New Pokemon Snap director reveals how Pokemon were chosen for the game

New Pokemon Snap director, Haruki Suzaki, has revealed the process behind choosing which Pokemon to include in the Nintendo Switch title, giving some interesting insight into the long-awaited photography sequel.

Since its release in 1999, the original game has amassed a dedicated fanbase who have begged Nintendo for a sequel for years. Finally in 2020, their prayers were answered with the announcement of the second installment in the series: New Pokemon Snap. Not only does the Switch title have a whole host of new features, including Fluffruit and Illumina Orbs, it also greatly improves upon the N64 classic’s roster of 63 ‘mon by bringing the total to over 200.

How Pokemon were chosen for New Pokemon Snap

In a recent interview with Game Informer, New Pokemon Snap’s director, Haruki Suzaki, shared details on the “hard” process behind how Bandai Namco and Nintendo chose which monsters were to be included in the game. “The selection of Pokemon was truly hard,” he began. “My vision was to create a world where you can actually imagine wild Pokemon thriving in their natural habitats and ecosystem.”

• Read More: Why it took 22 years to make a Pokemon Snap sequel

Suzaki then explained how thinking about a ‘mon’s natural habitat and its climate helped to narrow it down: “At first, we thought about Pokemon’s natural habitats and fascinating landscapes and climates to research. Then, we narrowed down our choices by balancing out how different Pokemon would live in these habitats and their relationships within each environment.”

In a separate interview with UK news outlet Metro, he revealed that they’d actually contacted Game Freak to ask about how they should go about choosing Pokemon for the game. “We reached out to Game Freak, through The Pokemon Company, to review the Pokemon settings to make sure it felt natural to the characters,” he said. “You can see a variety of actions, ecosystems, and relationships between Pokemon that are unique to the Lental region, alongside some rival relationships that fans already know about. To create a world where you can take beautiful photos of Pokemon in their world, some Pokemon behaviours are designed to make the most use of the characters in the backgrounds, and some levels have been designed to show the relationships directly between Pokemon.” New Pokemon Snap drops exclusively on Nintendo Switch on April 30. If you still need to pre-order and are looking for prices and bonuses, check out our buying guide here.

• Read More: Ultimate Pokemon Snap quiz: test your knowledge

For all updates on the photography game and all other upcoming Pokemon titles, follow us on our dedicated Twitter account @PokemonSwordNS. H/T: Game Informer, Metro