The Pokémon series has always been popular, but the franchise has hit a new level of success ever since the games migrated over to the Nintendo Switch. It’s been incredible to see the amount of support that Pokémon has received lately, whether it’s in the mainline titles or other areas. As successful as Pokémon Sword and Shield have been, fans seem to be more excited over the return of the Pokémon Snap franchise.
The announcement of New Pokémon Snap for the Switch has fans ecstatic for the follow-up to the Nintendo 64 classic. Accordingly, here are five things that players want to see in the sequel and five things that they don’t.
10 Want: Contests And Community Interaction
It’s been over 20 years since the release of the original Pokémon Snap and not only has the Pokémon series come a long way in that time, but so have video games. Titles like Pokémon Snap gain a ton of appeal from players sharing their achievements with others online.
There could easily be robust contests that revolve around getting the highest score or taking the best picture that could take advantage of this. If past games like Mario Golf can implement this a decade ago, there’s no excuse for why New Pokémon Snap won’t have online engagement.
9 Don’t Want: On-Rails Gameplay
Pokémon Snap features a very unique gameplay where it utilizes an on-rails engine that operates like a first-person shooter, only players are snapping photos, not firing weapons.
New Pokémon Snap isn’t going to try to reinvent the wheel here and so on-rails gameplay is once again a fixture of the title. So even though this gameplay mechanic isn’t exactly surprising, it’d still be nice if New Pokémon Snap could offer some leeway in the area and allows players a little more control with their adventure.
8 Want: Gyro Controls
Nintendo has gotten particularly creative with their latest consoles and while they may be lacking in graphical power, they try to make up with it in terms of unique control schemes. Due to the setup of the Switch, there’s a lot of aiming and use of gyro controls when the system is in handheld mode. It goes without saying that this will be involved in New Pokémon Snap, but they could incorporate it to the bare minimum, or really make it feel justified. It’s the perfect detail to make the experience feel more authentic.
7 Don’t Want: More Pokémon GO Incorporation
One of the largest successes in the world of Pokémon is the unprecedented popularity of the mobile title, Pokémon GO. The game applies a very different approach to the Pokémon series, but it retains the core essence and brought Pokémon catching to a much more mainstream level. Pokémon GO’s popularity has led to several features from the game being transferred over into mainline Pokémon titles. This marks a dangerous trend and hopefully it won’t become a larger problem in New Pokémon Snap. There’s a simple gameplay design that doesn’t need to be compromised.
6 Want: Helper Pokémon
One of the more adorable changes that’s been incorporated into the more recent Pokémon titles is the use of a friendly helper Pokémon by the player’s side. This concept came as early as Pokémon Yellow, but it’s seen a resurgence and even made its way into Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC. This novel idea could be cleverly worked into New Pokémon Snap. Players could use their helper Pokémon to lure Pokémon closer to them and the game could even let different helper Pokémon act in unique ways.
5 Don’t Want: A Tiny Pokédex
In a game like New Pokémon Snap, one of the most important details is how many Pokémon are going to be featured in the photography title. The original Pokémon Snap only featured 63 of the then-150 Pokémon. There have already been 36 unique Pokémon seen in the trailer for New Pokémon Snap, but hopefully the sequel will be generous in this regard. A tiny Pokédex that only shows off a few different generations of creatures could dissuade many players. This title has been a long time coming and it should feel representative of the entire Pokémon franchise, not just the latest games.
4 Want: DLC Support
The addition of DLC at one point seemed like an impossible idea in the Pokémon franchise, but the inclusion of the Isle of Armor in Pokémon Sword and Shield shows that things have changed in that department. With a title like New Pokémon Snap, DLC would really go a long way, whether it was the addition of new maps or just new Pokemon in old areas. DLC makes an even bigger difference with shorter titles and it stands to reason that New Pokémon Snap won’t be the longest Switch game.
3 Don’t Want: Mandatory Time-Based Events
As the Pokémon series has grown over time, it’s been interesting to see the many real-life mechanics that have been incorporated into the field of Pokémon-catching. A major aspect is that the games now have a real-time clock that can gatekeep many of the conditions around different Pokémon. A use of a day and night system in New Pokémon Snap could be fun, but it shouldn’t be a mandatory feature that forces gamers to play at certain times. Let it be something that can open up new possibilities, but not be compulsory to a complete experience.
2 Want: Printable Stickers
One of the most entertaining aspects of the original Pokémon Snap is that players had the option to actually print out their photographs at a Pokémon Snap Station at participating Blockbusters. Obviously that’s no longer possible, but there are many ways that Nintendo could try to simulate this experience to appease gamers. Whether they try it out at Official Nintendo Stores or come up with a whole other plan, making this possible wouldn’t be that hard and it would conjure a lot of joy and nostalgia for fans.
1 Don’t Want: A Short Campaign
The original Pokémon Snap was an extremely popular title for the Nintendo 64, but gamers were frustrated that the campaign only amounts to about three hours. Of course in a title like this there’s a lot more focus on perfecting personal scores. However, now sensibilities have advanced and a short campaign can generate a lot of anger in players. Hopefully New Pokémon Snap won’t reach for the bare minimum and will try to create an experience that feels full and doesn’t need to resort to replayability to make the game satisfying.