On this year’s Pokemon Day, Game Freak finally announced their upcoming title, Pokemon Legends: Z-A. This game is the sequel to the 2022 spin-off title Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The game will take fans back to Kalos, the region explored in the Generation 6 games, Pokemon X and Y.
Every new Pokemon game has fans speculating about the starters. Every new game starts with the player choosing one out of three Pokemon as their starting partner for the adventure. Traditionally, the starters vary by region and there might also be an anomaly as in the case of Let’s Go Pikachu or Let’s Go Eevee. Hence, with Pokemon Legends: Z-A now on everyone’s radar discussions about the starters have already started filling forums.
Would Pokemon Legends: Z-A repeat the starters from X and Y?
Since the upcoming Pokemon Legends: Z-A is set in the Kalos region as Pokemon X and Y, GameFreak can repeat the starters from the Generation 6 games. The 2013-released game featured the Grass-type Chespin, Fire-type Fennekin, and Water-type Froakie.
Froakie has been one of the go-to starters for many fans, especially because the Pokemon anime protagonist Ash Ketchum had one too. The Water-type starter’s final evolution is Water/Dark-type Geninja, which is one of the game’s best Water types.
After Froakie, Fennekin is possibly the most popular option for fans. After all, fans have always had a soft corner for fire-type Pokemon. Lastly, some might go for Chespin when they want a Pokemon with good Defense and Physical stat. Moreover, it has the best HP stats among the three.
Would GameFreak go for the Pokemon Legends: Arceus route with Legends: Z-A?
Aside from featuring the same starter as X and Y, GameFreak can also go the Legends: Arceus route for their upcoming game. The 2022-released RPG title was set in an ancient Sinnoh when it’s called Hisui, so it didn’t have the usual Generation 4 starters- Chimchar, Turtwig, and Piplup. Instead, the game gave us a choice between Cyndaquil, Rowlet, and Oshawott.
The Hisui starters that were in Pokemon Legends: Arceus wasn’t the same as the ones seen in other Pokemon games. In this game, Cyndaquill’s final evolution, Typhlosion, is a Fire/Ghost-type rather than a simple Fire-type. Rowlett’s final evolution, Decidueye, is also not the standard Grass/Ghost-type but Grass/Fighting type. Even, Oshawoot doesn’t evolve into a Water-type Samurott but into a Water/Dark-type one.
Hence, we can expect the upcoming game to feature starters from different generations. Fans would love to see Charmander as one of the starters, and it can be possible as X and Y did allow fans to select one out of the three Kanto starters. Moreover, there is also the possibility of featuring starters from post-Gen 6 games and giving them Kalos exclusive final evolutions.
Talking about the unique final form, Pokemon Legends: Z-A would bring back Gen 6’s Mega Evolution. If the game even features the same starters as X and Y, it could give them new Mega Evolutions with unique typings. Nevertheless, we would advise fans to take these speculations with some grain of salt, as nothing is confirmed as of yet.
