Game intel
Pokemon Legend Z-A
A new adventure awaits within Lumiose City, where an urban redevelopment plan is underway to shape the city into a place that belongs to both people and Pokémo…
The first time I pulled Hori’s Gengar & Mimikyu collection out of the box, my brain didn’t register “gaming accessories” at all. It felt more like I’d accidentally ordered a limited streetwear collab – something you’d see in a capsule drop with a queue around the block, not hanging next to vanilla black cases in the Switch 2 aisle.
I’ve been using this set – the Adventure Pack, Vault Case, HORIPAD Turbo wired controller, and Game Card Case – on and off since late 2025 with my Switch 2 (and occasionally my aging Switch OLED), mostly while sinking hours into Pokémon Legend Z-A and a rotating backlog. The short version? This is the rare licensed collection that actually nails both sides of the equation: it’s fashion-forward without being useless, and practical without feeling boring.
It’s not perfect. The controller being wired is a real annoyance on a living-room setup, and there are a couple of small compatibility oversights that stop it short of being the ultimate ghost-type shrine. But as an overall ecosystem, this is still the Pokémon accessory line I keep coming back to, even as shelves fill up with new 30th anniversary tie-ins.
Hori has been quietly killing it with officially licensed Pokémon gear on Switch and Switch 2, but the Gengar & Mimikyu set is the first time I felt like I could build an entire daily-carry setup around one design language. The line includes:
All of them share the same visual DNA: soft purples, cream tones, confetti-like swirls, tiny shapes hidden in the pattern, and of course Gengar’s iconic grin and Mimikyu’s scrappy disguise. Instead of screaming “gamer merch,” it looks more like someone mashed up pastel streetwear with a ghost-type zine cover, in the best way.
The Adventure Pack is the piece that surprised me the most. On paper, it’s just a fanny pack that happens to fit a Switch 2. In practice, it blurred the line between “console bag” and “actual bag I use when I leave the house.”
Unlike the lighter, almost candy-like purples elsewhere in the collection, the Adventure Pack leans into a deep, rich purple base. That darker tone makes the stitched patches and printed art pop – you get little scenes of Mimikyu peeking from under a zipper line, and Gengar lurking on the opposite side, like they’re sharing the bag with you rather than just being slapped on as a logo.
The front pocket became my “everything” pouch pretty quickly: earbuds, lip balm, a small power bank, loose Joy-Con straps, a microfiber cloth… basically the same pile of junk I normally scatter across my coffee table. There’s enough depth that it doesn’t feel like you’re jamming things into a flat pocket just to make use of it.
Behind that is the main compartment, designed around the Switch 2. There’s a padded area for the console itself, room for up to six cartridges, and a mesh pocket that happily swallowed my USB-C cable and a slim case for in-ear buds. It’s not a rigid shell like the Vault Case, but it’s padded enough that I felt okay throwing it into a backpack without babying it.
One small but surprisingly big win: the cavity is baggy enough that my older Switch OLED fits just fine too. I swapped between consoles for a week and didn’t once feel like I was forcing the wrong gear into the wrong space.
Where it stumbles is the strap situation. I’m plus-sized, and if I’m honest, I couldn’t comfortably wear this around my waist the way the product shots suggest. Crossbody was borderline – doable for short trips, not something I’d wear all day. Hori clearly anticipated that not everyone would want (or be able) to wear it though: you can tuck the straps into a rear compartment and use it purely as a carry case. That little bit of thoughtfulness meant I still use it constantly, just more as a soft case than a fashion belt bag.
Walking through an airport with this as my main Switch carrier felt genuinely good though. Between the deep purple, the ghost patches, and the subtle sparkle details, it reads more like a quirky designer piece than a licensed gaming bag. I had more than one non-gamer ask where I’d bought “the purple bag,” which isn’t something I can say about most console cases.
If the Adventure Pack is the “wearable” part of the collection, the Vault Case is the clean, functional backbone. It’s a rigid clamshell that fits the Switch 2 or the older models, but the real draw is the art: a big, bold Gengar grin on a cream-colored background, framed by a ring of dancing Mimikyu and confetti swirls.
There are tiny Pikachu silhouettes woven into that confetti pattern, a nice nod to Mimikyu’s disguise that you only really notice once you’ve stared at it for a while. It’s the kind of detail that makes the case feel “designed,” not just printed.
On the functional side, the Vault Case does pretty much everything I want from a daily driver case. Inside, there’s a molded cradle for the console and a flap with ten cartridge slots. I like that Hori didn’t skimp here – a lot of official cases stop at eight, which always feels like they gave up halfway through. Opposite that, a purple mesh pocket handles the usual extras: cable, Joy-Con grips, maybe a slim microfiber pouch.
The interior, though, is where Mimikyu kind of vanishes. You get Gengar’s signature purple on the lining and the zipper, but none of the yellow, scribbled charm that defines Mimikyu’s look. It’s not a functional issue at all; it just feels like a missed opportunity when the exterior sells both ghosts so hard.
In terms of durability, this thing has survived being tossed into backpacks, squashed under a laptop, and one particularly heart-stopping drop onto a tiled kitchen floor. My Switch 2 didn’t so much as rattle. Zippers still run smooth, the artwork hasn’t started to flake or fade, and the shell hasn’t warped. I’ve used a lot of third-party cases that start looking tired after a couple of months – this one still feels “new” after far longer.
Compared to something like a more utilitarian grip case, the Vault Case is definitely a bit bulkier in a bag. You’re trading minimalism for a big splash of personality. For me, that’s been worth it – this is the case I default to whenever I’m not actively testing something else.
The HORIPAD Turbo controller is the crown jewel of the line visually, and also the most frustrating part of the whole collection to actually use.
From a design standpoint, it’s ridiculous in the best way. The shell is a translucent plastic that instantly threw me back to the Atomic Purple era – you can see the internals ghosting through the plastic, framed by pastel ghost art on both grips. Gengar lurks on one handle, Mimikyu on the other, and the confetti swirls that are subtle on the Vault Case explode into full detail here.
Every button – d-pad, ABXY, shoulder triggers, and the back paddles – is done in a deep, almost inky purple that contrasts nicely with the lighter stick caps. There are dedicated Home, Capture, and GameChat buttons, so functionally it slots right into the Switch 2 ecosystem; I never found myself hunting for a missing input during play.
In the hands, it feels… right. The shape is closer to an Xbox-style pad than the official Switch Pro Controller, with a comfortable palm swell that made long sessions of grinding for rare spawns feel less like a hand workout. The d-pad is crisp enough for menu navigation and old-school platformers, and the sticks have just enough resistance that gently rotating the camera around a new Pokémon habitat felt precise, not twitchy.
There’s a turbo function – you can assign rapid-fire to buttons if you really want to – but I’ll be honest, I mostly ignored it. It’s there for people who want to auto-mash their way through certain inputs. For my uses (Pokémon, some indies, a bit of action on the side), the pad felt great without any tricks.
The problem is the wire. My couch is just far enough from the TV that the cable length puts me in this awkward almost-comfortable zone. I can sit upright on the front half of the sofa, but the second I try to lean back, I start worrying about dragging the Switch 2 off the media unit. That’s not a controller issue unique to Hori – wired pads and living rooms have always had this tension – but it hurts more here because the design makes me want to use this for everything.
In a desktop setup, or with the Switch 2 in handheld mode propped up close by, the wired nature stops being a big deal. Latency is rock solid, and I appreciate not having to think about battery life. But as a primary couch controller, it just doesn’t fit my space.
With a wireless HORIPAD refresh on the horizon, I’m really hoping this exact shell and art treatment migrate to a cut-the-cord version. As it stands, the wired HORIPAD Turbo is a gorgeous showpiece and a great-feeling pad in the wrong context. I love it; I just don’t reach for it as often as I thought I would.
The smallest item in the collection is the one that hits me straight in the childhood. The Game Card Case is a translucent plastic brick that holds 24 Switch / Switch 2 cartridges, done up in the same pastel ghost theme as the controller.
Between the see-through purple, the compact footprint, and the click of the latch, it screams “late-‘90s Nintendo” in a way that feels completely intentional. As someone who grew up envying every kid who had an Atomic Purple Game Boy Color, this scratches the same itch.
Inside, cartridges slot into little plastic trays that manage a nice balance: tight enough to hold games securely, loose enough that you’re not fighting the case every time you swap in a new title. I ended up turning it into my “current rotation” box – Legend Z-A, a couple of roguelikes, a platformer or two – while older games live in a bigger, uglier binder.
The one thing that drove me mildly up the wall: it doesn’t fit inside the Vault Case. It slides perfectly into the Adventure Pack, so you can carry your console and entire rotation in one bag, but if you prefer the hard-shell case (like I do when traveling), you’re out of luck. There’s just not quite enough room to tuck it in alongside the console without bulging the case in a way that feels unsafe.
It’s a small misalignment – the Vault Case already has its own cartridge flap, after all – but it would have been chef’s kiss if the ecosystem was a bit more physically compatible.
Still, at around twenty bucks, it’s actually one of the easiest entry points into the collection. If you don’t want to commit to a whole bag or a wired controller, this little box is a genuinely useful accessory that happens to also be a nostalgia bomb.
Here’s the part that matters once the new-toy shine fades: nothing in this collection has felt flimsy or throwaway.
The stitching on the Adventure Pack has held up to being overstuffed and yanked open constantly. Zippers on both cases still run cleanly and haven’t caught on the lining. The translucent plastics on the controller and card case haven’t developed that cloudy, cheap feel you sometimes get on lower-end accessories.
The pastel color scheme does mean dirt shows more easily, especially on the cream of the Vault Case. After a few weeks of tossing it onto café tables and airplane trays, I noticed smudges – but they wiped off with a slightly damp cloth without lifting any of the print.
Inside the cases, nothing has scratched or scuffed my consoles, and the mesh pockets haven’t stretched out to uselessness. That might sound like bare-minimum stuff, but after dealing with elastic pouches that lose tension in months, it’s worth calling out that these haven’t.
After living with the full set, I don’t see this as a “must-buy” for every Switch 2 owner. It’s very clearly aimed at a specific kind of player:
If you just want the most practical, no-nonsense protective setup, there are cleaner, more minimalist options. If you’re trying to cut down on cables in your living room, the wired HORIPAD is going to annoy you, no matter how pretty it is.
But as a cohesive, fashion-forward ecosystem for your Switch 2, this is genuinely one of the best licensed lines I’ve used. It feels thoughtfully made, not just rushed out to cash in on Pokémon hype ahead of the 30th anniversary. I’d still put Hori’s earlier Eevee cottage-core line right alongside it, but the Gengar & Mimikyu aesthetic has a little more edge without losing the cozy vibe.
Individually, each piece in Hori’s Gengar & Mimikyu collection is solid. Together, they turn a pretty ordinary portable console setup into something that actually feels personal – like you’ve dressed your hardware, not just protected it.
The Adventure Pack has become my soft case of choice, the Vault Case my default “throw it in a backpack” armor, the Game Card Case my tiny library I can’t leave home without. The HORIPAD Turbo wired controller is the odd one out: gorgeous, great to use in the right context, but held back by the simple reality that cables and couches don’t mix well.
If Hori follows through with a wireless refresh of this pad using the same shell, this entire line jumps from “fantastic” to “dangerously close to perfect” for Pokémon fans.
Final Score: 9/10 – A stylish, high-quality ghost-type collection that turns Switch 2 peripherals into wearable accessories, dragged down only by a wired controller and a couple of small compatibility quirks.
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