Pokemon Go Announces New Pokemon Snap Tie-In Event

Pokemon Go will be celebrating the release of New Pokemon Snap with a new event featuring the debut of Shiny Smeargle. The popular mobile game's New Pokemon Snap tie-in will kick off on April 29th at 10 AM and will feature increased spawns of Pokemon that appear in New Pokemon Snap, including Lotad, Cacnea, and Ducklett. Other Pokemon from New Pokemon Snap such as Meganium, Vaporeon, and Trapinch will also appear in raids Pokemon Go players also have an increased chance of finding Smeargle when taking snapshots, and Shiny Smeargle will appear in the event for the very first time. Unlike other Shiny Pokemon, Shiny Smeargle's appearance will be limited to this event. Pokemon Go players can also purchase a camera item for their in-game avatar, along with camera-themed stickers. The stickers will also be distributed at PokeStops. Full details of the event can be found here.

Pokemon Go has a history of tie-in events with other parts of the Pokemon franchise. In addition to annual Pokemon Day celebrations, the game has also had tie-ins with movies, main series game releases, and the television show. Pokemon Go even announced an upcoming crossover with the Pokemon Trading Card Game, with Professor Willow being immortalized as a Pokemon card.

The New Pokemon Snap event will follow a Sustainability Week event that features the debut of Binacle and rewards that unlock when players perform certain actions that encourage sustainability, such as planting trees, volunteering, or picking up trash in their neighborhood.

Meanwhile, New Pokemon Snap is poised to be one of the biggest games of the spring. The long-awaited sequel to Pokemon Snap, New Pokemon Snap will send players to the Lental Region to take photos of over 200 Pokemon in their natural environment. While the core gameplay remains unchanged, New Pokemon Snap players will have the opportunity to take branching routes, use new items like Fluffruit and Lumina Orbs, and edit their photos and post them online. One other notable change is that the game's various areas will have multiple "levels" that can be unlocked when they score enough points by taking high-quality photos. We're still waiting to hear whether players will be able to print off their photos at stores, although Nintendo recently announced a planned photo-printing arrangement with the Japanese convenience store Lawson.

New Pokemon Snap will be released on April 30th. A preview of the new game can be found here.