Pokémon Legends: Z-A is out now. We’re enjoying it considerably so far, and it’s got its own interesting story of a group of young adults learning to love and protect their city and all the people and Pokémon in it. But there’s one moment in Z-A that’s got us thinking about another story entirely, one contained in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
You see, there’s a museum in Lumiose City that you can visit in Z-A that includes an exhibit on the land of Hisui, which is where Arceus takes place. While most of the exhibit is made up of fun easter eggs for Arceus, there’s at least one exhibit that resolves a dangling plot thread left over at the end of Arceus. It’s a big one, too, as it gives one character’s tragic story a happy ending at last.
I won’t say more without warning you of spoilers. We won’t include any spoilers for Z-A here, but we will spoil what the museum exhibit is, as well as the entire story of one of Arceus’ supporting characters. Read onward at your own risk:
I’m talking about the story of the character Ingo. Let me catch you up, first. Ingo actually appears in Black and White, where he’s a boss in the Battle Subway along with his twin brother, Emmet. Ingo isn’t a particularly critical character in these games, but his importance grows significantly when he shows up in Arceus. You see, Arceus takes place in the distant past, but the Ingo we meet there is definitely the same guy, as he talks about having fuzzy memories of a brother and the time period he came from. But Ingo also doesn’t know how he got to Hisui, or how to get back home to his brother and the Pokémon partners he left behind. As best as we can infer, the god of the Pokemon world, Arceus, likely transported Ingo back in time the same way it transported the main character back in time at the start of the game.
Frankly, this sucks! Ingo clearly misses his brother and partners, but doesn’t understand how this happened to him or why. He’s super depressed the whole game. And this just…never gets resolved. At the end of Arceus, Ingo is still stuck in ancient Hisui, with no way home. But fortunately, Z-A appears to finally give Ingo a happy ending via the museum.
You see, there’s a diagram in the museum of the Training Grounds, which is where Ingo hangs out in Arceus. The diagram has the following caption: “There are records of a man named Ingo providing guidance in the ways of Pokémon battle, but it is said that he simply vanished one day after stating, ‘It’s time for me to return.'”
While it’s not definitive, this seems to imply that at some point after the events of Arceus, Ingo was spirited back home in explicably, finally getting to reunite with his brother and Pokémon. We’ll never know for sure, but the museum exhibit clearly wants to prompt the player to imagine he was finally freed from Arceus’ time traveling torment. I’m personally thrilled by this, as the god Pokémon Arceus’ kidnapping spree was one of the most baffling bits of that game’s plot for me.
My review-in-progress of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now live, if you want to check out my impressions of the first 24 hours, with a full review coming next week. If you’re jumping into Pokémon Legends Z-A, choose your Starter Pokémon, then check out our in-progress Pokémon Legends: Z-A Walkthrough, plus our Side Missions List to make sure you don’t miss anything. We’ve also got a Pokémon Legends: Z-A Pokedex, and most importantly, a guide to All Clothing Stores and Clothing in Pokémon Legends: Z-A so you can catch ’em all in style.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
