New Teraleak Wave Exposes Pokémon Legends: Z-A Cut Features and Unfinished Content

A full year has passed since the notorious “Teraleak” shook the Pokémon community, yet the saga continues. This week, hackers released a new batch of stolen files from Game Freak’s servers, this time targeting the much-anticipated Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

The newly surfaced material includes screenshots, development notes, and gameplay clips that reveal unfinished mechanics, abandoned features, and early prototypes that never made it to the final version of the game.

The timing couldn’t be more dramatic: the leak dropped mere days before the official release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A on both Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Switch 2. Fans immediately began dissecting the content, noting differences between the early builds and the retail game – from scrapped mini-games and altered Pokémon designs to experimental mechanics that hint at an entirely different vision of what the game once was. Many now believe that the hackers intentionally delayed releasing this data, waiting for the hype around the new game to reach its peak before striking again.

What makes this even more unsettling for Nintendo is that it suggests their hunt for the culprits behind last year’s massive Teraleak has gone nowhere. Despite legal efforts – including a subpoena to Discord in April 2025 to uncover the hackers’ identities – the perpetrators remain at large. The new leak seems to confirm they still have access to internal Game Freak data, or at least extensive archives from the original breach.

This new wave of leaks comes right after early players – some with legitimate copies and others with pirated ones – started sharing Pokédex information online. Within days, the entire list of new and returning Mega Evolutions was circulating across forums and social media. Fans have now compiled what they claim is a complete list of every Pokémon with a Mega form in both the base game and its upcoming DLC, which is already up for pre-order. IGN and other gaming outlets warned audiences last week that “the spoiler floodgates are open,” and it appears they were right.

But it doesn’t stop there. The Teraleak group has begun dropping files allegedly connected to the next generation of Pokémon – the long-rumored “Gen 10” titles expected to arrive in 2026 for the franchise’s 30th anniversary. However, much of this new material appears to be based on older documentation, concept art, and internal slides rather than any actual gameplay builds. Still, the notion that such information continues to surface two years after the original hack highlights the ongoing security vulnerabilities within Game Freak’s network.

Back in October 2024, Game Freak acknowledged that it had suffered a breach months earlier, confirming that hackers had accessed personal information of current and former employees. Yet, the company notably avoided addressing the theft of its game development data – a silence that has now come back to haunt it. The stolen materials reportedly included not only source code for multiple Pokémon games but also unused character models, rejected Pokémon concepts, prototype builds, and even private meeting notes.

Among fans, the Teraleak has already earned comparison to Nintendo’s infamous 2020 “Gigaleak,” which exposed decades of internal secrets from the company. But while the Gigaleak was seen as a fascinating historical artifact, the ongoing Teraleak feels more invasive – like watching someone’s creative process being torn open in real time. For some players, it’s a curiosity; for others, it’s an ethical line crossed.

As Pokémon Legends: Z-A hits store shelves, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have yet to issue a statement on this latest breach. But one thing is clear: the Teraleak era isn’t over. If anything, it’s evolving – just like the monsters it has exposed.