Pokémon fans are frantically trying to figure out Pokémon Legend: ZA connects to other Pokémon games

This morning, we got ours The first long-term Pokemon Legend: zaGame Freak's futuristic new Pokémon game is set in the familiar Pokémon X/Y locale of Lumiose City. But even though we've seen a lot of features like running on the roof, confrontation and megae evolution, we still have a lot of questions about when the Pokémon Legends ZA will be going relative to other Pokémon Games, and the characters we might see in Lumiose City.

That's where the community comes from.

In the context, while most Pokémon games tend to be independent affairs, the first Pokémon legend game involves time travel. It also features familiar locations where familiar places and pearls have been apparently ancestors of other Pokémon games over the past few hundred years…or, in one case, only Pokémon Black and White characters were dropped by Pokémon God himself in past Pokémon Black and White characters. With that in mind, fans are eager to know when to set Pokémon Legend: ZA if it is set, if there is any time travel prank, and whenever any familiar faces will happen in Lumiose City.

Fans have been combing out their connections with other Pokémon games in the last few hours since the trailer debut…they found a surprising number. The most obvious connection is the existence of AZ, which is called directly in the trailer. Arizona is a character awarded immortalized 3,000 years before the events of Pokémon X and Y, so it makes sense that ZA will be nearby whenever it happens. At ZA, he seems to run a hotel in Lumiose City, and he looks happier as he gets reunited with his beloved buoy.

But there are more subtle connections. One of my favorites that fans found was the potential presence of Looker Bureau in ZA. Looker is a favorite detective character who first appeared in Pokémon Black and White, but has since made appearances in several other games. Several Hawkeye fans noticed that an office shown in the trailer looked almost the same as the Looker innings in the past games, which they believed confirmed the presence of Looker or his Protege Emma in ZA's Lumiose City.

Another real idiot theory that surfaces is the connection between the two main protagonists and some other familiar faces. Now, we have the full character art for the protagonists of Pokémon: ZA, fans point out that the two characters look similar to Ethan and Lyra, two player characters from Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver. This leads to speculation that the legend: ZA might take a time travel scenario, pulling Ethan and Lyra out of the Johnto version and sending it to the futuristic Lumiose.

But another interesting protagonist-related theory proposes a different origin story. Fans also pointed out that the couple looked like they were with Kalos Pokémon scientist Professor Sycamore and the mother of the protagonist Pokémon X and Y, named Grace. This, especially involving the position of grace, is a more stretching thing, but given the ancestors of the past in the legendary series:

The strangest thing about all these theories is that some versions of them can be correct at the same time. As multiple fans have pointed out, we definitely don't know where Pokémon Legends Za happens in the schedule. Over the years, Pokémon games have been loose in sequence, occasionally involving other reality (no worries, good), and just like the legend: Arceus: Arceus, time goes back to the past. If AZ runs the hotel, fans point out that the game must happen after the events of Pokémon X and Y.

However, considering AZ's immortality, this could mean hundreds of years. The biggest evidence is Lumiose City itself, which is huge and futuristic in legend ZA, a way that will take decades to build. If this is true, and this happens far away in the future, it would mean that the two protagonists, as well as the people who run Looker Bureau, are among generations of people who have similar characters.

Fans are obsessed with another character, and this is the creepy woman in the main art:

This woman looks like a hexadecimal madman, a type of coach that appears in Pokémon X and Y. Although many return coaching types have been found in today's news, this girl is particularly fun thanks to the ongoing Pokémon Mystery: Ghost Girl.

In Pokémon X and Y, there is a Scenarios you can view By entering the buildings in Lumiose city, then head to the second floor. When you arrive, the lights flash, the music will stop, and the hexadecimal madman will appear behind you, slide to the front of the screen, and then say, “No, you’re not that” before disappearing. It's a weird, creepy scene that so far has absolutely no explanation. The girl will never see again, nothing is unlocked, just a strange Easter egg. So, since hexadecimal madman has been a mystery for years, the sight of wandering around Lumiess among the legendary characters Za has a lot of fans, hoping this clue will eventually lead to somewhere. After all, if she was a ghost, she might continue to haunt the building for hundreds of years…

There will almost certainly be more new discoveries over the next few days, Easter eggs and all the footage, art and news we receive today about Pokémon: ZA. We have some waiting for the game to be released as it is currently planned to be “end of 2025”. But at the same time, at least we have a lot of new information to be obsessed with. You can catch up with everything announced on Pokémon Gift today, including Legendary News, Mobile Game News, Pokémon Champions and more It's here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].