New Pokemon Snap: Here's Why Pester Ball Is Not in the Game
New Pokemon Snap is the long-awaited sequel to Pokemon Snap, the first Pokemon game that showed [...]
New Pokemon Snap is the long-awaited sequel to Pokemon Snap, the first Pokemon game that showed Pokemon in their natural environment. While it is known that the game has many of the same features as the original Pokemon Snap, fans have noticed that the items used by players to interact with Pokemon have changed. While the generic apple has been replaced by "Fluffruit," a near-weightless fruit, the Pester Ball was removed entirely from New Pokemon Snap. And the director of the video game has now explained exactly why.
In a recent interview with IGN, New Pokemon Snap director Haruki Suzaki explained why the Pester Ball didn't make the cut. "Of course, we also thought that some modern changes would need to be made," Suzaki said. "The Pester Ball was an important element to bring out Pokemon's reaction in the Nintendo 64 Pokemon Snap, so we decided to add the role of the Pester Ball to the Fluffruit in New Pokemon Snap. Even though Fluffruit doesn't hurt when it hits a Pokemon, it'd make sense that some Pokemon don't like being hit by Fluffruit. So we designed the item to leave it up to players whether they place it near a Pokemon or throw it at a Pokemon."
Since New Pokemon Snap is perhaps the most "realistic" depiction of Pokemon in the wild, it makes sense that the updated game wouldn't have an item that basically sprays noxious gas at them. In hindsight, the entire idea of a Pester Ball seems needlessly cruel and its function can be easily replicated by chucking harmless and weightless fruit at a Pokemon instead. The marketing for New Pokemon Snap has explicitly mentioned that fluffruit does not harm a Pokemon when it hits them, as if to explicitly note that players can't actually hurt the wild Pokemon when trying to get them to perform certain actions.
New Pokemon Snap will focus on players taking photos of over 200 Pokemon in the brand new Lental region. With multiple areas to explore that include branching paths and different "levels" of exploration, plus a brand new photo-editing system, New Pokemon Snap seems like it will be the perfect game to enjoy this spring.
New Pokemon Snap comes out on April 30th.
