Game Freak Chief Comments on Pokemon Snap Sequel

Pokemon Snap fans should be prepared to wait a while longer for a possible sequel. Last month, the British website Metro News interviewed Junichi Masuda, the director of Game Freak, about the Pokemon franchise. Although most of the interview was spent discussing Pokemon Sword & Shield, Metro also snuck in a question about Pokemon Snap, a beloved Nintendo 64 game focused on taking pictures of Pokemon in their natural environment. Pokemon Snap was the first Pokemon spin-off game released for a console and also helped to show that Pokemon were more than thoughtless, obedient monsters made for battle.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that a sequel to Pokemon Snap is planned anytime soon. "All I can say is that I don't think we can just make the same thing again," Masuda responded to a question about a potential sequel to Pokemon Snap. "So we'd have to come up with a very unique twist on this if we do make another one."

Masuda's answer came even after the interviewer pointed out that recent Nintendo devices have advanced technology, including the Nintendo Labo, which has an actual physical camera. So, while a Pokemon Snap sequel might make sense with Nintendo's current hardware, it seems that Game Freak and the Pokemon Company just aren't that interested in a sequel at this time.

Recent Pokemon games have incorporated some form of picture-taking functionality in their games. Pokemon Go has its AR+ mode that allows players to take pictures of Pokemon in the real world, while Pokemon Sun and Moon had a feature in which players could take photos of wild Pokemon in select spots around the Alola region. While players couldn't interact with those Pokemon like they could in Pokemon Snap, that feature might be the closest we get to Pokemon Snap for a while.