Pokemon TCG May Be Hinting at a Later 2025 Release for “Legends: Z-A”

Water Pokémon Master

Water Pokémon Master

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Japan’s Pokemon TCG sets always release around the same time as new Pokemon games. This is to market each other.
Sword & Shield released on November 15th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch. Two weeks later the Sword and Shield sets hit store shelves in Japan. They introduced Pokemon V to the TCG, with VMAX cards referencing Dynamax Pokemon.


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GOOD! The later ZA drops in 2025, the more likely it'll fill the role of the annual Pokemon game.

With Switch 2's release date not yet known, and as a new Pokemon generation has never dropped during the first year of a new console, they finally could be breaking the horrible three year cycle they've forced themselves to follow.

Celebrating the 30th anniversary with a milestone 10th generation sounds great. Please take your time, Gamefreak!!
 
Hopefully ZA releases later in the year so they have more time to polish it. And more sets featuring the Owners mechanic means we're more likely to get Lorelei content, too!
 
Tvoretz said:
Wasn't Star Birth more of a BDSP set than a Legends one?
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Good thought, but no, the TCG largely ignored BDSP. Star Birth was for Legends: Arceus because it featured Arceus and introduced VSTARs which were inspired by the frenzied Pokemon from the game.
 
March is the video game industries "We missed the deadline for christmas" month. So I would not be surprised if the Switch2 is a March release like the Switch1 was. Having a big Pokemon game launch along side the switch2 will probably give it the momentum it needs to achieve switch levels of success. That or they Announce for March for a June release.

Either way it sounds like ZA might be a launch title for the switch. And if Rocket is the big bad in ZA then that ties in with the set release in March.
 
Revoletion said:
March is the video game industries "We missed the deadline for christmas" month. So I would not be surprised if the Switch2 is a March release like the Switch1 was. Having a big Pokemon game launch along side the switch2 will probably give it the momentum it needs to achieve switch levels of success. That or they Announce for March for a June release.

Either way it sounds like ZA might be a launch title for the switch. And if Rocket is the big bad in ZA then that ties in with the set release in March.
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Pokemon never releases main games with a new system. They wait for people to own the system so they get more sales.
 
One funny thing about the cycles of generations in pokemon is that I always agreed that 3 years per generations was way too short. But now that Im a fan of the tcg Im honestly like I wouldnt mind the constant releases. Still I dont wanna keep getting their rushed games and the tcg will be fine, the sad thing is that they feel they need to rely on extremely popular pokemon/trainers for the downtime, which is a bit boring to me
 
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When the TCG had to stall for time between Gens 3 and 4 they literally invented their own region and big gimmick in the form of Delta Species. When SM/USUM and LGPE didn't provide enough content for a 3 year cycle, they came up with tag teams which was a fun idea that appealed to collectors.

I never really got why people factor the TCG as something that necesitates a new video game every 3 years. They've always been content to do their own thing.
 
Hmmm. But isn't it clear, that we get Gen10 in fall 25? Would be surprising, if they cancel the 3-years-rhythm.
 
Water Pokémon Master said:
Good thought, but no, the TCG largely ignored BDSP. Star Birth was for Legends: Arceus because it featured Arceus and introduced VSTARs which were inspired by the frenzied Pokemon from the game.
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Just in case you haven't seen enough arguments on PokeBeach in the past 24 hours =P

I 100% agree that making Arceus the flagship Pokemon wasn't a coincidence and that BDSP got the short end of the stick overall, but but I think there's enough modern Sinnoh in Star Birth to call it a BDSP set. It featured the Old Chateau, modern Snowpoint Temple, Hotel Grand Lake, Jubilife City, Pokemon Mansion, Canalave City, Oreburgh Mine, Sandgem Town, Professor Rowan, and Barry in Pokemon art, Boss's Orders (Cyrus), Cynthia's Ambition, Roseanne's Backup, and a reprint of Professor's Research (Rowan) as Supporters, and a bunch of Gen IV Pokemon (like Arceus =P).

gladbachOlli said:
Hmmm. But isn't it clear, that we get Gen10 in fall 25? Would be surprising, if they cancel the 3-years-rhythm.
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Releasing Gen 10 for the 30th anniversary is pretty good marketing, though.
 
My guess: It's very likely that Megas will return within the new Owner's Pokémon mechanic. Considering it will be Tag Team style, this is the most practical way to get Megas back into the TCG, as happened with Mega Sableye in the SM Era.

Therefore, a card like "Rocket's Marauder Mega Tyranitar & Nidoking ex" would be completely viable, for example.
 
Still personally hoping on March so it can hopefully release alongside the Switch's successor but won't complain about a later release date if it means more development time
 
Eh, like all rumors I'll take this with a grain of salt. That said I'm really not happy with TPC dropping Z-A's trailer on Pokémon Day and offer no other news releases since then, it makes me feel like they're doing the opposite of what Nintendo does with its trailers because they felt like they had to announce something substantial to please fans and shareholders.
Water Pokémon Master said:
Pokemon never releases main games with a new system. They wait for people to own the system so they get more sales.
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To be fair I think Z-A may see more of a BW/BW2 situation in regards to the Switch successor, one of its heavily-rumored features is backwards compatibility with Switch games. Heck, releasing Z-A on the Switch and offering enhanced features for Switch successor users could ease people into buying it.
Asrialys said:
Pokemon Masters X set! lol
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As someone who found Pokémon GO's special set to be really lackluster I'd rather not see any more tie-in sets like it, they're almost always overprinted.
 
arturito said:
My guess: It's very likely that Megas will return within the new Owner's Pokémon mechanic. Considering it will be Tag Team style, this is the most practical way to get Megas back into the TCG, as happened with Mega Sableye in the SM Era.

Therefore, a card like "Rocket's Marauder Mega Tyranitar & Nidoking ex" would be completely viable, for example.
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Definitely would be better than having to evolve a mega evolution Pokemon with three stages four times
 
While it would be great to feel assured that they're not repeating the multiple releases of 2022, I still highly doubt they would've announced Z-A in February if they weren't certain it would release in the first quarter of next year.
 
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