Nintendo announced a new Pokémon Snap is coming to the Nintendo Switch. The new title is aptly called ‘New Pokémon Snap’.
The news of New Pokémon Snap coming to the Nintendo Switch caught many fans off-guard. Although it’s been rumoured that a follow-up title has been coming to the home, this is the first official announcement of the new title.
The original Pokémon Snap is one of the best-known spin-off titles in the Pokémon franchise. Originally released in the year 2000 on the Nintendo 64, you are tasked with exploring various locations while snapping pictures of Pokémon in their natural habitat.
It later released on both the Nintendo Wii and WiiU Virtual Console service, where many players got their first taste of the non-violent on-rails shooter. While the title isn’t as popular as the mainline series, many Pokémon fans still have a place for it in their hearts.
The new title’s announcement, as well as a trailer, was posted on the Pokémon twitter page.
When to expect New Pokémon Snap
While the game doesn’t currently have a firm release date, it likely to miss the 20th anniversary of the game’s release in Europe this September.
It appears from the trailer that the core of the title hasn’t changed since the Nintendo 64 original. You travel around natural environments in a small motorised buggy, taking images of Pokémon on your way.
These photos are then graded on their composition, number of Pokémon snapped and whether the Pokémon have been encountered before. This gives the game a fun score-attack feeling. Allowing you to replay the stages in an effort to improve your previous score.
While the gameplay doesn’t appear to deviate too much from the original. It’s clear that the presentation has come on a long way. While the Nintendo 64 version was set outdoors, the areas were always boxed off by hills and cliff faces. This gave the game a some-what claustrophobic atmosphere.
With the power of the Nintendo Switch, the game now appears much more organic. With sprawling countryside and endless bodies of water stretching off to the horizon. These new environments not only make the game look much more impressive, but also help to make the world, and the Pokémon that inhabit it, appear more natural.
New Pokémon Snap is coming to Nintendo Switch and is being developed by Bandai Namo, and published by Nintendo. No release date has been confirmed as of the writing of this article.
