Pokémon Legends: Z-A is a flawed yet fascinating Pokémon entry that upends the usual formula with real-time battles and an all-urban setting (read our review).
Whether it’s your first Pokémon game or your 20th, there’s a lot to learn when it comes to open-world activities, exploration, Mega Evolution, and an active day/night cycle.
Here are some quick tips to help carry you through the early hours of Pokémon Legends: Z-A!
Don’t neglect the main missions
Look, I get it. There’s a shiny item over there. There’s a ladder here. Oh, and another side quest just down the street. It’s totally normal to get distracted running around Lumiose City. But don’t neglect the main story missions, especially early on. Completing Main Mission 9 will unlock Mega Evolution, for example, and net you a pretty nice Pokémon, too!
Progressing the main story will also unlock new Wild Zones, which means access to more Pokémon, and defeating new Rogue Mega Evolution Pokémon will reward you with their Mega Stones.
Don’t try and complete all the scaffolding challenges too early (you’ll unlock a glide later)
Do not suffer like me and think you can dodge-roll your way through the many scaffolding challenges around the city. Many of them will be impossible to complete until you unlock the Roto-Glide. The short glide maneuver (almost more of a double-jump) is finally unlocked during Main Mission 16 (see tip #1 above!). With the Roto-Glide, you should be able to finish them all, as well as making getting around rooftops a little easier.
You don’t have to use Rock Smash to smash rocks
Something I wish I realized sooner — you aren’t limited to using just the Rock Smash move to break apart the large boulders around the city. Just about any Fighting or Steel-type move will destroy them, as well Dragon and Ground physical moves.
For those big purple sludges that also block paths, most Water type moves will work. Brambles can be destroyed with Fire moves, or certain slashing moves (such as Slash or Aerial Ace). For ice blocks and webs, any contact move (that I tried) will turn them into a bridge.
And don’t forget that you can swap Pokémon any time from your boxes, in case you normally don’t have those moves on your team.
Use big moves to smash more Mega Shards
Lumiose City is full of pink rocky growths that can be targeted by Pokémon. Destroy them with whatever move you want, and you’ll receive some Mega Stones. You won’t be able to use these stones for awhile, but you can definitely start collecting them.
After completing Main Mission 10 and visiting Quasartico Inc, you’ll be able to trade your shards for certain Mega Stones at the vendor there. Mega Stones cost hundreds of shards each, so get to smashing! Pro-tip: use large area effect moves such as Earthquake or Surf to smash several rocky growths in one blast!
Alpha Pokémon are stronger and worth capturing and training
As with older Pokémon games, you’ll have to beat the main game before unlocking the Judge feature in Legends: Z-A, which lets you see a Pokémon’s hidden stats (IVs), which help determine if a Pokémon of the same species is better than another.
Alpha Pokémon, which are the large, boss-size versions found throughout the game, always have at least three max IVs, and their maximum possible HP, making them great investments for your team. Alphas always include one unique move that the species doesn’t normally learn, though that becomes less impressive once you begin earning all the TMs. On the downside, being large also makes them easier to hit for certain targeted moves!
Note that you need to finish Side Quest 1 to begin seeing Alpha Pokémon!
Some Pokémon mostly come out at night, mostly
Jokes aside, the day/night cycle affects some Pokémon’s spawn rates. For example, Staryu only appears during nighttime in Wild Zone 2, while Magikarp is found during the day. If you’re tearing your hair out trying to find the last missing Pokémon in an area, come back during a different time!
If you’re still missing Pokémon — don’t forget to check the roof!
Don’t start a tough wild Pokémon fight right before the time change
Something I also learned the hard way: don’t start a fight with a tough Alpha Pokémon if dawn or dusk is approaching. When the game switches to day/night, it resets any wild battles you’re currently engaged, and that includes those nasty Alpha Pokémon fights!
Change the time of day at any bench
The day night cycle is fairly fast in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. Remember that you can instantly pass time to day or night by interacting with any bench. Don’t feel forced to work around the game’s schedule — make your own!
Catch ’em all in each Wild Zone for more Alpha spawns
This is a Pokémon game, you do you want to catch ’em all, right? By catching 100% of the Pokémon in a Wild Zone (indicated on the map screen), you unlock the chance of random Alpha spawns. Most Wild Zones have one or two static Alphas that are always found in the same spot, such as Alpha Houndoom and Binacle in Wild Zone 6. But, there’s also a 5% chance that any Pokémon can spawn as an Alpha, after reaching 100% in that zone.
I was able to nab a powerful Alpha Excadrill in Wild Zone 8, before even unlocking Wild Zone 14 (where the Alpha Excadrill is a static spawn). Alpha Pokémon can also be found as static or random spawns outside of Wild Zones, on certain roofs!
Remember to cash in those Colorful Screws
Certain items have a purple beam — these are Colorful Screws, a unique item to Legends: Z-A, and usually obtainable from scaffolding challenges. Colorful Screws can be turned into an NPC in front of Racine Construction in the Southeastern quadrant of the map. Screws are exchanged for Canari Plush, which are less like items and more like global buffs. Players can unlock five different Canari Plus Effects, each with three different levels. The first level costs three screws, the second five, and the third costs eight more screws.
The Blue Canari is a great one to grab early, boosting catch rate by 10%/20%/35% at each level.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A is available on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. Read our review, and sign up for our weekly newsletter!
