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On Feb. 27, during the 30th-anniversary Pokรฉmon Presents stream, Game Freak revealed a new Mega Evolution for Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A: Mega Garchomp Z. May this be the final one.
Mega Evolutions have been part of the Pokรฉmon combat dance for a while, having been introduced in 2013 with Pokรฉmon X and Y. The idea is that certain Pokรฉmon can hold a corresponding key item (i.e., Venusaur holds Venusaurite) to evolve in battle beyond its typical final-stage evolution (i.e., Venusaur becomes Mega Venusaur). The Pokรฉmon will take on a new look and see its base stats increase significantly, typically by around 100 points across the board.
The Mega Evolution gimmick skipped a few games โ neither it nor the similarly paradigm-shifting Z-Moves were present in 2019โs Sword and Shield or 2022โs Scarlet and Violet โ but returned again for Pokรฉmon Legends: Z-A. As of this writing, according to Serebii, around 90 Pokรฉmon can Mega Evolve, though some, like Charizard and Tastugiri, have multiple forms.
Itโs funny. Sometimes you think back on a thing you hated as a kid โ olives, for instance โ and wonder if itโs really as offensive as you remember, if youโve matured, if your memory is clouding an otherwise innocuous thing. Then reality sets in.
Mega Evolutions were dumb in 2013. Theyโre still dumb now. And olives still arenโt great.
For 30 years, Pokรฉmon has built its battles around an advanced version of Rock Paper Scissors โ 18 various types, each one with its own strengths and weaknesses against other types. Though Game Freak has implemented various quality-of-life changes over the years, that core concept has remained the same. You attack the water-type Pokรฉmon with electric- or grass-type moves. You swap out your electric-type Pokรฉmon when a ground-type Pokรฉmon appears. The challenge comes from knowing the type(s) of the Pokรฉmon youโre facing (with more than 1,000 these days, itโs harder than youโd think) so you can know whether to attack or escape.
Mega Evolution does away with all of that strategy, reducing single-player Pokรฉmon battles to a mere numbers game. The competitive advantage of Mega Evolutionโs stat boosts means, in most cases, you no longer have to think about the type-matching chart, provided both Pokรฉmon are around the same levels. Iโve been playing Legends: Z-A on and off since its October 2025 release. Whenever I find myself in a pinch, I simply Mega Evolve whatever Pokรฉmon is on the field, and boom โ weโre safe.
Since the items needed for Mega Evolutions must be held by Pokรฉmon, the gimmick also trivializes another core component of Pokรฉmon battles. Pokรฉmon only can hold one item at any given time. Give a Pokรฉmon a Charcoal, and itโll increase the damage its fire-type moves deal โ terrific for fire-type Pokรฉmon, who already get the same-type attack bonus for fire-type moves. Let another Pokรฉmon hold Leftovers and theyโll regain some health each turn. There are hundreds of held items, allowing countless possibilities for trainers to flex their strategic chops. But whatโre you gonna do, give your Pokรฉmon a marginal advantage that could help in specific circumstances? Or go for the item that instantly changes the tide? Come on.
The obvious solution sounds straightforward: justโฆdonโt engage with the mechanic. But the issue with Legends: Z-A is that it effectively forces you to do so. For most of the game, you battle opposing trainers or wild Pokรฉmon. Every so often, though, youโre required to defeat a few โRogue Mega Evolutions,โ high-level Pokรฉmon whoโve Mega Evolved without a trainer and pose a threat to nearby citizens in PokรฉParis. Defeating these Pokรฉmon all but requires you to use Mega Evolutions of your own in tedious boss fights where you spam the same attacks repeatedly while rolling around a bland, round battlefield. Itโs why I keep hitting a wall in the game. Every time I come up against one of these boss fights, I groan and put the game down, letting my attention get captured by a different game for a few weeks.
Mega Garchomp Zโs arrival in Legends: Z-A โ as one of Pokรฉmonโs big 30th birthday presents, no less โ suggests The Pokรฉmon Company isnโt shying away from Mega Evolutions. If anything, given that December 2025โs Mega Dimension expansion added a bunch of new Mega Evolutions, Mega Garchomp Z is likely far from the last one. The gimmick is the only one that keeps coming back, after all. To my chagrin, itโs probably not going anywhere.
But hey, at least we got Mega Dragonite out of it.
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