For the first time in over ten years, Mega Evolution is back in the new Pokémon Legends Z‑A. With 26 brand-new Mega Evolutions, there’s a wild mix of hits, misses, and a few “what were they thinking?” designs. I caught them all and have decided to rank them based on their design and usefulness in battles. Hopefully, that can help you decide which Mega Evolutions to pursue when you play Pokémon Legends: Z‑A.

26 Mega Starmie

Patrick Starmie

This is the one that broke the internet. Starmie’s Mega sprouts weird, human-like legs and a truly terrifying run that makes people laugh, cringe, and then laugh some more. In battle, it's a bit of a glass cannon. It's a fast attacker, and pretty powerful, but it doesn't take much to knock it out. Fans either adore it for being weird or hate it for ruining a chance for Starmie to become meta.

25 Mega Excadrill

Excadrill gets a dad-bod and bigger power tools

Excadrill gets much chunkier and more heavily plated in its new mega form. In all honesty, the drills are a bit too much, and walking around Lumiouse city with mega Excadrill just looks awkward. If they made the drills smaller, then this would make a great third form in the evolution line, but it's pretty weak as a mega.

24 Mega Feraligatr

A boring design with a new Dragon typing

Feraligatr’s new mega is more of a gimmick than an actual mega evolution. Feraligatr’s body remains mostly unchanged, except it now has a crest that gives it a cartoonishly large Totodile-style head. Totodile is a beloved starter Pokémon for sure, but it feels like Feraligatr deserved a better mega to end off the line. Although the design isn't revolutionary, the new dual Water/Dragon typing is something that fans have been begging for.

23 Mega Zygarde

XYZ dragon cannon

Zygarde is a mixed bag when it comes to its evolutions. The 10% and 50% forms look great, they look like real Pokémon, but the complete form just looks like a transformer. The Mega form continues in the human-like design, but this time with a massive cannon on its head. It's a little absurd and hard to imagine this Pokémon out in the wild somewhere. It seems like Nintendo really wanted "Pokémon with guns" after the Palworld disaster earlier last year.

22 Mega Skarmory

Bigger claws and a new color

Skarmory is a prime candidate for a mega evolution. It's a single-stage Pokémon, with a unique typing and a somewhat decent move set, but this new mega really doesn't do it any favors. Mega Skarmory is now gold and has much bigger talons. In all honesty, this should have just been a regional variant instead.

21 Mega Pyroar

Yes, we know it's a fire type!

Pyroar's mega gets its mane shaped like the Kanji letters for fire/flame. But, ultimately, no other changes were made to its design. Also, Pyroar is a Pokémon that has different male and female models, so it seems like a missed opportunity not to add gender differences to the mega evolution, too. On the plus side, apart from the lackluster design, the shiny does look fantastic.

20 Mega Chandelure

From a regular chandelier to a grand chandelier

Mega Chandelure doesn't re-invent the wheel in any shape or form. It adds another layer of candles underneath it, while making its flames much more prominent. There is also a gold-plated (metallic) texture now used on its body. It's supposed to be a grand chandelier, but the design mostly looks the same at a quick glance, which is why it can't be ranked any higher.

19 Mega Clefable

Weird, but acceptable

It took a while, but fans are starting to warm up to Clefable's new mega evolution. Mega Clefable’s new dual typing (Fairy/Flying) is sure to give it more of an edge on the battlefield. Considering the evolution line is mostly ignored in the original Pokémon games, it's great to see it get some attention after all these years.

18 Mega Malamar

Mega Mind

Mega Malamar is an evolution that you either love or hate. It really pushes hard on the psychic look from its Dark/Psychic typing. Which has fans wondering why they didn't just make it a pure Psychic type or a Psychic/Fairy type, since it doesn't look to have much of a Dark aesthetic anymore. Although its typing remains the same, its move set focuses much more on psychic and hypnotic powers.

17 Mega Meganium

There's a lot of missed potential in this one

Meganium is one of the most iconic Pokémon from Johto, which is why it's so hard to see all the missed potential when its new mega form was announced. Meganium really deserved a better design that leaned into its dinosaur-like appearance, but they just added three more flowers and called it a day. The new fairy typing is a nice buff, but there was a lot more they could have done with its design.