Pokemon fans use Mega Evolutions and French history to uncover Legends Z-A starters, and I'm sold

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Some super effective guesswork

An Empoleon turns around, looking bemused
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The race to figure out what Pokemon Legends Z-A starters we're getting is on, and plenty of pros and long-time fans aren't short of thoughts. 

2016 Pokemon World Champion Wolfey uses Z-A's returning mega-evolutions to suss out which fire starter we'll potentially get, landing on Incineroar. The pro believes that The Pokemon Company "probably" wants the starters to mega-evolve. Considering Charizard and Blaziken already do so and that Typhlosion was a starter in the last Legends game, Wolfey reckons "there's a 1/5 chance we get Mega Incineroar." I ain't mad about that. 

One of the more popular theories doing the rounds involves a trailer for Generation 9 DLC. You've got several shots that include Pokemon Legends Arceus starters Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott. What's caught the attention of some, though, is that each starter is accompanied by another generational starter who shares the same element. Rowlet is with Servine, Cyndaquil is joined by Torchic, and Oshawott can be seen with Piplup. One heck of a coincidence, but wait.

As you'll probably know by now, Pokemon Legends Arceus brings back several old starters that appear to tie into a historic Japanese theme, which is appropriate given the game's older setting. Legends Z-A's ties to a French-themed region lend the above theory some weight. As one fan points out, Servine's final evolution Serperior has French nobility inspirations; Torchic eventually evolves into Blaziken, which is fun as France's national animal is the rooster; and Piplup eventually evolves into Empoleon - we'll let you figure that one out.

It remains to be seen who Pokemon Legends Z-A will cast as its starters and what theme they'll serve, though we know enough to assume it won't be the Generation 5 starters, despite the game's location. 

Starters are one of many things Pokemon fans have been left to speculate over, as we don't know heaps about the upcoming game. Pokemon Legends Z-A is due to release next year, is limited to Lumiose City, and that's just about it. We've gone through the trailer to make a start on what the Pokemon Legends Z-A Pokedex might look like, though expect plenty of information to come about all of that over the next year or so.

Another theory for the road? Pokemon Legends Z-A was hinted at in Arceus a full 2 years ago, and barely anyone noticed.

Iain Harris
Iain Harris
News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.