Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension - Review

A buffet of portals and donuts.

Console: Nintendo Switch 2

You know what I find funny? Pokémon Legends: Arceus was ripe for some DLC but never got it. Its sequel, Pokémon Legends: Z-A, meanwhile, had its DLC announced before the game was even out. Ignoring the stir it caused online, Mega Dimension looked neat enough. The new Mega Pokémon look cool, Korina’s return in a design that kind-off 'gone mad with power' coded intrigues me as did Hyperspace Lumiose and the ‘breaking the level 100 ceiling’ thing.

So, how do these elements make for an enjoyable, worthwhile expansion? Let's talk about it.

One day, a young girl named Ansha and her partner Pokémon, the Mythological Pokémon Hoopa, appear at Hotel Z. A talented donut chef, she requests Team MZ's help with crafting a special kind of donut. In return, Ansha shows what she needed the donut for. After eating a donut, Hoopa can open the rifts that have appeared all across the city and enter 'Hyperspace Lumiose'; a dimensional reflection of the city. Together with Ansha, Hoopa and former Gym Leader Korrina, Team MZ set out to uncover the mystery of Hyperspace Lumiose.

The story here is short and pretty unremarkable all things considered. What I wrote in my 1st draft of the base game, but ended up on the cutting room floor, was that the middle of that story was filled with repetition. The structure of getting to the Rogue Mega Evolution fights all hit the same plot beats, with maybe one or two beats switched around here and there. This perfectly sums up Mega Dimension.

It's built around this formula: create donuts to jump into Hyperspace Lumiose to complete three missions for research points within the time limit. Once you have enough points you fight against a Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon. Rinse and repeat until the final boss. Not very exciting. We do have some 'rest' missions in-between that are neat enough, such as taking the ever-endearing Ansha to the Lumiose museum, and the final mission is quite exciting but those moments don't balance out the monotony of the above repetition.

I found myself not liking my first run of Hyperspace. I couldn’t get my bearings before the timer ran out. What also worried me was that doing essentially the same thing in different, but similar-looking, areas would wear thin and that is what ended up happening.

Well, these are hte perfectly reused assets that make up Hyperspace Lumiose Lida.

I learned how to make good donuts for more time, picked up tricks such as saving just after the golden Pokéball spawned to give me repeated attempts to find it, and more. However, I jumped into over 80 Hyperspace Zones to get to the end of the DLC's story. That was too much of me doing the exact same things, hoping for some good RNG to boot, for it not become irritating.

Right, that RNG. Hyperspace Zones respawn every day and night with the type of zone, size of zone, difficulty and type of Pokémon (or trainers) you find being randomized. Also somewhat randomized are the donuts. You not only need to obtain the ingredients but you are also at the mercy of chance once you have got the berries you want, as the special effects of two donuts with the exact same ingredients can have different properties.

If you are looking for a specific donut to use in a specific 5-star Hyperspace Zone (which only spawns once after acquiring 25000 research points) for that one item you need… boy, that could take you hours! Yeah, I stuck with the ones in which I could catch Pokémon for Pokédex completion and did not bother making those superstrong donuts that break Shiny hunting in half and whatnot.

What didn't help me to make all this repetition and grinding more palatable was that I still hadn't finished the Infinite Z-A Royale from the base game. I decided to finish that mission during the DLC as I thought this would make that grind easier to tackle… only to juggle to two repetitive activities at once. That didn't help make my experience here feel less like a slog, even if that bit is not a part of Mega Dimension. I only did 1 battle focused Hyperspace zone because of this. Those are just the Infinite Z-A Royale but with the timer and research points. Not different from the usual battles at all.

I did make sure to play all the ‘Mission’ and ‘Mega’ Hyperspace Zones that popped up. The former are side-quests that play out in Hyperspace, usually a tag battle, and the latter are fights against Rogue Mega Evolved Pokémon but in a standard 1:1 format.

I liked that this meant you had to fight each new Mega here. When going into Legends: Z-A I thought that Rogue Mega Evolutions were mini-bosses alla Raid Battles. That wasn't the case, so I'm happy that they've sort of done that here. I just find this a more enjoyable way to get their Mega Stones. That fight against the two Mega Crabominables can walk to the moon though. They were so aggressive that they one-shotted my entire team! The only way I won it was by setting up Stealth Rock and then continuously avoided their attacks while the hazard chipped away at their HP.

These two glacial crustacean cavemen gave me more trouble than the actual final boss!

Where all of the other aspects of Hyperspace I find better on paper than in execution, that is not the case with the Pokémon going over level 100 thing. As someone who plays Pokémon for the single-player but finds these games too easy, this was exactly the type of challenge I needed. Wild Pokémon were no pushovers, especially if they gang up on you, and the Rogue Mega Evolution battles were welcome, though. They can certainly bring something like this back in the future.

The final Rogue Mega Battle was also just a highlight of the DLC. It’s not just fun to fight but the area you fight it in is surprisingly well designed, the cutscene that introduces it short but very well made and the design itself is very different from the norm which makes it really stand out among the crowd.

With Hyperspace and all its bells and whistles out of the way, there are only a couple of more things to talk about. We get a ton of new side missions which are the exact same kind as the ones in the base game, so I don't need to say any need to talk about them. Same goes for the research tasks that Mable gives you except that with these new tasks, you can now get the Shiny Charm without having to do that 'win 1000 battles task'. Thank Arceus for that!

That Hyperspace Pokédex brings over 130 new Pokémon to Legends: Z-A. I haven't really used many new Pokémon in my playthrough (I’m satisfied with my team), but there is a good selection here of fan favourites and kinds of Pokémon that diversify the already present selection of Pokémon. Fidough is now here, so the ‘croissant’ inspired Pokémon can finally be caught in the Paris-inspired city. Took them long enough! Plus: this DLC showers you with those hard-to-get, previously event-exclusive, Mythical Pokémon. Nice.

All right, let's end this review by tackling those new Mega's, the thing I feel people are the most excited to see. I quite like the selection we have here. Yes, Flygon once again got the shaft, but the 18 Pokémon that do get a (new) Mega form(s) mostly work out. We get more recent Pokémon getting Megas, such as Scovillain, Legendary Pokémon getting Megas and more. Design-wise, I'm very happy too, with even the goofier designs still being very fitting for the Pokémon that they are (if you know, you know).

Those new 'Z Mega Evolutions'? Better on paper than in practice. Their entire schtick is that their Mega gauge drawns faster but recharge their moves faster as well. I used my Mega Absol Z plenty, but would've rather had it without this gimmick attached to it. The gauge drains way too quickly for my taste. Playing with the Mega Gauge could've brought better balance among all the Mega evolutions. Think giving Mega Sableye a slower draining gauge and Mega Garchomp a faster one, but the way it is done here with 'Z Megas' falls flat if you ask me.

Conclusion

Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Mega Dimension, is just like the base game: full of good ideas that falter in the execution. Pokémon breaking past level 100, another good selection of new Mega Evolutions, and a great final battle are all great. Unfortunately, these highs are buried beneath a shallow story and a repetitive, grind-heavy structure that leans far too much on RNG, which wore this gamer down.

I had fun with this expansion, and people who loved Legends: Z-A will surely find something to enjoy here. However, Mega Dimension is best enjoyed at a discount and knowing it’s just as flawed as Legends Z-A.