Days ending in “Y”. This means there's been a video game leak of some kind, and the most recent victim is Pokémon, specifically Pokémon Legends: ZA. Some pre-release leaks could have occurred after some malicious copies were discovered in the wild. Things like learning that the Linking Cord doesn't exist in the game felt very tame.
But what happened in the hours that followed was staggering. If you consider yourself a Pokemon fan, you might want to stay off the internet until the next major leak dominates the news headlines.
Meanwhile, not only have key elements of Pokémon's present and future been leaked online, but someone has dumped the entirety of Legends: ZA ahead of its October 16 release. This means pirates are actively playing the next piece.
Pokemon Legends: ZA is broken. I repeat Pokemon Legends: ZA is broken
As first spotted on Reddit, the entirety of Legends: ZA has surfaced online via a ROM dump. This means that Pokemon Legends: ZA has been hacked by pirates.
The total file size is approximately 4GB, which is exactly the size mentioned in the pre-release version, which has fans worried. People who found and downloaded the dump started playing it on Switch emulators like Ryuijinx.
We don't want to draw Nintendo's ire by posting a link, but compared to other Switch dumps, Legends: ZA was relatively easy to find.
For what it's worth, this isn't the first time a Nintendo game has been cracked by malicious actors and released online, and it certainly won't be the last. In fact, this happens quite often.
But considering how damaging the current leak has been, it's worth wondering whether Nintendo will sooner make Switch 2 exclusives, first-party titles that have yet to get an emulator despite some claims.
- released
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2025
- ESRB
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E
- engine
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proprietary engine
