I’m late to the party as usual, but I have beaten the Mega Dimension. Here’s my review.
I got the DLC and started playing on December 10th, I then beat the main DLC story on December 23rd. It took me around 19 hours of playtime. I beat the post-game story on December 27th, which took me around 10 more hours. As usual, I played slowly and did a lot of optional things along the way.
I was a huge fan of the base game, so I was really hyped for the Mega Dimension. I liked a lot of what I saw in the trailers, and I was expecting the DLC to expand on and hopefully even improve upon the base game. I liked the DLCs for both Sword and Violet, so I was expecting this to be good as well. But at the same time, I knew that I shouldn’t have too high expectations or I might end up disappointed in the end.
I said at an earlier point that I think the time for the DLC release was just fine, but looking back now, I think it might have been better if it had been released a little later. It was a bit stressful to complete everything in the base game before the release of the DLC.
Unlike what I did for the DLCs for Sword and Violet, I decided to not make any new team(s) before I started on the Mega Dimension. Instead, I just went with the teams I had trained during the post-game.
Below are my thoughts. Contains spoilers.
That’s my review of the Mega Dimension. Now I’m going back to the post-game one final time to do everything that remains.
This is not only the end of my review, but we’re at the end of 2025 as well. Happy New Year everyone! See you in 2026.
I got the DLC and started playing on December 10th, I then beat the main DLC story on December 23rd. It took me around 19 hours of playtime. I beat the post-game story on December 27th, which took me around 10 more hours. As usual, I played slowly and did a lot of optional things along the way.
I was a huge fan of the base game, so I was really hyped for the Mega Dimension. I liked a lot of what I saw in the trailers, and I was expecting the DLC to expand on and hopefully even improve upon the base game. I liked the DLCs for both Sword and Violet, so I was expecting this to be good as well. But at the same time, I knew that I shouldn’t have too high expectations or I might end up disappointed in the end.
I said at an earlier point that I think the time for the DLC release was just fine, but looking back now, I think it might have been better if it had been released a little later. It was a bit stressful to complete everything in the base game before the release of the DLC.
Unlike what I did for the DLCs for Sword and Violet, I decided to not make any new team(s) before I started on the Mega Dimension. Instead, I just went with the teams I had trained during the post-game.
Below are my thoughts. Contains spoilers.
Like the base game, the Mega Dimension contains a lot of things I like, and some things I don’t like. Let’s start with the positives.
When I bought the DLC, I got a code which I could use to obtain some special balls through Mystery Gift. That was unexpected. I got the balls, not sure if I will use them for anything though. When playing Z-A, I prefer to use Poké Balls that are useful for catching, not ones that look good aesthetically (unless I am about to catch a Pokémon where I have a guaranteed capture). When it comes to catching a Pokémon that has fainted, I make sure to always use a ball that has a high chance of capture (since I only have one chance against them).
As I started playing, I saw that the “starting” level for the DLC was 100, and I quickly learned that you don’t get any Exp when battling in Hyperspace Lumiose. I had only trained my teams to level 90, making me underleveled. As usual, I have the worst luck when it comes to levels in DLC. My solution was this: I gave a lot of candies to one of my three post-game teams, to the point that they all reached level 100, then I always used that team when going to Hyperspace Lumiose. I kept my two other post-game teams at level 90 and used them when exploring regular Lumiose, for things like side missions, story battles and anything else that didn’t involve going to Hyperspace. This allowed them to get some Exp and grow a few levels along the way. I never used my in-game teams during the DLC, and I don’t think I’ll use them anymore. I feel that they have served their purpose at this point. My focus for the DLC (and the future) will be my post-game teams.
The teams I used for the DLC were the following:
Team Z: Xerneas / Yveltal / Zygarde / Raichu / Scolipede / Lucario
Team Alpha: Diancie / Skarmory / Drampa / Froslass / Scrafty / Starmie
Team Omega: Floette (Eternal Flower) / Hawlucha / Chandelure / Eelektross / Mewtwo / (empty slot)
With Megas for those that can Mega evolve (Mega Y for both Raichu and Mewtwo, regular Mega for Lucario). Basically everything except Xerneas and Yveltal!
Team Alpha was the team I used when exploring Hyperspace Lumiose, Team Z and Omega were used in regular Lumiose. The final team member for Team Omega is going to be a Baxcalibur, but I haven’t completed training it yet.
I’m thinking of making a post about the details for my teams in the in-game team thread at some later point. I’m also going to make some more new teams now that a bunch of old Pokémon have been brought back with the DLC. I have already started a little on one more team, but it is not done yet.
I like how the DLC brought back a lot of old Pokémon. There were even more than I had expected. I thought it would be around 70 so that the total number of Pokémon in the game would reach around 300, but the DLC added way over 100 Pokémon! That was a very positive surprise. I don’t have the full statistics for a generational breakdown of the Hyperspace Pokédex, but it feels like there are a lot of Pokémon from Paldea. Which is fine, just not quite what I had expected. But there are Pokémon from all other generations as well, including Alola, Galar, and even Hisui! From what I have seen, the game also added all regional variants and evolutions in addition to the regular forms (for the Pokémon that has a regional variant), so that’s great.
The DLC also added some new Pokédex research requests, but no new research levels… which meant that I wouldn’t have had to do those 1000 trainer battles before the release of the DLC! But I would have done them sooner or later anyway just because I want to complete the game to 100% (or at least to 90-99%).
The DLC added a lot of new Megas. But unlike the main game which had a mix of new and old Megas, the DLC only has new Megas. This meant that for me, every new Mega (apart from the ones that were shown during the pre-release) was a complete surprise. There were so many unexpected ones! I had not expected Pokémon like Staraptor, Crabominable, Tatsugiri, Golisopod, Meowstic and Heatran to get Megas! I want to use several of the new ones, so I’m planning to train several of them on my upcoming teams. The only new Mega I have used so far is Mega Raichu Y. From the rest, the ones I want to use the most are Darkrai, Golurk, Meowstic, Golisopod, Magearna, Zeraora, Tatsugiri and Baxcalibur. But chances are I’ll try some of the others as well. Plus, there are still some more Megas I want to use from the ones that were introduced in the base game.
I like how the DLC brought back all old Megas that weren’t available in the base game (though the Mega stones for the Hoenn starters aren’t available yet). And Primal Groudon/Kyogre are back as well! As for regular Pokémon that were missing, Hoopa and Volcanion are now available in the post-game, which is great. This means all Kalos Pokémon are finally in the game.
While exploring Hyperspace Lumiose, I noticed that you can catch some trade evolutions that weren’t available without trading in the base game, or were limited. So far, I have seen Aromatisse, Scizor and Steelix. I haven’t checked if you can catch all trade evolutions in the wild, but if you can, that means the DLC just straight up fixed my biggest issue with the base game. And even if you can’t catch all of the trade evolutions, it is still a much-needed improvement.
The DLC added Multi Battles, which really surprised me. There could obviously not be Double battles due to how the battle system works, but Multi battles work. Just like online battles, they are chaotic but very fun! And there are many of them too, which is nice. They were a very positive surprise.
Another thing I hadn’t expected was that the DLC added new side missions. A lot of new side missions. The majority of which aren’t even related to Hyperspace Lumiose. This was another positive surprise. I like how many of these side missions integrated the new Pokémon that were added in the DLC. There were some instances where I didn’t even realize it. For instance, in one of the earliest new side missions I did, I battled a trainer with a Crobat. I didn’t think of it during the battle, but afterwards, I realized that Crobat wasn’t in the base game, it had been added with the DLC!
One more thing I like about the side missions is how some of them are “sequels” to previous side missions from the main game. Like the guy with the Alpha Bunnelby which makes another appearance here. Or the two girls with Raichu, which then give you the Mega Stones for Raichu after you battle them.
Some side missions that take place in Hyperspace Lumiose feature NPCs, which seem to be from regular Lumiose (like the one with the Raichu girls). This raises a few questions. How do these trainers enter Hyperspace Lumiose in the first place? Are they even the same people as from regular Lumiose, or are they some kind of “Hyperspace counterparts” to the ones in the real world? Or does it vary between each case? The in-game dialogue was very ambiguous regarding this, so it is a total mystery.
I like how the levels in the DLC are really high for the most part, and the game doesn’t make a big deal out of it. One side mission I did early on featured a battle against a trainer who just casually send out a level 88 Garganacl. Then there was another one later on where I had to battle a level 93 Palossand, and yet another where I had to face a level 99 Annihilape! I really like how the levels in the game reaches above level 90, and even 100. This has never happened before in Pokémon (outside of specific instances). Now, Red’s Pikachu has finally been dethroned as the highest-leveled Pokémon in the series! It only took 15 years.
I like the level increase while exploring Hyperspace Lumiose. I have always liked how the max level in Pokémon is 100 as opposed to 99 or some other “incomplete” number, which is the case in many other RPGs. But I had never in my life expected the level in Pokémon to one day go above 100. The new max level in the Mega Dimension is 200! Even if it is only temporary. It makes me wonder how the stats are calculated. From what I can see, they aren’t displayed on the status screen, but I have seen that the HP of my team members have been much higher when I’m exploring Hyperspace Lumiose at high levels.
Regarding the Hyperspace Distortions, I have some mixed opinions of them. First, the positives. If we compare them to the Space-time Distortions in Arceus, I think the Hyperspace Distortions are much better. They do not appear randomly, and if you don’t want to explore any of the current ones, you can simply reset them by changing the time. When I explored them during the story, I usually went for ones which contained Pokémon I hadn’t caught before. The environments in the Hyperspace Distortions were okay. It was basically just a different version of some areas in regular Lumiose. It could have been better, but I think it was fine for what it was, and it worked in regards to the story.
There are some issues with them, though. The time limit is a mixed bag. It makes the whole thing more “challenging”, but not necessarily in a good way. It can be very stressful if there are still things you want to do and you are short on time. Wild Pokémon are often very strong, and they will usually come in groups, which means you pretty much need a good type matchup in order to win. You don’t get any Exp while battling in the Hyperspace Distortions either, which makes them a lot less rewarding to explore. This is especially true for the Battle Zones, battling trainers without getting Exp, money, or any other notable prize didn’t feel very rewarding at all.
I like how the DLC added new TMs, and even changed the movepools for some Pokémon by giving them new moves through level-up. It is really cool, this should open up for new strategies and movesets. I have already made use of some of the new TMs for my teams, but I will probably try even more of them.
Regarding the DLC story, I think it was great on the whole, just like the base game. It was a solid continuation of the story from the base game. One notable thing is that it was oftentimes really funny! Both the main DLC story and some of the side missions made me laugh. It was basically a comedy at times, which was surprising. I like it a lot.
It was fun to see the characters from the base game return, sometimes in odd and unexpected combinations. Like Tarragon and Grisham, Lebanne and Gwynn, Jacinthe and Griselle, or Corbeau, Philippe and Vinnie working together. As for the newcomer, I think Ansha was a great character, I liked how her goal was to catch Rayquaza for her mother, who turned out to be Diantha, as many people had guessed prior to the game. On a similar note, the DLC also confirmed that Lida and Tierno are half-siblings, which is great. Since they have the same father but different mothers, it means that when they finally meet, Lida could greet Tierno by saying: “Yo, my brother from another mother!”, and it will be completely accurate.
I like how Korrina made a return in the DLC. This girl is so amazing, she was one of the more memorable Gym Leaders from X/Y (which unfortunately doesn’t say much), but I think the DLC did a great job at expanding on her character. I like how she is always helping out during the new Rough Mega battles alongside Taunie. And her amazing successor battle theme is back as well!
I loved hearing it again after all these years.
I was very surprised to see that the final boss of the story was Darkrai. I thought it would be Rayquaza, but looking back now, Darkrai actually makes a lot more sense with the nightmares and Distortions. Rayquaza turned out to be the final post-game boss instead, so that’s cool.
The DLC featured 11 missions for the main story, and 3 more for the post-game story. I think that was perfect in terms of length. Not too short, but not too long either.
Rouge Megas battles are back, and they were great this time as well. When I was about to start the first battle, I was a bit disappointed to see that it was against Absol once more. But my disappointment turned into excitement when I saw that it was Mega Absol Z! Really amazing. The time limit made these new Rouge Mega battles a bit more challenging compared to the ones in the base game, but I managed to complete all of them before the time ran out. I like how these battles were set in different environments, such as fighting Mega Tatsugiri inside of the Sushi High Roller, or Mega Rayquaza on top of Sky Pillar.
Like in the base game, there were some hard battles along the way. From the Rouge Megas, I won against all of them on the first try, but it wasn’t always without issues. Meowstic had this weird move where it locked itself in a prison, preventing me from damaging it, and then dealing massive damage once the prison ended. Darkrai was tough because I was close to running out of time before I could defeat it. Kyogre had an attack consisting of massive water beams being sprayed around the whole arena, which were difficult to avoid. Rayquaza was also close to defeating me at one point, but it wasn’t too difficult apart from that. From the side missions, the hardest was the one where I had to defeat two Rouge Mega Crabominable. I got completely stomped the first time I attempted it. I later made another try at a much higher level, and had an easier time.
One random thing I like is that baking donuts with Ansha is not a minigame. It feels weird to say, but I like it this way because it goes much faster and you don’t need to spend an extra moment doing something, which I’m happy about since there are so many other things you need to do in the game. I also like how you get to use more berries the better butter you get.
So yeah, there are a lot of things I like about the Mega Dimension. But there are also a few things I don’t like. Let’s go over them as well.
While I think the “gameplay loop” for the DLC is fine, it is a bit… impractical, for the lack of a better word. There are a lot of things to keep track of, and many things you need to do. Check the Hyperspace Rank for all available Distortions, maybe reset if there are none that you want to explore, make donuts using berries, enter Hyperspace (with a time limit), do what you can, return, make sure you have enough berries for future donuts. Repeat. And in my case, I had to swap between my three teams a lot (but that’s not the game’s fault). Overall, I feel that the gameplay loop in the base game was a lot more seamless, I never had to keep track of as many things as in the DLC.
The map in Hyperspace Lumiose is basically useless. It doesn’t show where you are, nor does it show anything about the surroundings. It is just like the map in Monad Passages, except worse since this is not a linear path but an open area just like in regular Lumiose. The only positive thing with the map is that it always features a warp point back to the entrance, allowing you to easily go back whenever you want. But other than that, the map is terrible.
Like many other things in Pokémon, some parts of the DLC are very grindy. Getting enough Mega Shards to buy all the new TMs from the guy outside of Wild Zone 17 took a while, and then I needed even more for Magearna and the Genesect Drives. Raising your Hyperspace rank also takes a while since you need to gather a lot of points, and chances are you might not always complete the survey tasks in Hyperspace, making you miss out on points. Then in the post-game, you need to get 25000 points every time you want to do a special scan. And you had to get 999 coins to evolve Gimmighoul into Gholdengo, which took a while to collect (though the guy who gives the side mission gave you 413 to start with, so that’s not too bad). On the whole, I think the DLC would have been better if it hadn’t been so grindy.
Another thing I wasn’t overly fond of was how you need to reach specific flavor levels for the donuts you have to make for Darkrai, Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. I had all the berries I needed when making donuts for Darkrai and Rayquaza, but for Groudon and Kyogre, I had to go out and grind for berries in Hyperspace before I had the ones I needed. This slowed down the momentum of the story, which was annoying.
After playing through the DLC, I have noticed that sneaking up on wild Pokémon is actually quite difficult in this game. It is a notable problem for the Hyperspace survey requests where you have to catch Pokémon without noticing them. Especially against aggressive wild Pokémon, because once they spot you (which happens very easily), you have blown your chance. This was never an issue in the base game, but it is in the DLC. This is another of the few things I think Arceus does better than Z-A since it had various items you could use to conceal yourself while sneaking up on wild Pokémon. Z-A would have benefitted from having something like that as well.
One thing that is somewhat related to the above is the fact that you need to catch a lot of Pokémon for the survey requests. In the base game, I had to catch a lot of different Pokémon in order to complete the Pokédex requests for catching 50 Pokémon of each type, making me fill up a lot of boxes. With the DLC, I had to catch even more, to the point that I had to mass release various Pokémon since my boxes got too full. This is annoying. I wish the game had Home support so I could pay for another monthly subscription and store my Pokémon there instead of being forced to release them. But as it is now, once Z-A gets Home support next year, it will be too late as I will most likely be done with the entire game at that point.
There’s a random AI quirk I have seen in the game. Sometimes when I order one of my Pokémon to do a move in Hyperspace, they will run away in another direction (often the opposite) before going back to doing what I told them. Sometimes, they will attack from a very long distance and miss their target. I think this might happen for wild Pokémon as well, but I’m not sure. Either way, I can’t remember that this ever happened in the base game, or in the game at all outside of Hyperspace. It is really weird. I wonder if it is a glitch or something.
So that’s most of my thoughts. Like the base game, I think the DLC has both positives and negatives, but the positives outweigh the negatives once again.
When I bought the DLC, I got a code which I could use to obtain some special balls through Mystery Gift. That was unexpected. I got the balls, not sure if I will use them for anything though. When playing Z-A, I prefer to use Poké Balls that are useful for catching, not ones that look good aesthetically (unless I am about to catch a Pokémon where I have a guaranteed capture). When it comes to catching a Pokémon that has fainted, I make sure to always use a ball that has a high chance of capture (since I only have one chance against them).
As I started playing, I saw that the “starting” level for the DLC was 100, and I quickly learned that you don’t get any Exp when battling in Hyperspace Lumiose. I had only trained my teams to level 90, making me underleveled. As usual, I have the worst luck when it comes to levels in DLC. My solution was this: I gave a lot of candies to one of my three post-game teams, to the point that they all reached level 100, then I always used that team when going to Hyperspace Lumiose. I kept my two other post-game teams at level 90 and used them when exploring regular Lumiose, for things like side missions, story battles and anything else that didn’t involve going to Hyperspace. This allowed them to get some Exp and grow a few levels along the way. I never used my in-game teams during the DLC, and I don’t think I’ll use them anymore. I feel that they have served their purpose at this point. My focus for the DLC (and the future) will be my post-game teams.
The teams I used for the DLC were the following:
Team Z: Xerneas / Yveltal / Zygarde / Raichu / Scolipede / Lucario
Team Alpha: Diancie / Skarmory / Drampa / Froslass / Scrafty / Starmie
Team Omega: Floette (Eternal Flower) / Hawlucha / Chandelure / Eelektross / Mewtwo / (empty slot)
With Megas for those that can Mega evolve (Mega Y for both Raichu and Mewtwo, regular Mega for Lucario). Basically everything except Xerneas and Yveltal!
Team Alpha was the team I used when exploring Hyperspace Lumiose, Team Z and Omega were used in regular Lumiose. The final team member for Team Omega is going to be a Baxcalibur, but I haven’t completed training it yet.
I’m thinking of making a post about the details for my teams in the in-game team thread at some later point. I’m also going to make some more new teams now that a bunch of old Pokémon have been brought back with the DLC. I have already started a little on one more team, but it is not done yet.
I like how the DLC brought back a lot of old Pokémon. There were even more than I had expected. I thought it would be around 70 so that the total number of Pokémon in the game would reach around 300, but the DLC added way over 100 Pokémon! That was a very positive surprise. I don’t have the full statistics for a generational breakdown of the Hyperspace Pokédex, but it feels like there are a lot of Pokémon from Paldea. Which is fine, just not quite what I had expected. But there are Pokémon from all other generations as well, including Alola, Galar, and even Hisui! From what I have seen, the game also added all regional variants and evolutions in addition to the regular forms (for the Pokémon that has a regional variant), so that’s great.
The DLC also added some new Pokédex research requests, but no new research levels… which meant that I wouldn’t have had to do those 1000 trainer battles before the release of the DLC! But I would have done them sooner or later anyway just because I want to complete the game to 100% (or at least to 90-99%).
The DLC added a lot of new Megas. But unlike the main game which had a mix of new and old Megas, the DLC only has new Megas. This meant that for me, every new Mega (apart from the ones that were shown during the pre-release) was a complete surprise. There were so many unexpected ones! I had not expected Pokémon like Staraptor, Crabominable, Tatsugiri, Golisopod, Meowstic and Heatran to get Megas! I want to use several of the new ones, so I’m planning to train several of them on my upcoming teams. The only new Mega I have used so far is Mega Raichu Y. From the rest, the ones I want to use the most are Darkrai, Golurk, Meowstic, Golisopod, Magearna, Zeraora, Tatsugiri and Baxcalibur. But chances are I’ll try some of the others as well. Plus, there are still some more Megas I want to use from the ones that were introduced in the base game.
I like how the DLC brought back all old Megas that weren’t available in the base game (though the Mega stones for the Hoenn starters aren’t available yet). And Primal Groudon/Kyogre are back as well! As for regular Pokémon that were missing, Hoopa and Volcanion are now available in the post-game, which is great. This means all Kalos Pokémon are finally in the game.
While exploring Hyperspace Lumiose, I noticed that you can catch some trade evolutions that weren’t available without trading in the base game, or were limited. So far, I have seen Aromatisse, Scizor and Steelix. I haven’t checked if you can catch all trade evolutions in the wild, but if you can, that means the DLC just straight up fixed my biggest issue with the base game. And even if you can’t catch all of the trade evolutions, it is still a much-needed improvement.
The DLC added Multi Battles, which really surprised me. There could obviously not be Double battles due to how the battle system works, but Multi battles work. Just like online battles, they are chaotic but very fun! And there are many of them too, which is nice. They were a very positive surprise.
Another thing I hadn’t expected was that the DLC added new side missions. A lot of new side missions. The majority of which aren’t even related to Hyperspace Lumiose. This was another positive surprise. I like how many of these side missions integrated the new Pokémon that were added in the DLC. There were some instances where I didn’t even realize it. For instance, in one of the earliest new side missions I did, I battled a trainer with a Crobat. I didn’t think of it during the battle, but afterwards, I realized that Crobat wasn’t in the base game, it had been added with the DLC!
One more thing I like about the side missions is how some of them are “sequels” to previous side missions from the main game. Like the guy with the Alpha Bunnelby which makes another appearance here. Or the two girls with Raichu, which then give you the Mega Stones for Raichu after you battle them.
Some side missions that take place in Hyperspace Lumiose feature NPCs, which seem to be from regular Lumiose (like the one with the Raichu girls). This raises a few questions. How do these trainers enter Hyperspace Lumiose in the first place? Are they even the same people as from regular Lumiose, or are they some kind of “Hyperspace counterparts” to the ones in the real world? Or does it vary between each case? The in-game dialogue was very ambiguous regarding this, so it is a total mystery.
I like how the levels in the DLC are really high for the most part, and the game doesn’t make a big deal out of it. One side mission I did early on featured a battle against a trainer who just casually send out a level 88 Garganacl. Then there was another one later on where I had to battle a level 93 Palossand, and yet another where I had to face a level 99 Annihilape! I really like how the levels in the game reaches above level 90, and even 100. This has never happened before in Pokémon (outside of specific instances). Now, Red’s Pikachu has finally been dethroned as the highest-leveled Pokémon in the series! It only took 15 years.
I like the level increase while exploring Hyperspace Lumiose. I have always liked how the max level in Pokémon is 100 as opposed to 99 or some other “incomplete” number, which is the case in many other RPGs. But I had never in my life expected the level in Pokémon to one day go above 100. The new max level in the Mega Dimension is 200! Even if it is only temporary. It makes me wonder how the stats are calculated. From what I can see, they aren’t displayed on the status screen, but I have seen that the HP of my team members have been much higher when I’m exploring Hyperspace Lumiose at high levels.
Regarding the Hyperspace Distortions, I have some mixed opinions of them. First, the positives. If we compare them to the Space-time Distortions in Arceus, I think the Hyperspace Distortions are much better. They do not appear randomly, and if you don’t want to explore any of the current ones, you can simply reset them by changing the time. When I explored them during the story, I usually went for ones which contained Pokémon I hadn’t caught before. The environments in the Hyperspace Distortions were okay. It was basically just a different version of some areas in regular Lumiose. It could have been better, but I think it was fine for what it was, and it worked in regards to the story.
There are some issues with them, though. The time limit is a mixed bag. It makes the whole thing more “challenging”, but not necessarily in a good way. It can be very stressful if there are still things you want to do and you are short on time. Wild Pokémon are often very strong, and they will usually come in groups, which means you pretty much need a good type matchup in order to win. You don’t get any Exp while battling in the Hyperspace Distortions either, which makes them a lot less rewarding to explore. This is especially true for the Battle Zones, battling trainers without getting Exp, money, or any other notable prize didn’t feel very rewarding at all.
I like how the DLC added new TMs, and even changed the movepools for some Pokémon by giving them new moves through level-up. It is really cool, this should open up for new strategies and movesets. I have already made use of some of the new TMs for my teams, but I will probably try even more of them.
Regarding the DLC story, I think it was great on the whole, just like the base game. It was a solid continuation of the story from the base game. One notable thing is that it was oftentimes really funny! Both the main DLC story and some of the side missions made me laugh. It was basically a comedy at times, which was surprising. I like it a lot.
It was fun to see the characters from the base game return, sometimes in odd and unexpected combinations. Like Tarragon and Grisham, Lebanne and Gwynn, Jacinthe and Griselle, or Corbeau, Philippe and Vinnie working together. As for the newcomer, I think Ansha was a great character, I liked how her goal was to catch Rayquaza for her mother, who turned out to be Diantha, as many people had guessed prior to the game. On a similar note, the DLC also confirmed that Lida and Tierno are half-siblings, which is great. Since they have the same father but different mothers, it means that when they finally meet, Lida could greet Tierno by saying: “Yo, my brother from another mother!”, and it will be completely accurate.
I like how Korrina made a return in the DLC. This girl is so amazing, she was one of the more memorable Gym Leaders from X/Y (which unfortunately doesn’t say much), but I think the DLC did a great job at expanding on her character. I like how she is always helping out during the new Rough Mega battles alongside Taunie. And her amazing successor battle theme is back as well!
I loved hearing it again after all these years.
I was very surprised to see that the final boss of the story was Darkrai. I thought it would be Rayquaza, but looking back now, Darkrai actually makes a lot more sense with the nightmares and Distortions. Rayquaza turned out to be the final post-game boss instead, so that’s cool.
The DLC featured 11 missions for the main story, and 3 more for the post-game story. I think that was perfect in terms of length. Not too short, but not too long either.
Rouge Megas battles are back, and they were great this time as well. When I was about to start the first battle, I was a bit disappointed to see that it was against Absol once more. But my disappointment turned into excitement when I saw that it was Mega Absol Z! Really amazing. The time limit made these new Rouge Mega battles a bit more challenging compared to the ones in the base game, but I managed to complete all of them before the time ran out. I like how these battles were set in different environments, such as fighting Mega Tatsugiri inside of the Sushi High Roller, or Mega Rayquaza on top of Sky Pillar.
Like in the base game, there were some hard battles along the way. From the Rouge Megas, I won against all of them on the first try, but it wasn’t always without issues. Meowstic had this weird move where it locked itself in a prison, preventing me from damaging it, and then dealing massive damage once the prison ended. Darkrai was tough because I was close to running out of time before I could defeat it. Kyogre had an attack consisting of massive water beams being sprayed around the whole arena, which were difficult to avoid. Rayquaza was also close to defeating me at one point, but it wasn’t too difficult apart from that. From the side missions, the hardest was the one where I had to defeat two Rouge Mega Crabominable. I got completely stomped the first time I attempted it. I later made another try at a much higher level, and had an easier time.
One random thing I like is that baking donuts with Ansha is not a minigame. It feels weird to say, but I like it this way because it goes much faster and you don’t need to spend an extra moment doing something, which I’m happy about since there are so many other things you need to do in the game. I also like how you get to use more berries the better butter you get.
So yeah, there are a lot of things I like about the Mega Dimension. But there are also a few things I don’t like. Let’s go over them as well.
While I think the “gameplay loop” for the DLC is fine, it is a bit… impractical, for the lack of a better word. There are a lot of things to keep track of, and many things you need to do. Check the Hyperspace Rank for all available Distortions, maybe reset if there are none that you want to explore, make donuts using berries, enter Hyperspace (with a time limit), do what you can, return, make sure you have enough berries for future donuts. Repeat. And in my case, I had to swap between my three teams a lot (but that’s not the game’s fault). Overall, I feel that the gameplay loop in the base game was a lot more seamless, I never had to keep track of as many things as in the DLC.
The map in Hyperspace Lumiose is basically useless. It doesn’t show where you are, nor does it show anything about the surroundings. It is just like the map in Monad Passages, except worse since this is not a linear path but an open area just like in regular Lumiose. The only positive thing with the map is that it always features a warp point back to the entrance, allowing you to easily go back whenever you want. But other than that, the map is terrible.
Like many other things in Pokémon, some parts of the DLC are very grindy. Getting enough Mega Shards to buy all the new TMs from the guy outside of Wild Zone 17 took a while, and then I needed even more for Magearna and the Genesect Drives. Raising your Hyperspace rank also takes a while since you need to gather a lot of points, and chances are you might not always complete the survey tasks in Hyperspace, making you miss out on points. Then in the post-game, you need to get 25000 points every time you want to do a special scan. And you had to get 999 coins to evolve Gimmighoul into Gholdengo, which took a while to collect (though the guy who gives the side mission gave you 413 to start with, so that’s not too bad). On the whole, I think the DLC would have been better if it hadn’t been so grindy.
Another thing I wasn’t overly fond of was how you need to reach specific flavor levels for the donuts you have to make for Darkrai, Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. I had all the berries I needed when making donuts for Darkrai and Rayquaza, but for Groudon and Kyogre, I had to go out and grind for berries in Hyperspace before I had the ones I needed. This slowed down the momentum of the story, which was annoying.
After playing through the DLC, I have noticed that sneaking up on wild Pokémon is actually quite difficult in this game. It is a notable problem for the Hyperspace survey requests where you have to catch Pokémon without noticing them. Especially against aggressive wild Pokémon, because once they spot you (which happens very easily), you have blown your chance. This was never an issue in the base game, but it is in the DLC. This is another of the few things I think Arceus does better than Z-A since it had various items you could use to conceal yourself while sneaking up on wild Pokémon. Z-A would have benefitted from having something like that as well.
One thing that is somewhat related to the above is the fact that you need to catch a lot of Pokémon for the survey requests. In the base game, I had to catch a lot of different Pokémon in order to complete the Pokédex requests for catching 50 Pokémon of each type, making me fill up a lot of boxes. With the DLC, I had to catch even more, to the point that I had to mass release various Pokémon since my boxes got too full. This is annoying. I wish the game had Home support so I could pay for another monthly subscription and store my Pokémon there instead of being forced to release them. But as it is now, once Z-A gets Home support next year, it will be too late as I will most likely be done with the entire game at that point.
There’s a random AI quirk I have seen in the game. Sometimes when I order one of my Pokémon to do a move in Hyperspace, they will run away in another direction (often the opposite) before going back to doing what I told them. Sometimes, they will attack from a very long distance and miss their target. I think this might happen for wild Pokémon as well, but I’m not sure. Either way, I can’t remember that this ever happened in the base game, or in the game at all outside of Hyperspace. It is really weird. I wonder if it is a glitch or something.
So that’s most of my thoughts. Like the base game, I think the DLC has both positives and negatives, but the positives outweigh the negatives once again.
You know the deal. The usual.
And so, another adventure begins…
Now that is a good question. I hope we will find the answer.
Exploring Hyperspace Lumiose for the first time.
This lass has big ambitions for sure.
Corbeau can be really harsh at times. He is pretty much right, though.
Ansha and Hoopa making donuts!
Playing through the Mega Dimension gave me a craving for donuts. I’m not very good at baking, and I have never made donuts in my life, so I bought some at my local grocery store instead. They were yummy.
During a multi battle. Chaotic but fun!
The Mega Successor is back!
Mostly unrelated to the Mega Dimension, but once when I walked past Wild Zone 17, I saw that there were three Alpha Pyroar in there! Crazy. There was no way I was going in there. Thankfully, I had no business there anyway.
I did not expect those two girls to return, team up, somehow get into Hyperspace, and then challenge me to a battle where I got the two Mega stones for Raichu after winning the battle.
Players: How many cat puns can you fit into a single side mission?
Game Freak: Yes.
Just what is going on with that big Distortion above the remains of Prism Tower?
During the battle against Rogue Mega Tatsugiri. I did not expect to fight a Mega sushi Pokémon, inside the Sushi High Roller no less!
Not sure if this was a reference, but it made me think of the Dream World from Gen 5. Looking back now, it didn’t feel all that chaotic, but rather quite… normal? Maybe Pokémon dream normal dreams?
Maybe he’s right…
This was really weird and unexpected and I love it.
Now that’s one way to come up with a nickname. But I can’t blame her, some of my nicknames are pretty large stretches as well.
This feels like something only Jacinthe would be capable of. I must say I’m really impressed by her.
I did not expect to be able to visit Sky Pillar of all places (even if it wasn’t the real version of it). Really cool.
With our Mega power united, we could finally enter the big Distortion.
The friendship and teamwork of team MZ saved the day once again!
And so, this adventure is over. What a ride it was.
And so, another adventure begins…
Now that is a good question. I hope we will find the answer.
Exploring Hyperspace Lumiose for the first time.
This lass has big ambitions for sure.
Corbeau can be really harsh at times. He is pretty much right, though.
Ansha and Hoopa making donuts!
Playing through the Mega Dimension gave me a craving for donuts. I’m not very good at baking, and I have never made donuts in my life, so I bought some at my local grocery store instead. They were yummy.
During a multi battle. Chaotic but fun!
The Mega Successor is back!
Mostly unrelated to the Mega Dimension, but once when I walked past Wild Zone 17, I saw that there were three Alpha Pyroar in there! Crazy. There was no way I was going in there. Thankfully, I had no business there anyway.
I did not expect those two girls to return, team up, somehow get into Hyperspace, and then challenge me to a battle where I got the two Mega stones for Raichu after winning the battle.
Players: How many cat puns can you fit into a single side mission?
Game Freak: Yes.
Just what is going on with that big Distortion above the remains of Prism Tower?
During the battle against Rogue Mega Tatsugiri. I did not expect to fight a Mega sushi Pokémon, inside the Sushi High Roller no less!
Not sure if this was a reference, but it made me think of the Dream World from Gen 5. Looking back now, it didn’t feel all that chaotic, but rather quite… normal? Maybe Pokémon dream normal dreams?
Maybe he’s right…
This was really weird and unexpected and I love it.
Now that’s one way to come up with a nickname. But I can’t blame her, some of my nicknames are pretty large stretches as well.
This feels like something only Jacinthe would be capable of. I must say I’m really impressed by her.
I did not expect to be able to visit Sky Pillar of all places (even if it wasn’t the real version of it). Really cool.
With our Mega power united, we could finally enter the big Distortion.
The friendship and teamwork of team MZ saved the day once again!
And so, this adventure is over. What a ride it was.
What I look for in Pokémon DLC is something that expands upon and improves the base game, which can be done through adding more content and fixing gameplay issues. Did the Mega Dimension do that? Yes. It sure did. It added far more content than I had expected, and it improved upon some things from the base game as well. It wasn’t perfect, but really good. I’m really glad the game got DLC, and I’m even happier I got it and played through it.
I have beaten the main DLC story and the post-game story, but I am not done yet. There are a bunch of things I have left to do. Notably the following:
- Complete the Hyperspace Pokédex
- Obtain all remaining Mega Stones and complete the Mega Pokédex (again)
- Complete all new Pokédex Research requests
- Obtain all new TMs
- Complete all new side missions
- Catch all legendaries and mythicals
- Train some new teams, and get the members of Team Z and Team Omega to level 100
In addition, I still need to find all remaining Colorful Screws! Though I did find three more while playing now. Just five more left to go… but I’m going to use an external map to find all of them. I wonder where they could be? Feels like I have explored every square meter of Lumiose at this point… but somehow, I haven’t, since I still find new items from time to time.
I will also continue with online battling in future seasons to get all Mega Stones. I battled a little now in season 4 and got the Baxcalibrite. I have reached rank O so far, not sure if I’ll continue and try to reach rank A before the season ends, we’ll see.
I was hoping to be done with Z-A rather soon, but chances are that all of the things I have left will take a while to complete. But no matter how long it takes, I will do all of it, then I’ll move on to other Switch games. Or maybe I’ll take a break from Z-A and then return to it later, like I have done with Violet (which I’m still not done with either).
I’m very happy that Z-A got DLC. And now that I’m done with it, I’m even more unhappy that Arceus didn’t get DLC or some kind of major expansion. Looking back at Arceus now, the mistreatment of that game becomes even more apparent. It both deserved and needed something like this. The way it was handled is just a big shame. I really hope future Legends will follow in the footsteps of Z-A instead of Arceus. Both in terms of DLC, general gameplay, and how the games will be handled on the whole.
When I look back at Z-A now that I have completed both the base game and the DLC, I realize that playing the game made me happy. I feel that it sort of re-ignited a passion I had previously felt for Pokémon, but then lost. Now, I have regained it. I haven’t felt this strongly about the series since Gen 6. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Generations 7 & 8 (the games I played) and Violet, but they never gave me the same feeling that Z-A did. I think one big reason I feel this way is that I like Kalos and X/Y a lot. My interest in Pokémon was at its very peak during 2011-2014 (basically, during Gen 5-6). That includes X/Y, and Z-A reminded me of the happy days I had when I played X/Y back then, which brought that happiness back to me.
To summarize, I enjoyed the Mega Dimension DLC a lot. It doesn’t change my opinion of Z-A, I like the game just as much as before. It remains my fifth favorite Pokémon game.
I have beaten the main DLC story and the post-game story, but I am not done yet. There are a bunch of things I have left to do. Notably the following:
- Complete the Hyperspace Pokédex
- Obtain all remaining Mega Stones and complete the Mega Pokédex (again)
- Complete all new Pokédex Research requests
- Obtain all new TMs
- Complete all new side missions
- Catch all legendaries and mythicals
- Train some new teams, and get the members of Team Z and Team Omega to level 100
In addition, I still need to find all remaining Colorful Screws! Though I did find three more while playing now. Just five more left to go… but I’m going to use an external map to find all of them. I wonder where they could be? Feels like I have explored every square meter of Lumiose at this point… but somehow, I haven’t, since I still find new items from time to time.
I will also continue with online battling in future seasons to get all Mega Stones. I battled a little now in season 4 and got the Baxcalibrite. I have reached rank O so far, not sure if I’ll continue and try to reach rank A before the season ends, we’ll see.
I was hoping to be done with Z-A rather soon, but chances are that all of the things I have left will take a while to complete. But no matter how long it takes, I will do all of it, then I’ll move on to other Switch games. Or maybe I’ll take a break from Z-A and then return to it later, like I have done with Violet (which I’m still not done with either).
I’m very happy that Z-A got DLC. And now that I’m done with it, I’m even more unhappy that Arceus didn’t get DLC or some kind of major expansion. Looking back at Arceus now, the mistreatment of that game becomes even more apparent. It both deserved and needed something like this. The way it was handled is just a big shame. I really hope future Legends will follow in the footsteps of Z-A instead of Arceus. Both in terms of DLC, general gameplay, and how the games will be handled on the whole.
When I look back at Z-A now that I have completed both the base game and the DLC, I realize that playing the game made me happy. I feel that it sort of re-ignited a passion I had previously felt for Pokémon, but then lost. Now, I have regained it. I haven’t felt this strongly about the series since Gen 6. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Generations 7 & 8 (the games I played) and Violet, but they never gave me the same feeling that Z-A did. I think one big reason I feel this way is that I like Kalos and X/Y a lot. My interest in Pokémon was at its very peak during 2011-2014 (basically, during Gen 5-6). That includes X/Y, and Z-A reminded me of the happy days I had when I played X/Y back then, which brought that happiness back to me.
To summarize, I enjoyed the Mega Dimension DLC a lot. It doesn’t change my opinion of Z-A, I like the game just as much as before. It remains my fifth favorite Pokémon game.
This is not only the end of my review, but we’re at the end of 2025 as well. Happy New Year everyone! See you in 2026.
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