On January 14, 2021, Nintendo officially announced the release date for New Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo Switch. After years of demand from the fanbase, The Pokémon Company has finally decided to deliver a remake of the classic N64 game that so uniquely stood out amongst the bulk of the games in the Pokémon franchise. Now, six months after the release of the first reveal trailer in June, we finally have an official release date. Luckily the April 30, 2021 release date will only have you waiting a few more months for New Pokémon Snap.
Pokémon Snap Recap
For those unfamiliar with the original Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64, here’s a quick recap of the gameplay. Different from most Pokémon mainline games, Pokémon Snap is a first-person perspective simulation game that utilizes rail shooter style mechanics and was released in 1999. Players play as the protagonist, Todd Snap, whose objective is to take and perfect pictures of Pokémon with the assistance of apples and “pester balls”. After each round, Professor Oak assesses and grades the photos by their quality, determined by a variety of flair factors such as pose and number of Pokémon in the frame. Once enough points are earned, Professor Oak can unlock other areas of the map to explore and provide you with upgraded equipment. Despite diverging from the usual Pokémon gameplay, Pokémon Snap gained an overall positive reception and was noted for its addictive gameplay.
What We Currently Know
While we’ll have to wait till April to get the full picture, Nintendo has given some details about New Pokémon Snap, along with a beautiful trailer. We currently know that New Pokémon Snap will have players exploring a place called the Lentil Islands and taking pictures of the Pokémon that inhabit this region. The premise of the plot is that the Pokémon and plants of Lentil Islands mysteriously glow and you need to figure out the reasons behind this phenomenon with the help of Professor Mirror. While we don’t have a complete list of all the Pokémon that will appear in the game, around 50 different Pokémon were spotted in the trailers, all of which can be found somewhere within the eight mainline Pokémon games. It seems that any amount of Pokémon in the game and the generations they may come from could all be a possibility until New Pokémon Snap releases. We can also assume that there will be much more Pokémon in the game than the 63 that were in the original Pokémon Snap.
Overall, the New Pokémon Snap is very similar in many aspects to the original Pokémon Snap. It’s still a first-person, single-player experience with the same mechanics and overall gameplay. It appears that players will still be on-rails but hopefully, there will be enough upgrades in the small details of the game that will make it exceptional. The trailer shows off some stunning visuals of the environments and the Pokémon living in their natural habitats; hopefully, these stunning visuals will be accompanied by upgrades in the photography mechanisms that allow people to personalize their photos to make them more visually appealing, detailed, and unique. However, we will have to wait for the final product to fully see how much New Pokémon Snap has upgraded from its baseline. Either way, the game should at least be able to reproduce the same charm as the original—just with more Pokémon.
When and Where to Buy
You can pre-order New Pokémon Snap anytime! It is currently available for pre-order on the Nintendo eShop and other retailers such as GameStop, Best Buy and Amazon. Like many other mainline Pokémon games, such as Pokémon Sword & Shield, New Pokémon Snap will be a fully priced Nintendo Switch game and will be sold for $59.99.
The original Pokémon Snap was occasionally criticized as ‘too short’ despite its relaxing and satisfying gameplay. Given its history, some people might understandably find the New Pokémon Snap a bit too steep in price. Hopefully New Pokémon Snap will be upgraded substantially to warrant its full price.
You can pre-order New Pokémon Snap from Nintendo here.
You can pre-order New Pokémon Snap from GameStop here.
You can pre-order New Pokémon Snap from Best Buy here.
You can pre-order New Pokémon Snap from Amazon here.
Enjoy the Latest Trailer
Fans were ecstatic when Nintendo first announced New Pokémon Snap and released a short reveal trailer:
Nintendo has since released an updated trailer with the game’s release date on January 14, 2021. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous and it has not gone unnoticed by many fans commenting on the trailer, saying its visuals surpass those of the most recent mainline Pokémon game, Sword and Shield. Despite what you feel about Sword and Shield, this does provide lots of hope that New Pokémon Snap will bring a much-appreciated upgrade to the beloved original spin-off game. Enjoy the trailer and be sure to pick up New Pokémon Snap on its release date, April 30, 2021.
