Leaked Pokemon Art Destroys Legends: Z-A Starter Theories
A new batch of Pokémon art from various projects has leaked, potentially revealing the Starter Pokémon for Legends: Z-A, while destroying fan theories on the subject.
Since Oct. 12, the Game Freak Teraleak has seen thousands of files featuring previously unseen Pokémon art and projects surface online. Most of that content has been from previously released Pokémon games, but have seen a few info dumps regarding upcoming titles like Pokémon Legends: Z-A and the unannounced Generation 10 entries.
Details about Legends: Z-A from this leak have been vague, with the hacker behind the leaks refusing to share more information about newer games to avoid anything that would “actively risk more damage” to the series, such as unforeseen delays. But that didn’t stop a recent batch of leaked concept art from showing an early version of the 2025 Pokémon World Championships key art—and potentially the Z-A Starters as well.
While most of the Pokémon shown in Anaheim promo art are not noteworthy, Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie all make an appearance. And, while this is still just speculation since the official Starters have not been revealed yet, typically, when a trio of Starter Pokémon appear in the art for the World Championships, they are directly tied to a main series game within that event’s timeframe.
This is facing some pushback, however, as, when Pokémon Legends: Arceus launched in January 2022, its Starter lineup was not used. Instead, The Pokémon Company used Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble from Sword and Shield, likely because that game was being used for the VGC competition—as Legends: Arceus did not feature competitive battling.
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Additionally, the Pokémon World Championships only really focuses on new Starter trios in the first year of a game being out, hence 2023’s material heavily featuring Sprigatito. Fuecoco, and Quaxly from Scarlet and Violet while 2024 moved on to other Pokémon paired up with Pikachu. So, unless Legends: Z-A will have an increased presence at Worlds in 2025, whether that be actual battling or just for marketing, the Kalos Starter trio might not be making a return.
Prior to this, fan theories about what Starters might be used in Legends; Z-A were almost exclusively mixing and matching Pokémon from various generations. This was under the assumption that Game Freak would choose a trio like Snivy, Torchic, and Totodile to give regional variant final evolutions and potential Mega Evolutions because that is what Legends: Arceus did with Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott—minus the Mega part.
While the logistics behind the art’s choices are being questioned, seeing Legends: Z-A use the same Starters as X and Y could make a lot of sense based on other leaks we have seen.
The person behind the Teraleak has seemingly confirmed that Legends: Z-A won’t take place in the past like Legends: Arceus did and will instead be closer to the modern day, so the ability to wave away why the original Starters aren’t being used can’t be the same. This is especially true if the game is going to tie into X and Y in some way, either as a prequel or a replacement for the Z version we never got.
Likewise, this gives Game Freak a chance to finally give Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja a Mega Evolution, which is only bolstered by the fact Greninja is consistently one of the most popular Pokémon in the world, even being named Pokémon of the Year in 2020.
Again, all of this is just speculation based on some leaked art and trends from previous Pokémon World Championships and should be treated as such until the developers or Nintendo gives official confirmation. There has only been one Legends title released, so we don’t know if Game Freak will follow a standard formula or handle its Starter choices differently with each entry.
