Every time there’s a Pokemon Direct, a bunch of cultured souls cry out for Pokemon Snap—if not a new game, at least a Switch port of the Nintendo 64 original. Every time there’s a Pokemon Direct, a bunch of cultured souls walk away disappointed.
But not today.
There is a new Pokemon Snap on the way. It is simply called New Pokemon Snap. It looks like Pokemon Snap, but prettier and with newer Pokemon in the mix. In other words, it looks amazing.
The Pokemon Company announced New Pokemon Snap in today’s Pokemon Direct with a short teaser trailer. It’s early game footage, but it looks like it stays true to the original: an on-rails “shooter” in which you travel around an island, taking photos of Pokemon getting up to all sorts of cute shenanigans, looking to capture the best shots of the rarest creatures. There’s no release window yet, but just knowing it exists is enough for now.
New Pokemon Snap is clearly the highlight from this Direct, but wasn’t the only announcement. Pokemon Smile, out now, is a free mobile app that turns dental hygiene into an augmented reality game in which you catch Pokemon by brushing your teeth. It’s aimed at kids, but I’m sure there are plenty of adult Pokemon fans who could benefit, too.
Pokemon Cafe Mix is a new free-to-start puzzle game, coming soon to Switch and mobile, that sees you running a cafe for Pokemon and solving puzzles based on… stirring cups of Pokemon icons to try and link the same icons together? Anyway, the art style is neat, at least.
There’s also some new stuff on the way for Pokemon GO, and the first Pokemon Sword and Shield DLC, the Isle of Armor, is releasing today, as previously announced.
Pokemon Company CEO Ishihara Tsunekazu ended the broadcast by teasing the “another big project” that’ll be revealed in the next Pokemon Direct. Luckily, it’s only a week away, scheduled for June 24. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of speculation about this “big project” between now and then—my money’s on Pokemon Let’s Go remake of Pokemon Gold and Silver—but I’m not sure what could be bigger than *New Pokemon friggin’ Snap*.