Pokémon Legends: Z-A was announced during Tuesday morning’s Pokémon Presents stream with a 2025 release date. One of the first questions on the minds of fans was, “Is Pokémon Legends: Z-A coming to Switch 2?”
The answer, for now, is “we don’t know.” Fans who pointed out that it’s coming to “Nintendo Switch systems,” with an emphasis on the plural, were reminded that the Switch has Lite and OLED versions. The timing does align rather conspicuously, though, with the rumored release date of the Switch 2, which is said to be be around March 2025.
So will Pokémon Legends: Z-A be a Switch 2 launch game? Some fans think it might be.
Stealth, an X/Twitter user who frequently tweets Nintendo news, observed, “What if Switch 2 has 3D Mario and Pokémon legends Year 1? It was rumored that Nintendo moved Switch 2 to 2025 to further strengthen the 1st Party lineup. If Pokémon Legends Z-A was one of the reasons, I get it.”
What if Switch 2 has 3D Mario and Pokémon legends Year 1? 👀👀👀
It was rumored that Nintendo moved Switch 2 to 2025 to further strengthen the 1st Party lineup.
If Pokémon Legends Z-A was one of the reasons, I get it. pic.twitter.com/BaZbfrdI36
— Stealth (@Stealth40k) February 27, 2024
A popular Twitch streamer wrote simply, “100% gonna launch on Switch/Switch 2 in march.”
These comments were echoed by numerous Pokémon fans on various social platforms, amplified by Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ (and Scarlet and Violet’s) well-documented technical problems. Others pointed to the decision to skip the holidays; the fact that Legends: Arceus launched early in the year, and the generall vague nature of the announcement as further evidence that it might be a Switch 2 launch game.
“2025 huh? Potentially skipping out on the holidays is big, and that fact gives even more credence to to Switch 2 2025 leak. Launching with a Pokémon game would be a repeat of the Switch launch: a big, gotta-have game,” one fan wrote.
It would certainly make sense from a timing perspective. On the other hand, Game Freak has a long history of subverting expectations and continuing to support older Nintendo hardware. When the Switch was released in 2017, speculation ran rampant that “Pokémon Stars” would be releasing for the system, only for The Pokémon Company to continue supporting the Nintendo 3DS with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
Remarkably, this looks to be one of the longest breaks between major releases in its history. With no mainline entries releasing this year, nor any news of a remake, it looks like the newly-announced Pokémon Trading Card Game on mobile will be the biggest series release in 2024.
In the meantime, all we have to go on is rumors and speculation as Nintendo continues to work on its next-generation Switch in the background. It’s unclear when the Switch 2 will ultimately revealed, nor even what Nintendo’s major holiday release will be if the reports of its delay to 2025 bear out. For now, Pokémon fans will have to sit tight and wait alongside everyone else.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
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