might still be able to help with any potential issues but we’ll have to wait and see how Nintendo handles its backwards compatibility between the two systems, once the console is revealed.
We still know little about Pokémon Legends: Z-A, aside from it being set in Lumiose City in the Kalos region, which originates from Pokémon X and Y. A specific release date hasn’t been announced, but a leaked listing on Amazon suggested it could launch on August 15, 2025.
While nothing has been confirmed when it comes to Switch 2 games, many expect Metroid Prime 4: Beyond to be a cross-gen title, especially given how good the graphics look in the trailer.
Nintendo has not confirmed anything to that effect though and insiders have warned that the initial reveal of the console won’t delve too deeply into the games line-up.
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