New Pokemon Snap released Friday and sailed comfortably to a top spot on sales charts, far outpacing the launch of 1999's original Pokemon Snap four times over and granting fans everywhere a delightful sojourn into the Lental region. The game has a healthy collection of Pokemon to spot, but at least one seems to have dropped off the list, according to observant fans.
The game features an impressive 214 Pokemon to find and photograph, a significant increase on the original's 63, and finding and snapping each one can be a monumental task. With 23 courses in the game, spread across day and night versions, and different Research Levels to work through, it'll take gamers a while to uncover everything. Nevertheless, plenty of fans have already done so even in the few days since the game's launch, and some were surprised to find Gen 3's Shroomish missing from the Photodex.
Several people noted Shroomish's absence online, like Spanish-language Pokemon fan site PokeXperto on Twitter, which explained the significance of the missing Pokemon. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the background of New Pokemon Snap's reveal trailer last June, a suspiciously Shroomish-shaped mushroom can be seen lounging in the shade, suggesting the Pokemon's inclusion in the game, but when April 30th rolled around, the Grass-type 'mon was nowhere to be seen.
Interestingly, Shroomish's absence from the final game could signify something bigger. As PokeXperto hypothesizes, "It could be that it will come out in future DLC, or simply that it was a beta." In the case of the former, the missing Pokemon could lend credence to the suggestion that New Pokemon Snap will be receiving DLC in the future, providing at least one potential candidate to plug the blank spaces discovered in the data. Whether this would take the form of brand new levels or would simply add new Pokemon to existing areas is still a matter for debate, but the potential for brand new content post-launch will no doubt excite fans.
On the other hand, it's impossible to dismiss the possibility that it's all just a minor discrepancy between an early version of the game and the finished product. The trailer in which Shroomish appears was released all the way back in June 2020, and even then it's hardly in a starring role. An admittedly more likely explanation for the Pokemon's vanishing act is simply that the devs decided, at some point in the development process, that Shroomish wasn't quite the right fit for the version of New Pokemon Snap they wanted to make, and quietly removed him altogether.
If that's the case, it's sad news for Shroomish fans, but it doesn't seem to have done much to dull the public's enthusiasm for the game, scoring positive reviews from plenty of outlets and topping sales charts over its opening weekend.
New Pokemon Snap is available now on Nintendo Switch.