Pokémon Legends: Z-A Gets a Switch 2 Cartridge With Mega Dimension on the Card, Landing October 29 With 100 Ultra Balls

By CriticalPixel · 2026-09-30

Pokémon Legends: Z-A is finally getting the version it should have had from day one. On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company will ship a Nintendo Switch 2 cartridge that holds the Switch 2 Edition of the game and the Mega Dimension DLC together, so anyone buying Lumiose City this holiday gets the whole story in one box. IGN reported the news on September 30, and The Pokémon Company's own announcement confirms the headline promise: both pieces live on a single game card. There is a gift attached too, a serial code for 100 Ultra Balls through Mystery Gift for anyone who buys the bundle. It is a tidy package, and it raises a few questions about how Nintendo sells expansions on physical media.

Official key art for the Pokemon Legends Z-A Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and Mega Dimension bundle

What is in the box

The release is called Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Mega Dimension, and it sits on one game card. If you own a regular Switch you can still play it, though the Switch 2 Edition running on the older console behaves like the Switch software, with none of the extra features built for the newer hardware. The base game came out on October 16, 2025, and the Pokémon Company's page lists it for Switch and Switch 2. The US version carries an ESRB rating, and the same post describes Mega Dimension as an expanded story about the Mythical Pokémon Hoopa and strange spatial distortions spreading across Lumiose City. IGN adds that the expansion lets you temporarily control Pokémon above level 100 and adds more Mega Evolutions, with Darkrai, Magearna and Baxcalibur named in its report.

The DLC content is worth a quick rundown, because that is what the extra cartridge space is buying you. The official Mega Dimension page lists Mega Raichu X and Mega Raichu Y, Mega Chimecho, Mega Baxcalibur, Mega Zeraora, Mega Lucario Z and Mega Garchomp Z, with Hoopa at the center of the plot. That is a real chunk of post-game, not a cosmetic pack, and it was always strange that the most substantial content for the game lived behind a separate digital purchase. Putting all of it on a single card for holiday shoppers is the sensible fix. It also means a parent grabbing one box at a retailer will not end up with half a game and a download code to sort out.

Key art for the Mega Dimension DLC of Pokemon Legends Z-A showing Hoopa and the spatial distortions over Lumiose City

The cartridge question

There was a brief scare about what "on the cartridge" means, and it is worth understanding before you preorder. GameCartDB pointed out that the packaging labels the DLC as downloadable content, so its first read was that nobody should assume the expansion is physically on the card. The account also noted that Nintendo has surprised people before, since later printings of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe plus the Booster Course Pass ended up with all the DLC on the game card. The Pokémon Company's post settles the wording: the Switch 2 Edition and the Mega Dimension DLC are both on one game card, full stop. Still, box text and press copy sometimes drift apart, so the cautious move is to treat the official statement as the answer and watch for early unboxings once copies land.

What we still do not know

Neither IGN's report nor the Pokémon Company post gives a retail price, so any number you see floating around before stores list it is a guess, and this article is not going to add another one. We also have no word on whether the card needs a day-one update, how the bundle is priced next to buying the game and the DLC separately, or what the path looks like for people who already own both digitally. The announcement is also framed around the US release and the ESRB version, so check your own region's listing before assuming the same packaging and the same Ultra Ball code. Those gaps matter, because the value of this bundle is entirely a price question, and we have no number to judge it by yet.

How the community is reading it

Reaction is limited so far, and I do not want to invent a consensus out of a handful of replies. Under the GameCartDB thread, one user said they think it is on the cart, another asked Nintendo to give BotW and Bananza the same treatment next, and the account itself stayed cautiously hopeful while asking people to verify once physical copies exist. The same commenter who wanted more of these bundles argued this is good news for Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, since those games will almost certainly have DLC too. The mood I can actually see is mild approval mixed with a healthy distrust of the word "bundle" on anything with a digital add-on.

Official screenshot from the Mega Dimension expansion of Pokemon Legends Z-A

The CriticalPixel take

This is the release most people wanted a year ago, and it is hard to be mad at a complete edition that puts the story, the Switch 2 upgrade and the expansion on a single card. IGN notes that Nintendo has no major new Pokémon game this holiday, so a re-release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is an easy way to keep a shelf slot filled until Winds and Waves arrive on Switch 2 next year. That is a reasonable business call, and it is also the kind of call that should come with a fair price and a real incentive for people who already paid for everything. A code for 100 Ultra Balls is a nice extra for new buyers, but it is a thin reward next to what early adopters spent, and it reads as a garnish rather than a gesture. The bigger point is that a complete physical edition should be the default way a game's life cycle closes, and every publisher on Switch 2 should be taking notes.

If you skipped the game and the expansion, October 29 is the easy entry point, and the ESRB E 10+ rating means it suits most of the household. If you already own both, there is nothing here for you except the knowledge that the collector shelf is getting a neater version. Keep an eye out for the price and for the first people to confirm what is actually on the cartridge, because those two details decide whether this is a genuine bargain or just a tidy repackage. Either way, the lesson is simple: put the whole game on the card, and price it like you mean it.