I’m sure Nintendo expected the biggest news of this morning’s Direct to be all the Mario 40th anniversary news or the new Fire Emblem, but in actuality, it was Pokémon Legends: Z-A‘s Mega Dimension DLC. We know nothing about the premise or how it will tie into the RPG’s broader story, but we do know that it is adding not one, but two Mega Evolutions for Raichu, the long-disrespected final evolution of Pikachu. Life is worth living, actually.
The teaser trailer shows Hoopa, the dimension-opening Pokemon, opening a portal to a realm full of new Mega Stones, including two for Raichu. Interestingly enough, both Mega Raichu variants seem to combine elements of both it and Pikachu, with Mega Raichu X having two Pikachu-like tails, and Mega Raichu Y having a body more like Pikachu, with a longer Raichu-style tail and antler-like horns that resemble the lightning bolt at the end of Raichu’s tail. X’s color scheme is also more yellow, similar to Pikachu’s, while Y maintains Raichu’s orange base. Check out the teaser below:
There will no doubt be folks bummed that Mega Raichu X and Y are apparently gated behind a paid DLC. I’m annoyed I likely won’t be able to use either during my main playthrough of Legends: Z-A when it launches next month. After decades of complaining about Raichu not getting any love from Game Freak, I cannot afford to be too picky right now, though. Hopefully there will be some way to access Raichu’s Mega Stones early on in a playthrough after the DLC launches. I am just brainsick enough to play the entire game over again if it means I get to have a Mega Evolution of my favorite Pokémon for the entire run. We don’t currently know how much Mega Dimension will cost, or how long after Legends: Z-A‘s October 16 launch it will be come out.