We don’t often write about mere game announcement teases here on Ars Technica, mainly because doing so with any frequency would leave little time for writing about anything else. But we’ll make an exception for today’s surprise announcement that Pokémon Snap is finally getting a Switch-based sequel, over 20 years after the original became a cult classic on the Nintendo 64.

The announcement of New Pokémon Snap, which came this morning as part of a Pokémon Presents YouTube presentation, was light on details but full of “not final” gameplay footage “from a game under development,” as the fine print disclaimers warned. What we can see of the gameplay in the short clip should be familiar to those who played the Nintendo 64 cult classic back in 1999.

Using a first-person camera viewfinder perspective, players aim to get the best shots of Pokémon cavorting about environments ranging from sandy beaches to clear blue waters, grasslands, and dense forests. Pokémon lures also make an appearance, letting players draw monsters out from hiding for better shots as they scroll automatically through the islands. Players will presumably be rated on their ability to frame and compose interesting shots, as in the original.

Pokémon large and small from throughout the series’ history feature in the trailer, confirming that this isn’t a mere remaster of the original game (which only featured monsters from the original selection of 151). There’s no release date yet for the Bandai Namco-developed game, which is “Under Construction!” according to the teaser trailer.

Photo modes have become a relatively standard feature of big-budget games in the decades since Pokémon Snap‘s debut. But those modes are usually intended just for a player’s personal aesthetic appreciation and not integrated deeply into the game’s own reward structure (even when the game seems to be begging for it). PlayStation 3 safari simulator Afrika is one of the only games to draw direct inspiration from Snap‘s photo-based gameplay.

Elsewhere in its presentation, the Pokémon Company announced a themed tooth-brushing app called Pokémon Smile, a tile-matching game called Pokémon Café Mix, and upcoming DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1684413