Leaked Pokémon Art Destroys Legends: ZA Starter Theories

A new batch of Pokémon Art from various projects has leaked, potentially revealing the starter Pokemon for Legends: ZA while also destroying fan theories on the subject.

Since October 12th, Game Freak Teraleak has surfaced thousands of files containing previously unreleased Pokémon art and projects online. Most of this content comes from previously released Pokémon games, but there have also been some info dumps released about upcoming titles like Pokémon Legends: ZA and the unannounced entries for generation 10.

Details about Legends: ZA from this leak were vague, with the hacker behind the leaks refusing to reveal any more information about newer games to avoid anything that would “actively risk more damage” to the series, such as unforeseen delays. But that hasn't stopped a series of recently leaked concept art from showing off an early version of it Pokémon World Championships 2025 Key art – and possibly the ZA Starters too.

While most of the Pokémon featured in the Anaheim promotional art are not notable, Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie all make appearances. And while this is still just speculation since the official starters haven't been announced yet, three starter Pokémon that appear in the art for the World Championship are usually directly tied to a main series game within that event's time frame.

However, this has encountered some setbacks as Pokémon Legends: Arceus' release in January 2022 did not use the starter series. Instead, The Pokémon Company used Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble from Sword and Shield, likely because that game was used for VGC competition – since there were no competitive battles in Legends: Arceus.

Related article: Leaks show that Pokémon have tried more action battles in Legends Arceus

Additionally, the Pokémon World Championship only really focuses on new starter trios in the first year after a game's release, which is why Sprigatito features heavily in the 2023 material. Fuecoco and Quaxly from Scarlet and Violet, while 2024 moved on to other Pokémon that were paired with Pikachu. So if Legends: ZA doesn't have a stronger presence at Worlds in 2025, whether through actual fights or just for marketing reasons, the Kalos starter trio may not return.

There have previously been fan theories about which starters could be used in Legends; ZA almost exclusively mixed and combined Pokémon from different generations. This was under the assumption that Game Freak would go for it a trio like Snivy, Torchic and Totodile to give regional variants final evolutions and potential Mega Evolutions, because that's exactly what Legends: Arceus did with Rowlet, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott – minus the Mega part.

While the logistics behind the artistic decisions are in question, based on other leaks we've seen, it could make a lot of sense to see Legends: ZA using the same starters as X and Y.

The person behind the Teraleak apparently confirmed this Legends: ZA will not take place in the past like Legends: Arceus did and will instead be closer to modern times, so the ability to wave away why the original starters aren't used may not be the same. This is especially true if the game is intended to tie into X and Y in some way, be it as a prequel or a replacement for the Z version that we never got.

This also gives Game Freak the chance to finally give Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja a Mega Evolution, which is only reinforced by the fact that Greninja is consistently one of the most popular Pokemon in the world, even if it has a name Pokémon of the Year 2020.

Again, this is just speculation based on leaked artwork and trends from previous Pokémon World Championships and should be treated as such until the developers or Nintendo provide official confirmation. Only one Legends title has been released, so we don't know if Game Freak will follow a standard formula or handle its starter selection differently for each entry.