Why We'll Never Get A Pokemon Snap Sequel

There may be new Pokemon games on the way, but we can't help but think of some older ones. Like Pokemon Snap, for instance. Whatever happened to that weird little game? It was a one-and-done on the Nintendo 64, but is there a chance we'll ever see a sequel at some point?

We wouldn't count on it.

For those who aren't familiar with Pokemon Snap, it's definitely one of the stranger Pokemon titles ever made. Hilariously, Wikipedia describes it as "a first-person rail shooter," and that's true in the sense that you are shooting Pokemon; just with a camera. The entire game is about capturing Pokemon on film as you ride through their natural habitats, trying to catch them in the perfect pose. And once upon a time, you could even take your Pokemon Snap cartridge down to your local Blockbuster and print the photos out.

But that was a different time. Over two decades later, it seems Nintendo still hasn't figured out a way to make a Pokemon Snap follow-up that expands on the original.

That's not to say The Pokemon Company wouldn't be interested. Our own Christopher Gates tracked down some quotes from Pokemon brand manager Junichi Masuda, in which he states that The Pokemon Company isn't actively preventing Nintendo from making another Pokemon Snap. But the studio that developed the first Snap was HAL Laboratory, and HAL hasn't been involved with the Pokemon franchise for over a decade.

Of course, Nintendo could bring HAL back, or perhaps take on a Pokemon Snap sequel itself. But there would still be the challenge of making the new game unique, and though Nintendo has a portable console now with motion controls — and that console could definitely play the part of a camera — the company just doesn't seem interested. There's also Pokemon Go to consider; maybe that game is just too close to what a modern-day Snap might look like, and that is what's preventing the game from being developed.

So no, you probably won't see a new Pokemon Snap making its way to your Nintendo Switch. Like the Blockbuster Videos that once hosted the game's photo kiosks, Pokemon Snap seems destined to remain a thing of the past.