REVIEW: ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ Mega Dimension DLC Is A Sometimes Enjoyable Grind

Pokémon Legends: ZA was a fantastic shot in the arm for the storied monster-catching franchise, with the Mega Dimension DLC doubling down on what works, to mixed effect. The core gameplay is still as engaging as fun as it was in the base game, getting going much faster this time around.

The foundation is there already, and it works, but it also doesn’t do much more than that. The gameplay loop is fun but gets stale as it goes on, especially with some head-scratching pacing choices that unnecessarily slow things down. It is enjoyable, but stumbles in its execution. 

If the main game felt like a movie from the anime, the latest DLC feels like a straight-to-TV special. Picking up after the events of the story, the MZ crew meets a mysterious little girl, Ansha, and her mythical Pokémon partner, Hoopa.

She needs help making and feeding donuts to Hoopa, doing so, opening rifts to different dimensions. Without skipping a beat, team MZ starts spelunking across time and space to help Ansha, while learning more about who she is, her goals, and a massive rift that opens over the city. 

Mega Dimension feels more lived in, thanks to recurring characters from the main game.

The story here is fun and more immediately engaging, as it uses characters from across the main game’s narrative. It helps Lumiose City feel more lived in, with a merry-go-round of familiar faces jumping in for battles and to offer assistance.

Since all the necessary character work was done in the core narrative, it gives Mega Dimension the runway to play around more with the colorful cast of characters that call Lumiose City home. Ansha is also easy to like, with her passion for donuts and backstory being endearing. 

The donuts are important here too, as you’ll need to use different berries to make donuts with various effects. Hoopa needs the donuts to open up rifts to Hyperspace Lumiose, where different Pokémon exist that aren’t normally found in the city. There are 132 returning Mons to catch here, plus 22 new Megas. As you enter Hyperspace, the donut you used decides how much time you have to complete a few objectives. 

Levels go past 100 for the first time in Pokémon history.

The first handful of times you go into Hyperspace are chaotic, engaging sprints. The objectives range from collecting shiny things off the ground to breaking floating PokéBalls, on top of catching the previously unattainable creatures.

Completing these objectives rewards the player with points that unlock the next piece of the story. The rifts can range from trainer battles, to side quests, to sprints through small sections of the city to complete objectives, to massive Mega battles that were a highlight of the core game.

These mad dashes through space are frantic searches, trying to complete objectives as fast as possible while either battling or evading Pokémon. For the first time in franchise history, levels scale past the 100 cap, making even a pack of Mankeys a devastating force if you go in unprepared. Finding the right team for a distortion space, pathfinding on the fly, and doing everything as fast as possible makes it a fun, chaotic couple of minutes.

Mega battles remain a highlight in the Pokémon Legends: ZA DLC.

The thing is, as you do more of these, it starts to get old. It all starts to blur together as you start to see the same Pokémon, the same spaces, the same handful of objectives. The grind here is substantial, too, as you’ll need to run through a number of them to get enough points to unlock more story or higher-tier Hyperspace spots that hold legendary Pokémon. It would be okay if the player had some agency here, but the spaces are always random, meaning you’re not even guaranteed to find a particular Pokémon you may be chasing.

The Mega battles are still the highlight here, huge fights against Pokémon forced to Mega Evolve. They’re dialed up and more difficult here, demanding and challenging encounters that really push the player to the limit. The frustrating element here is the uncertainty as you dive in. The map shows the rifts with stars identifying the difficulty level, but the game doesn’t outright tell you what you’re going into.

It’s frustrating losing fights and donuts when you could’ve been more prepared going in, especially if it’s a Mega you want to catch, especially not knowing when you’ll run into them again. This extends to other spaces as well, as you may use a high rank donut that gets you a lot of time, only to go into a small space that can be finished quickly. More information on the Hyperspace would’ve helped alleviate the frustration of losing a high-rank donut when a lesser one would’ve done the same job. 

Making donuts slows the game to a crawl.

The actual donut-making slows things down to a crawl as well. It’s cute the first few times, but you quickly learn what works to maximize time and level boosts the donut’s award. They can also have a few other effects, like boosting catch rates for specific types of Pokémon, but you can only make them one at a time. There’s no way to make batches of donuts at once, even if you have the requisite berries.

You need a donut for every Hyperspace rift, meaning multiple minutes of just sitting there mashing buttons through the same animations. It kills the pacing entirely and slows things down artificially, making the actual act of creating more donuts a hindrance more than anything else.

Mega Dimension DLC also includes more side stories, with over 80 added. These were fantastic in the original game and continue to be here, expanding on the city’s residents in different ways. From helping a widow find the ring her husband lost years ago to newly added double battles, these are fun ways to get to know the world better. Some even bring in past legendaries, making them important bits to tackle to build out the Pokédex. 

The high price point diminishes Mega Dimension’s value.

The price here will be enough to turn some potential buyers away as well, given the grind and lack of diverse content. What’s here is solid, but there isn’t enough variation to really justify a price point that’s higher than entire other games. For those who loved the base game and are looking for more, you’ll get your money’s worth if you enjoy the grind and combat, but for others, the gameplay loop won’t be enough to carry the price. 

When Mega Dimension DLC clicks, it’s a fun add-on that brings in a lot of returning Pokémon and a new story. The Hyperspace missions can be fun, even if they do start to lose their luster the more you do. The side quests remain a highlight, alongside the Mega battles.

It’s a solid add-on, albeit costly, for fans of the core game looking for more, but it isn’t a must-play due to the repetition, grind, and price. For those looking to return to Lumiose City for another adventure, the Mega Dimension DLC is a decent way to do that. 

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC is available now on Nintendo Switch 2.