Nintendo’s ‘New Pokémon Snap’ Has A Release Date And It Looks Gorgeous

Many kids who grew up in the 90’s remember the phenomenon that was the first Pokemon games. The original Red and Blue versions caused an explosion of merchandise, TV shows, trading cards, and of course spin off games. Pokemon was more than just an RPG. It had many other genres of the game attached under its belt, but did you know it had a first-person shooter? Except instead of a gun you used a camera. Of course, that game was arguably the most popular of all the Pokemon spin off games, Pokemon Snap on Nintendo 64.

Pokemon Snap allowed players to ride around realistic 3D environments and simply observe Pokemon interacting in their natural habitat. You could witness Lapras in the ocean, a Charizard burst out of a Volcano, and a spooky Zubat flying around an old cave or mining shaft. It was mind blowing for children at the time and it is still a fan favorite to this day. So much so that fans have spent decades asking for a new one.

Finally, back in June, players were informed that a New Pokemon Snap game was in development for the Nintendo Switch. Of course, fan excitement was immediately met with more questions. When’s the release date? On Wednesday they got their answer.

April 30! Fans only have to wait a few more months to get back to capturing pictures of their favorite Pokemon in the wild, but now there are quite a few hundred more to look at. There’s no way they can stick that many into the game, but it’s going to be really interesting to see which ones do make the cut and what kinds of environments they give us to look around in.

From the trailer, it looks like players will be exploring in a similar fashion as the original. A protected hovercar that leads you down an on rails path. Personally, that’s a little disappointing, because it would have been fun to explore entire areas at your own free will as opposed to the on rails experience, but there’s definitely a sense of nostalgia in seeing that hold hovercar again.

In one sense, it would be perfectly fine if New Pokemon Snap is just a modern version of the original with as few changes as possible. Many fans would be content with just that, but it would also feel like a missed opportunity. The Nintendo 64 version came out over 20 years ago. Time has changed and so has technology. Let’s hope they use this opportunity to live up to the “New” in its name and create something unique.