Yesterday’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A gameplay reveal flooded us with new information about the upcoming Pokémon games set in a futuristic Lumiose City, including looks at dozens of Pokémon we should expect to see there. But one trio of monsters that fans were really hoping to see did NOT appear: the elemental monkeys Panpour, Pansage, and Pansear.
Why are fans so hung up on the monkey trio? It’s a bit complicated. The three monkeys and their evolutions have been a part of an increasingly shrinking list of Pokémon that are currently unavailable in any Nintendo Switch game. If you want to truly catch ’em all, you still can, by transferring them from other Pokémon games pre-Switch to Pokémon Home. But at the moment, the following Pokémon are unavailable for capture natively in any Nintendo Switch Pokémon game:
- Panpour
- Pansage
- Pansear
- Simipour
- Simisage
- Simisear
- Patrat
- Watchog
- Furfrou
This list used to be much longer, but Game Freak added a ton of new Pokémon in the DLC for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that culled the list down to these nine. What’s more, the trailer we saw yesterday showed both Patrat and Furfrou, confirming these two at least will be available in Legends: Arceus. And since Watchog evolves from Patrat, it’s a safe bet it will be in the game too. So that just leaves the three monkeys.
The elemental monkey trio was first introduced in Pokémon Black and White, and are somewhat beloved by fans due to the unique way the player obtains them. In Black and White, the first Gym the player encounters will use a typing that the player’s starter Pokémon is weak against. However, if the player visits a certain person in the Dreamyard, they’ll receive the monkey that has an advantage against that Gym, making it easier to tackle. Their designs are also memorable for being based on the “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” wise monkeys of Japanese folklore.
Realistically, the odds of the monkey trio showing up in Legends: Z-A are actually pretty good. It would be very surprising for Game Freak to leave them out of what could possibly be the last major Pokémon game on Nintendo Switch, and given that they appeared in the Kalos region PokéDex back in the day, it only makes sense for them to still be there in Z-A.
Even if the monkeys are included, there’s still one other problem Game Freak needs to solve: Spinda. Spinda is catchable on Nintendo Switch in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, but due to an error in how the game reads its spot patterns, it cannot be transferred to Pokémon Home. You can still get a Spinda from pre-Switch games transferred to Home, but the weird stuck nature of Spindas on Switch means that the dizzy little bear could probably use a functional Z-A appearance too, if Game Freak feels amenable.
Our first real look at Pokémon Legends Z-A gave us a lot to take in, and we’re still dissecting the footage to find all the connections between this and other, past Pokémon games. You can catch up on everything we saw at yesterday’s Pokémon Presents right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
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