One of Pokémon’s most overlooked game needs a sequel, and Legends: Z-A’s Mega teases prove it

Mega Hawlucha, Vicrtreebel, and Dragonite look great on Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but I’m sure they would look way, way better on a new Pokkén Tournament. It’s been 10 years since this fighting game’s release, and I still see it as one of the most overlooked and underrated Pokémon titles.

Pokkén takes in Mega Evolutions perfectly. The more punches, throws, and combos your Pokémon lands, the more Mega energy they gather, until they have enough to evolve. The Mega state makes them faster, stronger, and enables them to use their strongest special attack, called a Burst move. That’s when Mega Charizard X burns the battlefield with Searing Blaze and when Mega Gengar traps its opponent into the illusory realm of Shadow Drop.

Not all 23 Pokkén characters have Mega Evolutions, even though 46 Pokémon in the franchise could already Mega Evolve in other games when Pokkén was released. You can argue that not all Megas were fit for a fighting game, but with the new Legends: Z-A monsters, this will no longer be an excuse.

Mega Hawlucha needs to be in a Pokkén Tournament sequel and fight Pikachu Libre. Machamp, who was in Pokkén’s original roster, has a beef with Hawlucha that could grow further with a Mega Evolution in a new fighting game. If other Legends: Z-A Mega Evolution leaks are right, other additions would work perfectly in a Pokkén sequel.

Pokkén Tournament 2, if it ever comes out, could be really far away, despite having been brought up. In 2021, the game’s Producer and Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada was open to making a sequel. That statement came four years after Bandai Namco helped Nintendo launch Pokkén Tournament DX on the Switch. “But it’s not what we decide, it’s what they decide,” Harada wrote.

Who at Nintendo decided that a Pokémon fighting game, many fans’ childhood dreams, was an idea so bad that it shouldn’t be improved? Still, it’s never too late for that person to change their mind and give us Pokkén Tournament 2 with Megas from Legends: Z-A on the Switch 2, maybe even including improvements that people requested in the original.

The first Pokkén had trouble conquering the hearts of casual Pokémon players because fighting games aren’t casual-friendly, even though Pokkén had much simpler controls than its competitors. The FGC community, on the other hand, didn’t stick with the game either because its blend of 2D and 3D combat in a single fight felt off. While many people say Nintendo’s support for the game wasn’t great, the company featured Pokkén in the Pokémon World Championships until 2022.

Fighting games have evolved significantly in the past two years, with Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising and Street Fighter 6 slowly making simplified inputs like Pokkén’s more acceptable even to hardcore FGC players. A Pokkén Tournament 2 that keeps simple inputs at its core while simplifying game combat to either 2D or 3D will make for a great combo with a roster full of Mega Evolutions from Legends: Z-A.

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