New Pokemon Snap is Getting New Locations, Pokemon, Modes in Free Update

Dont put your cameras away just yet. A new content update is coming to New Pokémon Snap, adding in new locations, new Pokémon, and even a player shrinker.

Nintendo announced the upcoming update on Twitter, which will be a free content update releasing on August 3. The post also came with a small collection of images from the games new locations. The Nintendo of Europe account, however, had even more to show, posting a 2-minute video alongside their own announcement.

The main attraction of the update are the new locations. There appears to be three new places to visit: a poisonous plateau, a forest river, and some kind of tropical forest setting. We never got a clear view of explanation of these locations. We also saw new Pokémon to photograph, like Tropius, Rockruff, and Swalot.

But then theres one other thing that only the Europe account showed: mini mode. They appear to be adding a new game mode, where the player and their vehicle are shrunk down to the size of a Pokéball. This will likely come with new paths to take and new angles to shoot from. It LOOKS like this will be available on existing maps, but it might also be its own map. Its not clear which at this time.

Either way, this is an exciting and unexpected move from Nintendo and the Pokémon Company. We and many others were fully prepared for New Pokémon Snap to be left and forgotten for another 20+ years. So we see this as an absolute win! Now if they can be as proactive about Animal Crossing.

The update will release on August 3, 2021. More information about what the update fully contains will become available by (at least) then. Stay tuned.