The Pokémon Company have made a bunch of announcements today, with Pokémon Smile, Pokémon Café Mix. I think the real highlight was New Pokémon Snap though, a sequel to the classic Pokémon Snap that first released on Nintendo 64.
The game will be coming to Nintendo Switch, with Bandai Namco entrusted with its development. Obviously, with the Nintendo Switch backing it up with modern graphics, it’ll look an awful lot better than the old N64 game, but the core Pokémon photography gameplay seems to remain. Think of it like an on-the-rails shooter, just with camera shooting and no guns in sight.
The original game followed Todd Snap, the awfully named Pokémon Photographer, who’s summoned to Pokémon Island by Professor Oak. There Pokémon have lived almost undisturbed by humanity, and Oak has decided that, in addition to sending Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak off into the world to fill up his Pokédex, he needs Todd to go and snap photos of all the Pokémon there.
Using the Zero-One, a motorised and amphibious buggy, Todd could explore the island and take up to 60 pictures per visit, with points being doled out after each attempt. Extra points are awarded for capturing a special pose, having multiple Pokémon in frame and more.
It’ll be interesting to see how closely Bandai stick to that formula. Will they bring us into the modern day with a smartphone or digital camera that can take thousands of photos at once? (and will we have Instagram-style filters?). You also have to assume that they’ll be drawing from the now vast number of Pokémon that have been created, while the original only had 63 of the first 150 Pokémon.
What we do know comes from some blurb:
“This completely new game will take Trainers on an adventure to unknown islands overflowing with natural sights such as jungles and beaches, where they can research various Pokémon in their natural habitats. They will take photos to make their very own in-game Pokémon Photodex, all while discovering new, never-before-seen Pokémon expressions and behaviours.”
The announcement came alongside Pokémon Smile, a mobile augmented reality app that’s designed to make brushing teeth a more fun activity for young children, Pokémon Cafe Mix, a cute little café managing puzzle game coming to Switch and smartphone, some new Pokémon Go events, and a Max Raid in Pokémon Sword and Shield to earn a Shiny Zeraora and celebrate the launch of Isle of Armor, the first DLC expansion for the game.
