Pokemon Legends Z-A is the perfect time to fix “baffling” evolution issues

The Pokemon games have undergone a slew of changes over the years, some of which have gone down better with fans than others.

The arrival of the new title Legends Z-A marks the perfect opportunity for the series to expand upon existing issues and fix mechanics that are still confusing fans to this day. While a Legends game isn’t typically part of the main game series, it’s still the ideal chance for change.

Pokemon players tore into this topic in a community debate, discussing essential changes to the evolution and breeding mechanics in particular. While it was a lively debate, a few key ideas stood out as community favorites.

The person behind the initial post shared that they wanted to see “proper” ways to evolve every Pokemon, adding, “It’s weird that I can have a Stantler, and I can have a Wyrdeer, but I can’t evolve a Stantler into a Wyrdeer. Same with Meltan/Melmetal … it feels like a baffling decision.”

They expanded on their ideas, sharing that special items to encourage Regional evolutions could be exciting, too. They invented a new Pokemon item and gave an example, “For example: you have a Cubone hold the Strange Souvenir item, it’ll evolve into Alolan Marowak despite not actually being in Alola.”

Other Pokemon players were intrigued by the potential changes to the evolution and breeding mechanics, and they added their own ideas and theories to the mix.

Removing trade evolutions was a popular suggestion, with one player adding, “Oh, because some Pokemon I love are ‘trade to evolve’, I’ve always hated trade evolutions and wanted them to give those Pokemon an alternative way to evolve.”

Some players were adamant that the Linking Cord item should return in Pokemon Legends Z-A to make evolutions easier.

A Pokemon Legends Arceus player noted that the PLA menu evolution option should return in Z-A, adding, “The best part is them correcting trade evos with evolution items. Want to actually use your Gengar? Just give it a Linking Cord and there you go! Brilliant feature and it only lasted for one game.

Some players went further back in the franchise’s history, referencing the Poke Pelago Islands from Sun & Moon.

One fan shared, “So many useful passive features that make 0 sense they didn’t come back. Egg hatching, EV Training, friendship raising, and berry growing. They’ve made some things easier, but it was so convenient.”

Whether you’re excited about the possibility of change or happy with how in-game evolution works in Scarlet & Violet, it’ll be fascinating to see how Pokemon Legends Z-A handles the topic of evolving Pokemon – especially with the return of Mega Evolutions.