A Pokémon that can rewrite your memories just got a Mega form. The Pokémon Company has revealed Mega Malamar for Pokémon Legends: Z-A, calling it the 52nd Mega Evolution and putting it front and center in an in-universe news blitz across Lumiose City. The game launches October 16, 2025 on both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and this reveal sets a clear tone: strategy will matter, and control might come at a cost.

Malamar isn’t new to mischief. The Dark/Psychic Pokémon debuted in the Kalos era and evolved from Inkay in a famously odd way: by turning your system upside down at level-up. Its toolkit has always leaned into mind games—think Hypnosis and its signature move Topsy-Turvy, which flips stat changes. The anime even leaned into its mind control angle. A Mega form in a Kalos-set story makes sense, and now we know what that looks like when the dial is turned all the way up.

What’s new with Mega Malamar

The official description paints a clear picture. Mega Evolution enlarges Malamar’s brain and floods its body with psychic energy that glows in vivid colors. That light isn’t just for show. It supercharges its hypnotic influence, letting it overwrite memories and even personalities. The phrasing is blunt: it can make a person seem like someone else. For a Pokémon that already specialized in manipulation, that’s a big step up.

Those glowing, undulating tendrils aren’t idle either. They can pick up on the feelings of people and Pokémon nearby, feeding Mega Malamar a steady read on the room. It prefers to fight efficiently, analyzing the field and striking with a level head. When it wants to spike its power, it can insert its tentacles into its head and trigger a burst of psychic output. The mental image is unsettling—and that’s the point. This design leans into eerie control, not brute force.

There’s a catch, and it matters for anyone planning to team up with it. The creature sees others, including Trainers, as pawns. If it doesn’t like your call, it may hypnotize you instead. That’s the kind of lore that raises eyebrows. Will Z-A bake this into gameplay with obedience twists, story events, or unique side effects? The company hasn’t confirmed mechanics, so for now it’s a warning label more than a rulebook. But the theme is clear: power, at a price.

The reveal doesn’t list hard numbers—no base stats, no confirmed Ability, no new move name. It does, however, show a creature built around pressure, tempo, and control. If Malamar’s signature Contrary ability plays any role, it could get even trickier, flipping stat drops into boosts or turning classic counters into bait. If Mega Malamar gets a different Ability, the designers could push it toward support, lockdown, or all-in burst. Either way, it’s built to mess with your plan before you even lock in a move.

Here are the concrete points from the reveal and the promo push so far:

• Debut: Pokémon Legends: Z-A, out October 16, 2025.
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.
• Type: Dark/Psychic (unchanged from Malamar).
• Designation: 52nd Mega Evolution revealed.
• Battle flavor: amplified hypnosis, memory and personality rewriting, emotion-sensing tendrils, rapid psychic surges via brain stimulation.
• Trainer risk: may hypnotize Trainers if it disagrees with commands (lore; gameplay effect not yet detailed).
• Related reveals: Mega Victreebel and Mega Hawlucha also confirmed for Z-A.
• Marketing frame: an in-universe “breaking news” trend surging through Lumiose City.

That Lumiose angle matters. Kalos was the birthplace of Mega Evolution, and Z-A is clearly set on returning to that well with a bigger bucket. Victreebel and Hawlucha also come from eras and regions with strong ties to Kalos’ roster and style, and all three Megas lean toward distinct battle identities: attrition and status (Victreebel), explosive ringcraft (Hawlucha), and psychological warfare (Malamar). It’s a neat triangle that gives the meta room to breathe.

Why this matters for Pokémon Legends: Z-A

Mega Evolutions change the tempo of a fight. They’re not just stat bumps; they’re pivots. You time them to swing momentum or to slam a door shut. Z-A seems built around that tension. Giving a manipulator like Malamar a Mega form pushes the game toward chess rather than arm wrestling. If the campaign leans into open-ended mission design like the first Legends title, a control-focused Mega could shape how you approach stealth, crowd control, and boss pacing.

There’s also the story side. A Pokémon that can rewrite memories is ripe for mystery arcs. If Lumiose City is buzzing with “who changed and why” rumors, Mega Malamar fits as both culprit and red herring. Expect quests that test your understanding of characters more than your damage numbers. NPCs swayed by hypnosis, clues hidden in behavior, and mission paths that punish careless choices all make sense here.

On the competitive front—whether that’s in-game challenges or whatever online formats the new hardware supports—Mega Malamar’s type chart remains the same: weak to Fairy and Bug, resistant to Psychic thanks to its Dark typing, and capable of harassing slower teams with status and momentum plays. If it keeps tools like Hypnosis, Topsy-Turvy, Superpower, and Knock Off, it will force awkward decisions. Do you risk a boost that could flip against you? Do you switch into a predicted control move and hand it tempo? A single turn against Mega users often decides a match; this one looks designed to steal that turn before you realize it.

Of course, checks exist. Offensive Fairies can force it out. Strong Bug-type moves can make short work of it if you get a clean hit. And Dark/Psychic isn’t a cloak of invisibility—it has clear holes if you can pressure it early or deny setup. The bigger question is how Z-A’s move availability, item pool, and Mega usage rules shape these matchups. Those details decide whether Mega Malamar becomes a specialist, a meta gatekeeper, or a high-risk pocket pick.

Control risk is the other wildcard. The lore says Mega Malamar may turn its power on its own Trainer if orders don’t line up with its plan. If that becomes a light gameplay modifier—say, a rare self-activated status, a loyalty meter wrinkle, or story-gated obedience—it could be a signature challenge that fans remember. If it stays as flavor text, it still adds character and explains why NPCs might fear it. Either way, it sets expectations: this isn’t your easy-mode Mega.

The hardware piece is interesting too. Launching on both Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 puts Z-A in a cross-gen moment. If the newer system supports smoother performance or higher fidelity, Mega Malamar’s glow-heavy effects and city-scale crowd scenes could pop. Even on the current Switch, the Legends format already proved it can handle big spaces and bold set pieces. A glowing hypnotist at the center of a city-wide panic is exactly the kind of spectacle the series can stage when it wants to.

The marketing is already playing with that. The reveal lands as “breaking news” inside the game world, treating Malamar’s surge in popularity like a civic issue more than a game trailer. It’s clever. It lets the team show off new animations and mood without stepping out of character. Expect more of this in the run-up to launch: reports, tips, and warnings packaged as Kalos media trying to keep up with strange events.

For players, the takeaway is simple: prepare for information wars. Scout abilities. Track tells. Keep a plan for sleep, stat flips, and forced switches. If Mega Malamar can sense emotions, the campaign may even reward you for reading the field—paying attention to NPC reactions, environment cues, and timing windows rather than just spamming your strongest move. That’s the Legends promise, and this Mega lines up with it.

One more angle to watch: how Mega Malamar slots alongside other confirmed Megas. Victreebel suggests hazard pressure and stall-break angles; Hawlucha hints at aggressive positioning and speed control. Malamar bridges them with manipulation—stall when it suits, strike when the opening is clean. Together, they sketch a meta that rewards adapting on the fly rather than locking into one pace. If more reveals follow that pattern, Z-A could end up with one of the most varied Mega rosters the series has seen.

Fans are already having fun with the name—Malamar always sounded a bit like a candy bar, and the glowing colors don’t hurt the joke. Underneath the memes, though, there’s a serious piece of design here. Mega Malamar is built to unsettle you first and beat you second. Whether that happens through a story twist in Lumiose or a last-turn swing in battle, it gives Pokémon Legends: Z-A a clear identity: stylish, risky, and very hard to ignore.

The Pokémon Company has not shared move lists, Ability details, or stat spreads, and it hasn’t said how often players will be able to access Mega forms in the campaign. But the direction is clear. With Mega Victreebel and Mega Hawlucha already in the pipeline, and with Kalos’ heritage as the home of Mega Evolution, Z-A is leaning all the way into power that changes not just damage numbers, but behavior. That’s a big promise for a game arriving alongside new hardware—and exactly why Mega Malamar’s reveal hits so hard.