Pass the Za-Za, S'il Vous Plaît

Author

Stephanie Liu
February 28, 2025

Welcome to “Siliconera Speaks Up,” our newsletter for the site! This’ll be a summary of the past week’s anime or gaming news, a little reminder of things to come, and our insight on what games you should pick up next. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Speak Up Sesh

Finally, after a year, we have news of Pokemon Legends: Z-A. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company unveiled the first gameplay trailer during the Pokemon Presents Showcase, which gave us our first look at the starters, present-day Kalos, and the characters. The game will come out in Fall 2025 (the specific season was in the Japanese trailer, while the English one just had “late 2025”) for the Switch, and we’ll be sure to hear more about it in the months between.

As a note, in the “Which starter will you choose?” poll on the story for the trailer, 34 people voted and Totodile is the overwhelming winner! Chikorita’s in second place and poor Tepig’s in third place. Maybe people’s minds will change depending on what information we get, though. Like, the starters in Arceus had different third evolutions that might have people deciding against a certain one in between. Personally, I’m a Team Chikorita.

The different form of combat, as well as the improved looks from Scarlet/Violet, look really interesting! The one thing I’m still unsure of is the fact we’re confined to Lumiose City. Is there really enough to explore within the city to fill an entire game without becoming dull? Paldea’s vast swathes of emptiness only exacerbated the performance issues of the game, and Z-A seems to be scaling it down quite a bit. Time will tell if it’s to its detriment or not.

Aside from exciting news about Pokemon, Monster Hunter Wilds also made its official debut today! It’s already got over a million concurrent players on Steam, and is the 7th most-played game ever, beating out Cyberpunk 2077. Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, even gave its staff a special day off since so many employees suggested they might be feeling unwell on the 28th. February 28 is an annual holiday in Taiwan and, though I went to a pretty busy city, I did think it odd how few people I saw milling about in the department stores and such. Perhaps they were at home and living out their hunter dreams instead of suffering in the heat.

You can read our review of Monster Hunter Wilds here. Unfortunately and for obvious reasons, since it’s a new game, you can’t get it on sale or discount just yet.

Top 10 Stories From the Past Week

  1. Hatsune Miku & Vocaloid Sanrio Character Plush Head to Arcades - Miku and Cinnamoroll are paired up, while Luka’s sporting a My Melody look.

  2. Atlus Selling New Persona 3 and 5 Character Plushes - I don’t think the marketing team meant for this to happen, but the only P5 nuis that aren’t smiling in the promotional picture are ones directly adjacent to Akechi…

  3. Shin Megami Tensei Demon Lord Mara Figures Returns - Somehow, by avoiding the full glory of Mara in the header, we ended up making him look a lot more sensual.

  4. What’s the Best The Legend of Heroes Trails Game? - Azure seems to be the majority pick in the comments.

  5. New Holo Indie Games Include Mori Calliope’s Myriad Death - Myriad Death is a roguelike and holoReversi is…well, Reversi.

  6. How Dynasty Warriors Origins’ Female Character Stories Fared - The change to Diaochan’s relationship with Lu Bu and overall writing was an interesting direction to take the character.

  7. Genshin Impact Amazon Store Gets Shenhe, Wriothesley Merchandise - Two of the sexiest characters in the game, according to online opinion.

  8. Hello Kitty Island Adventure Cooking Recipes Guide - Let! Them! Cook!

  9. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Arc Release Date Will Be Revealed in March 2025 - They’re gonna pull out all the stops in hyping this one up, and for good reason, too.

  10. Konami and Bloober Team Working on a New Game - Silent Hill 3 remake…?

Upcoming Releases

  • Two Point Museum - PS5, Xbox Series X, PC (March 4)

  • Ever 17 - PS4, Switch, PC (March 6)

  • Never 7 - PS4, Switch, PC (March 6)

  • Suikoden I & II - PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Switch, PC (March 6)

  • Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme - PS4, PS5, PC (March 6)