Earlier today, Nintendo shared a brand new trailer for the upcoming Switch game New Pokemon Snap. It’s the sequel to the entry on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, and the trailer shows some of the things we can look forward to.
The trailer is only a minute and a half long, but there are some details you might have missed. If you’re looking forward to the game, which releases on April 30, here are some things you might be interested in knowing about.
New Region and Characters
Spin-off Pokemon games tend to be set in brand new regions, and this one is no different. New Pokemon Snap takes place in a region called Lental, which has several unknown islands.
You’ll use a travel pod called the NEO-ONE to journey across the region, exploring these islands and uncovering hidden secrets.
You’ll be studying under Professor Mirror to research the Pokemon of Lental by snapping photos of them. In the game, you help him uncover a mysterious secret about why Pokemon have been glowing.
Over 200 Pokemon in the Game
The original Pokemon Snap featured just 63 of the available 151 at the time of its release. New Pokemon Snap for Switch will include over 200 Pokemon.
The great news is that in the trailer we see Pokemon from all eight generations, including the three starters from the latest Pokemon Sword and Shield. We won’t know exactly which Pokemon or how many are in the game until it releases, though.
On the game’s box art, we can see a Pichu wearing a flower crown, which means there might be special event Pokemon or forms that will be found in the game as well.
Interaction Items Are Back
In 1999’s Pokemon Snap, we used several items to interact with Pokemon and take better pictures of them, such as apples, Pester Balls, and the Poke Flute.
The trailer gave us confirmation that apples are back in New Pokemon Snap, but this time, they are called Fluffruit. They can be thrown near Pokemon to get reactions out of them.
Fire-type Pokemon will even set the Fluffruit on fire for a special reaction, which scores more photo points.
We didn’t see any other interaction items in the trailer, but it’s likely that Fluffruit will be just one option of several.
At Least 6 Diverse Courses
The original Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo 64 had a total of seven different courses (technically, it was six main courses and one special course). Back then, we were able to visit Beach, Tunnel, Volcano, River, Cave, Valley, and Rainbow Cloud.
Right now, there are also six confirmed courses in New Pokemon Snap. This game will take us to Beach (perhaps a throwback to the first game?), Ocean, Desert, Forest, Plains, and Jungle. Additionally, we see a special glowing area that might be a special seventh course.
A few of these sound totally unlike any of the areas we visited in the first game, especially Ocean and Desert, though the courses don’t seem to be quite as diverse in terms of different types of Pokemon we’ll encounter. It seems like we’ll be seeing a lot of grass, water, and ground type Pokemon as of right now.
We’re hoping that there are at least a few more courses to be revealed with more variety of environments where Pokemon like fire, electric, or dragon types might live.
Day and Night Cycles
Whether more courses are revealed or not, here’s something that will keep the areas interesting: the trailer showed us both day and night cycles. In this screenshot, for example, we can see a Bidoof on the Beach course at night.
This could allow for more diverse Pokemon encounters within the same course. Perhaps it is random whether it is daytime or nighttime when visiting a course, or maybe you can choose what time of day to visit.
Some parts of the trailer also looked like it was dusk. Maybe certain Pokemon only come out when the sun is going down, which adds to course replayability.
Plot Teaser
The end of the trailer gave us a teaser to what we can expect from New Pokemon Snap’s plot. Professor Mirror is investigating a phenomenon called Illumina, which causes Pokemon to glow.
It’s possible that this phenomenon could be this game’s equivalent to the “Rainbow Cloud” stage in the original, where research throughout the game leads us to a special stage.
You can see in the picture that the Meganium here is not only glowing, but it is also enormous, towering over the playable character. This could be the effects of the Illumina that will be researched in the plot.
New Pokemon Snap releases on April 30 for the Nintendo Switch. You can learn more about the game by visiting the official website.
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