Pokémon Legends Johto Unites Gamers, And We Can See Why

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The Pokémon Legends spin-off series has given us two reasonably solid games so far, without really transforming the tried and tested formula in any real or major way. The potential is absolutely there, though, and the releases we have had so far did more than enough to generate a fan base all of its own.

Pokémon Legends Z-A came out in 2025, so that game still remains very relevant, but there’s presumably a future where we get more games in the series before too long (though almost certainly after the arrival of Winds and Waves). Interestingly, however, it turns out we might never have played Legends Z-A at all, and the games we lost to make it a reality might not go down too well with everyone.

Pokemon Card illustration of Ho-oh from pokemmo trading card game

Over on Twitter/X, the user Hidden Power Podcast shared insights taken from Game Freak documents as part of the infamous Teraleak, in which they revealed two canceled games that could have been released instead of Legends Z-A.

“According to Game Freak documents, the concept of dual Johto Legends games were moved on from when The Pokémon Company decided to make Legends ZA instead… Would you have preferred a potential Johto revisit over Legends ZA?” the post reads.

The two examples given featured Ho-Oh and Lugia as the cover stars, and it’s safe to say that it has the potential to be a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those of us who were around when the early games released. The comments were predictably disappointed that those games will seemingly never come to light, despite Legends Z-A being a decent entry in its own right.

“Pokémon Legends: Gold and Pokémon Legends: Silver would be great,” one read.

“I want a Johto remaster using Legends Arceus art style so bad,” another added.

A third was even stronger in their consternation, saying, “Someone from Pokémon needs to be fired… It’s as simple as that. Give. The. People. What. They. Want. Make us happy, and it will in turn make you all more money!!!”

A close-up on Mega Garchomp Z's head in Pokemon Legends Z-A. — A close-up on Mega Garchomp Z’s head in Pokemon Legends Z-A.

Despite its clear and obvious flaws, the Legends formula really does have plenty of potential, and the Pokémon franchise would be silly to leave it behind entirely. Given that both have been commercial successes, they likely won’t, but they do need to refine it before the next release in the spin-off series.

Other than that, we just have to sit tight and hope for the best from Winds and Waves when that drops as the first game of the tenth generation. It looks promising so far, but the Pokémon series really does need to step forward as soon as possible or risk becoming entirely stagnant.