Lental
New Pokémon Snap is a 2021 photography video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. It is a sequel to HAL Laboratory's 1999 Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap. Announced in June 2020 during a Pokémon Presents livestream and would later release on April 30, 2021, during the franchise's 25th anniversary. Players are invited to join Professor Mirror's research team to explore the archipelagic Lental region in an automated hovercraft and photograph Pokémon in order to conduct research about their ecology as well as certain phenomena occurring in the region.
Gameplay in New Pokémon Snap is similar to its Nintendo 64 predecessor; courses consist of on-rails photography sessions where players try to take high-quality photos of Pokémon. As the game progresses, players will unlock new courses to explore as well as items that help with taking better photos. Additionally, courses can be levelled up, allowing different Pokémon and interactions to occur. New Pokémon Snap introduces night-time courses, boss battles and a new photo rating system to indicate how rare a species' behavior is. The professor's lab serves as the game's hub for accessing courses and acts as a space for players to review their research on wild Pokémon and their habitats, manage their photo album, customize their account, and interact with online features.
Discussion of a sequel to Snap occurred over multiple years for different consoles until Bandai Namco Studios were given the opportunity to develop the game due to the development of Pokkén Tournament, which they also worked on. The development team wanted the game to focus on being a world where wild Pokémon live and selected its roster of species based on their natural habitat and characteristics. New Snap's developer Haruki Suzaki said that the game built upon concepts already present in the first game and expanded on them to sell them to a modern audience due to the presences of social media. Development of the game aimed to take full advantage of the Nintendo Switch's capabilities. During and after its release, the game was used in collaboration with companies such as Fujifilm and Seven-Eleven Japan. In August 2021, the game received downloadable content (DLC) in the form of a free content updating, adding new Pokémon and courses to the game.
New Pokémon Snap was well received by critics, who considered it an improvement over the original. Critics positively highlighted the games' graphics, level of detail, photo editor, and relaxing atmosphere. Other critics were more mixed towards the game's gameplay, which many felt was repetitive, while others expressed disappointment regarding the game's photo rating system and a lack of the evolution mechanic present in the original game. It was similarly received well among fans, with the game leading to some Pokémon increasing in popularity within the fandom. Critics have referred to New Pokemon Snap as one of the best games of 2021 and was nominated at The Game Awards 2021. As of March 2022, the game has sold over 2.4 million copies.
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