Ride Pokémon have been a key part of the mainline Pokémon games since Gen VI, but fans this week want to see two specific Pokémon take on the role in the upcoming release of Legends: Z-A.
Pokémon were always technically ridable in the games since Gen I if you count the use of HMs like Fly and Surf. However, it wasn’t until Gen VI’s X and Y that certain Pokémon were designated ride Pokémon to help you travel and progress through the games. Throughout X and Y’s Kalos region, for example, you could hop on Pokémon such as Gogoat and Rhyhorn. And since we’re headed back to Kalos in Legends: Z-A, players are praying these two ride Pokémon will again aid us in our new journey with more freedom this time around.
Players demand the return of the literal GOAT of Gen VI Gogoat in a March 16 Reddit thread. Back in X and Y, Gogoat could be ridden around Lumiose, the specific city Z-A is set in, to give you a tour of the huge area. During this tour, however, you were never able to actually control where Gogoat went. You could also ride Gogoat’s adorable pre-evolution, Skiddo, on Route 12, but the extent of that feature was extremely limited.
Seeing how ride Pokémon have become increasingly vital for open-world exploration in Legends: Arceus, Scarlet, and Violet, it’s only fair to assume they’ll play a much bigger role in Z-A than they did in X and Y—especially when the goal in Z-A is to create a “beautiful coexistence between people and Pokémon,” according to the trailer.
You can easily imagine riding on Gogoat to get from place to place as you’re redeveloping Lumiose City, just as we rode Wyrdeer in Hisui or Koraidon and Miraidon in Paldea. Or better yet, we could ride a potential new evolution or form of Gogoat. I personally would love to see the goat get buffs in the form of a new evolution, regional form, or Mega Evolution, in addition to taking on the role of a ride ‘mon. Some players even believe the Gogoat line could work well as Z-A’s Grass Starter if Game Freak is willing to break tradition.
We can’t forget about Rhyhorn, either. In X and Y, we not only got to ride Rhyhorn through the rocky path on Route 9, but we also learned Rhyhorn racing is a huge part of Kalos culture. The player’s mother was even a Rhyhorn racer, but for some reason, we could never partake in Rhyhorn racing in the games. It was truly a missed opportunity, but Z-A could change that and turn it into a mini-game.
Even if we don’t get Rhyhorn racing as a mini-game, I’d still like to see the cute rhino as a ride Pokémon in caves or rocky areas where it’s not safe for Gogoat.
