Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "POKÉMON LEGENDS: Z-A SELLS 5.8 MILLION IN LAUNCH WEEK, HALF WERE BOUGHT FOR NINTENDO SWITCH 2"

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠Notorious Mass Effect with Analytic Dreamz presents a deep dive into Pokémon Legends: Z-A. This segment breaks down the game’s key stats, including its $13M budget, $300M week-one profit, and record Smash Switch 2 sales. Explore the real-time RPG battles, urban Kalos setting, 160+ missions, and heated fan reactions to DLC and glitches. Join Analytic Dreamz for an insightful analysis of this pivotal Pokémon release’s gameplay, lore, critical reception, and market impact.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to get into the most popular game on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 currently. As of course, when talking about Nintendo, you'll probably think it to yourself, hold up now. Usually Mario holds the title of the most popular game on the Nintendo platform. Well, of course, Pokemon is one of the few IPs that could get Mario out of the paint as far as the Crown Jewel as far as players flocking to a specific game as Pokemon Legends Zha just came out and of course when it comes to Z-a a lot of people are pronouncing the Zah so I may just do the same ignorantly I ain't a lot to you so when it comes to sales specifically it has garnered over 4.8 million copies as far as physical plus digital and when you compare it to the field as far as

the Pokemon field obviously nothing is touching scarlet slash violent that had a whopping 10 million units out of the gate. And then when it comes to legends, Arceas, I think that's how you pronounce it, you have 6.5 million, you have swords slash shield is 6 million, brilliant diamond slash shining pearl at 6 million, X slash Y at 4 million, and then let's go Pikachu slash Evie at 3 million.

So it's safe to say, this particular game is selling tremendously, and it's definitely one of the, highest engaged with Pokemon games that's been out in quite some time. And you're probably thinking to yourself, man, what in the world makes this different than the other Pokemon games? You guys. Well, I'm glad you asked. So when it comes to Pokemon Legendsod, the main thing that makes it different than the others is the very distinct change of the gameplay loop.

Because real-time action combat is very different as far as the previous. Pokemon games as those were more turn-based. And of course, when you come to Scarlet and Violet's traditional system, that's what we already know Pokemon to be. But this completely goes away from that gameplay loop, gives you more of a real-time action combat, meaning you can move your trainer and your Pokemon in 3D arenas and have Dodge attacks and time swap slash moves with cool downs, which is very different from the other Pokemon games. And of course, it's set entirely in Lumios City. I think I said that right. And the main focus for Zah is the battle real type of battles that goes through on throughout the ranks. So you have battle reall type of games, which is taking out the whole gym slash pokey decks grind.

And then of course you have mega evolutions and new ones, right? With multi-use. And then of course, rogue megabosses. So the whole gameplay loop is changed for Pokemon Zai. This is not your typical run-in-the-mill, Scarlet and Violet traditional system as far as the battling mechanics. So Nintendo's definitely trying something. So it's definitely good to give them kudos as far as trying something unique

for the next installment as far as a Pokemon game because we already know how Power World is feeling right now. Shepherd. Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Power World trying to. to innovate on the overall capturing

monster mechanic and adding another let's just say it's more of a building building your own based and things of that nature as far as the unique aspect of power went and I forget what they actually call that as far as the specific there's a specific

genre for that but when it comes to Pokemon Zob they also are uniquely adding elements into the monster catching type of system but of course when it comes to power or doing it you know they had to sue them because you know what y'all out here taking our IP and changing a little bit of graphics and calling it your own monster so Pokemon had to turn it to a little you know what I'm saying Pokemon had to and they started snitching expeditiously lawsuits galore and power world is you know

they're going through a lot let's just say that so when it comes to Pokemon Zad we was wondering if Nintendo was ever going to take a gamble and switch up the formulaic Pokemon system. And it's safe to say they deal with Pokemon Zod, which is why a lot of people are calling this one of the best Switch era Pokemon games, especially the way that they went with the art style is more unique. Of course, the anime style is there. The inspiration is there. And of course, the combat. And then when you look at the innovation, Pokemon's been doing a lot from the animation. from the mobile side of things i mean of course the trading cards can't forget how

polkimo even got his core audience in the first place right i mean we could be here for days talking about the different things that pomew has been doing as you already know with the animation you have the uh pomem concierge season two with new episodes coming on netflix september 4th right featuring poe fish shinks and arc arcanine i think that's how you said and then you have uh Pokemon Tales which is artman stop motion series that's coming out in 2027 and then Pokemon always has merch so we're not we don't have to get into that but then of course when it comes to the mobile game we've talked about Pokemon Go specifically i forgot when we talked about that Pokemon Go um let me see we talked about the trading card game uh pocket but have you never

talked about uh do we never talk about Pokemon Go let me see I don't think we've ever talked about Pokemon Go in the world That was actually crazy. I thought we talked about that before. Anyways, I was trying to make sure, because we talked about Pocopio. We talked about the trading card game. I guess you never talked about Pokemon Go. Well, I guess I need to get to that at some point.

Because Pokemon Go is still one of the more popular games in the world, I believe, as far as mobile aspect. Because every time I see it, I'd be like, man, I should probably get into Pokemon Go, but I'm never gotten into it. I guess I've never gotten into it. I thought I did. But anyways, Pokemon Go is the third most popular mobile. game currently and when it comes to that safe to say that they still have a lot of spinoffs of pokem go coming out soon and they're still adding extra uh content to pomecotech on go as you have the pukyman go fest that happens this year um the max finale which happens uh i think that that may

have already happened you had the world's tide event Halloween 2025 part two which is happened october 27 to november 2nd um yeah Pokemon sleep i don't know what that is legendary dogs of anti-racu and su koon i don't know what that is i ain't got to you and then scarlet violet has a free switch to upgrade so they're just doing all type of stuff as far as as pokema keeping the fans engaged with ultimate with with new additions and then ultimate editions of the previous games so to get into the overall uh Pokemon presents showcase they did have that back in February 27 and of course i remember covering um Nintendo So just had some type of event.

I don't know if it was a, no, it wasn't the launch trail. It was, was it Kirby? I think it was Kirby. Yeah, it was Kirby Air Riders Direct. I remember covering that not too long ago, October 27th of this year. And they basically dive into the next racing game that's going to give Mario some run for us money. I mean, Mario just can't catch a break out here. I know that ain't who I think it is.

Mario looking at all these games hopping into the car racing format thinking to himself. I know that ain't who I think of it. Mario looking at Kirby. I know that ain't who I think it is Mario looking at Sonic I know that ain't who I think it is Mario even looking at Steve from Minecraft saying to himself

Shepard Just look at the state of gaming Like what is going on Like a lot Mario been going through it It's almost like Mario's going to have his own solo game that comes out next year Now just mark that I said that Because Nintendo's following a very interesting formula

They put out Mario Kart World Which is a safe game to launch with the Swiss 2 Then they came out with Donkey Kong Bonanza that was not a safe game because it's donkey con and he's been thrown to the waistline i mean we even got a peach game before we got donkey con so then we got donkey con for switch to that did phenomenal from a quality aspect then we got kirby air riders and then we had um i don't think sonic cross worlds is specifically a nintendo game but um when it comes to kirby when it comes to donkey con maro car world i mean at some point after this pokemons lot they're going to get back to the bread and butter

which is mario so i do believe what do for a solo mario game soon because I know currently the promoting the marketing, the Super Mario Galaxy movie, and I do believe at some point in time, Nintendo is going to figure out that they're on pace to have the same type of effect that the MCU had with the Infinity War saga. And what I mean by that is, you already got Sonic popping as far as movies, right? You know how hard that is because we even think in the video game space that he was going to. Shepherd. I was just saying that he may not last, but, you know, the video game is still up to, hey, that's still. up in air as far as the quality um what's not up in air is the quality for the movie aspect so sonic's been solidified as far as in the movie aspect no matter what you say about mario in the movie aspect

a lot of people enjoyed it and then you have the zelda movie coming out i believe um i forget what other movie was coming out uh minecraft already happened is minecraft yeah steve isn't uh super smash bros so basically that was my point they're all leading up i think they should lead up to Super Smash Bros. I think that could be an Infinity War in-game type of run if they do it correctly.

The next Infinity War saga, I believe that's going to come is not going to be from superheroes. It's going to be from the Nintendo universe that they're currently establishing. That Super Mario movie is going to hit just like Infinity War

and end-game did. Remember I told you that. So anyways, getting back into Pokemon Zah because you know, he definitely want to focus on the game at him, right? This game, if you don't know,

already, you should probably already know this, but it's published by the Pokemon company slash Nintendo and it came out October 16th, 2025, currently the most popular game on Nintendo. Now, it's exclusively on Nintendo. So that makes sense, right? Until you realize that there's a lot of Nintendo exclusives that come out just like horrendously flop. So it's not a given just because you're on Nintendo. You're one of the flagships that you're going to sell. Pokemon always comes out the gate and sells a lot.

So currently it's the most play game. And of course, it takes up two slots because you have Pokemon Legends Zah and you have Pokemon Legend Zaz Nintendo Switch 2 edition. So now when you look at that unique type of real-time action RPG, which has no more term-based pauses, the unique experiment, people are rewarding with a lot more eyes because guess what? People enjoy how Nintendo is actually taking a chance with the patented Pokemon format. So when you come to Mega Evolution, the core systems of the Mega Evolution is still, the core systems of the mega evolution is still in place.

And of course, when it comes to the day and night cycle of the unique mechanics, you have the day to explore and catch in districts slash wild zones. And then you have the night, which you have ranked, uh, Zah, Royal Trainer Battles. I should probably say Z-A, but I'm not saying that. Ignorantly, I'm not saying that. As far as the customization, you customize your hairstiles, your outfits and the Pokemon grooming areas. And then when it comes to, uh,

Callos Pocidex, you have chestband to Volcanion, Volcanion, I don't know to pronounce it, which includes alphas, regional forums, and lore ties. So now when you tie that into, well, pun it's in there, when you tie it into the review of roundups, a lot of people have given this glowing reviews to the point where they say it's one of the best Pokemon games in the Switch era. IGN gave it an 8 edit in 10, saying Game Freak hitting its stride, battle system overhaul works surprisingly well. And then of course, a lot of people are saying that it could end up being repetitive as far as the overall gameplay loop. But of course, I feel like every game to some point has a repetitive gameplay loop.

And it's just up to you as a gamer to decide if it's quality, if it's high enough quality to being captivated in that gameplay loop. Everybody has repetitive type of loops in their games. But if it's different enough and it differentiates throughout the timeline of the main campaign, I think that's what makes a great game or not. So when it comes to Pokemon Zod, it seems like the innovation taken with this particular game is being rewarded, and I don't think the repetitive side quest is a real thing. They do say the single city scope is kind of upsetting,

but you never know what's going to come down the line, right? It does have a $70 price tag with $30 DLC pre-announced, so a lot of people are saying to themselves, hold up now. You guys, see, that's the problem. But you already know what happened when we went down that lane as far as drop the price movement. When Nintendo comes out with a price tag, guess what? Ladies and gentlemen, that's the price tag they're sticking with. And the drop the price movement, I think, had the biggest chance of making Nintendo look at their price tag and say to themselves.

Hold them now. Maybe we should look at this and lower the prices a little bit. But guess what? The drop the price movement was one of the most horrendous movements I've ever seen in gaming history. because I remember reporting on this as far as, let me see if I can find this. I remember reporting on this as, yeah, here we go. July 2nd, 2025, Mario Kart World is because it was specifically Mario Kart World.

It wasn't the Switch. The Switch was priced, the Switch 2 was priced at a fair amount. That's what a lot of people are saying. It was just Mario Kart World that was priced exorbitantly as far as, I think it was $80, $90, something like that. And then the drop-the-price movement happened. And then, guess what? A week later, Mario Kart World ended up being the top,

selling game for Nintendo Switch surpassing major milestones. And that happened July 2nd of this year, which I covered. So shout to y'all who supported that coverage because, you know, in general, y'all really enjoyed the Nintendo cover. So I try to bring you more, which would, you know, what we're doing right now. So the reason why I say all that is because they're sending a price tag, the letting you know they're not going to change it. You already had to drop the price movement. You're basically pun intended to drop that movement, right? Just to be submissive and, and, and bend in the to nintendo's prices because the switch switch came out and was selling left and right i mean it was selling like hot kicks i mean goodness gracious that the nintendo switch two

couldn't have sold better i mean it got to a point where the switch was breaking all type of records to the point when i came out june 22nd of this year and said nintendo swiss two sets the sales record and sales sore past xbox and ps5 but i don't want to make this review too long but i will say when it comes to the console race ps5 and xbox series x and s came out around around COVID. There's a lot of chip shortages as far as them trying to get them consoles out of the gate. So I would say the COVID effect stopped them from having the numbers that the Switch 2 had. And I think that's pretty fair, right? Because I don't think there's any chip shortage as of recent. And when the Switch 2 came out, they had chips galore to make the consoles. So I would say that, I mean, obviously it sold well. But as far as, you know, sold the most out the gate. Like, come on now. It's not act like COVID. It wasn't a thing when PS5 and Xbox. series x and s came out so anyways the main thing i was want to talk about was the review and cells round up we already covered that um yeah Pokemon Zodd does seem like a very solid entry into the Pokemon franchise and of course as you can tell by first glance it's very unique compared to the Arceas

of the world so um if you're a huge Pokemon fan if you already have a switch this is definitely worth picking up and of course if you're one of the uh Pokemon fanatics it's definitely i think it's worth getting the collector's edition because this is a very unique take on the Pokemon combat and going away from the turn-based patented system that always helps you out as far as sales and rolling the dice with this and then playing out the way it's playing as far as it being the fifth best Pokemon launch ever i think we're finally starting to see Nintendo innovate and we'll see what goes from here especially with the DLC so with that being said click my link to you in my bio let me know one of my social medias

what do you think about Pokemon legend zi well z hyphen a and at the end of the day how long do you think Pokemon legend z hyphen a will be the most popular game on Nintendo and more importantly do you believe Pokemon legend z hyphen a should be a contender for game of the year