A new leak has revealed that Pokémon Legends Z-A has removed a major feature that impacts how Shiny Pokémon will work. The new changes have some PLZA players worried that Shinies will now be too difficult to catch.
You Can’t Disable Auto-Save in Pokémon Legends Z-A
We are now only three days away from the launch of Pokémon Legends Z-A, and the game has now been completely leaked online. As a result, players who managed to grab an early physical copy of the RPG have datamined it. However, according to dataminers, Game Freak has made a major change to one of PLZA’s saving features, which will now make catching Shiny Pokémon more difficult than it’s ever been.
Pokémon Legends Z-A will not allow players to disable auto-save in the menu. If you are wondering, what does that have to do with Shinies? The reason it’s a big deal is that most players would manually save whenever they saw a Shiny Pokémon. That way, if they accidentally knocked it out or the Pokémon managed to break out of everything, they could just reload and try again.
But with auto-save now mandatory, this means that players can no longer guarantee that the Shiny Pokémon they have found will still be there if they shut their console off. So essentially, you may now only have one chance to catch a Shiny.
A lot of pressure, right? However, it should be pointed out that we still don’t know how frequently the auto-save feature works. Still, this is a pretty big change for the series.
Pokémon Legends Z-A Brings Back Popular Shiny Pokémon Sound Effect
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. Leakers have also confirmed that Game Freak has brought back one of Pokémon Legends Arceus’ most popular features — Shiny Pokémon sounds. Yep, when a Shiny Pokémon appears on your map in Lumiose City, you will now hear a sound effect. For some reason, the mechanic was taken out of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
This was actually one of the biggest complaints about Gen 9, as it made Shiny hunting really difficult. There are so many horror stories of players accidentally riding past the rare Pokémon without even realizing it because they made no sound. Thankfully, the feature has reportedly made its return in Pokémon Legends Z-A. So interestingly, PLZA both took a major step forward with making Shinies easier to catch, but then also took a step back with auto-save.
Guaranteed Shiny Pokémon Quests Are Also Returning
Finally, guaranteed Shiny Pokémon quests have also made their return. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, there was an early-game mission that had you catching a Shiny Ponyta. Leakers are reporting that Pokémon Legends Z-A has a similar mission that gives players a Shiny Mareep. “I guess this will become a tradition in Pokémon Legends games. There’s a sidequest with a guaranteed shiny Mareep.”
So we will at least have one Shiny Pokémon as we start our adventures in Lumiose City. However, if you plan on hunting Shinies in PLZA, prepare for it, as it may be a little more challenging than you are used to.
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