No, your eyes do not deceive you – Pokémon Snap is officially getting a sequel.
The surprise announcement came earlier today via a brief presentation intended to update Trainers on all the current goings-on in the Pokémon world, many of which had suspected and hoped that Game Freak would finally reveal remakes for Gen IV games, Diamond & Pearl. That news never came to pass, unfortunately, though what fans have received instead is arguably just as good, if not better.
For those not familiar with Pokémon Snap, the original game, released way back in 1999 for Nintendo 64, is an on-rails affair that, as the name suggests, tasks players with taking pictures of Pokémon in their natural habitat. At the end of each stage, the legendary Professor Oak would issue a score based on the quality of your photos, with various multipliers and hidden events encouraging repeated playthroughs. And following more than two decades of requests from fans for a sequel, The Pokémon Company has finally delivered.
According to an official description of the title provided by developer Bandai Namco, budding photographers will once again be tasked with brandishing their cameras while exploring “unknown islands overflowing with natural sights such as jungles and beaches,” where various Pokémon can be researched and documented. As with the original, creating custom-made Photodex albums will be a core feature, as will discovering “new, never-before-seen Pokémon expressions and behaviours.”
A release date for New Pokémon Snap has yet to be announced, though we imagine Bandai and The Pokémon Company will have plenty more details to share over the weeks and months to come, so watch this space!