It has been more than 20 years since Pokémon Snap launched on the Nintendo 64, but a sequel, complete with new Pokémon and places to explore, will be coming to the Nintendo Switch.
The Pokémon Company said at its Pokémon Presents broadcast on Wednesday that New Pokémon Snap will be available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
The company didn’t say when the game would be available on the Switch, but said that the title, officially called New Pokémon Snap, would allow players to “discover behaviors and expressions you’ve never seen before when you encounter and research lively wild Pokémon.”
When the original Pokémon Snap launched on the Nintendo 64 in 1999, it delivered a decidedly different take on the Pokémon franchise. Instead of engaging in battles, players were instead armed with cameras and needed to seek out Pokémon living in their native environments.
The New Pokémon Snap promises similar gameplay, but the company said the new title will allow players to travel to “unknown islands with beautiful scenery like lush jungles and sandy beaches.” It also promised “previously unseen Pokémon behaviors” and the ability to research Pokémon to see how they live when they’re not in battle.
There’s still plenty up in the air about the New Pokémon Snap. In addition to not revealing when the game will launch, The Pokémon Company also balked at saying how many players the game will support. We also have no idea whether captured images can be shared with others, which Pokémon will be featured in the game, and how many total Pokémon players can expect.
We do know, however, that Bandai Namco will be responsible for developing it.
Pokémon Snap was one of the most popular game releases in 1999, with 1.5 million copies sold in North America, alone. The game earned generally solid reviews and has long been remembered among Pokémon fans as one of the better series offshoots.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Imagine tapping a Zelda icon on your iPhone and jumping straight into Hyrule. A new open-source project called nxnative makes that possible by repackaging Switch games you’ve bought into apps for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no emulator in the middle.
Why does this run so well on Apple devices?