Pokemon fans both casual and hardcore are eagerly awaiting the arrival of New Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo Switch. The sequel to the classic N64 title is going to bring more Pokemon “to life” than ever before via 200 of the pocket monsters in the Lenthal Region that will be out in the wild like never before. Naturally, there are some key differences between the two games outside of the Pokemon ratio. And one of them is the lack of the original’s Pester Ball.
If you call, the Pester Ball was the tool you used to get a more…vigorous…reaction out of Pokemon in the game. But in New Pokemon Snap you have the “Flufffruit” which can both lure a Pokemon to a spot and cause them to react if you hit them with it.
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.”
This shows a clear change in the times, but it’s an improvement that many will appreciate.
Another thing that New Pokemon Snap players will appreciate, or at least ones in Japan will, is that Nintendo is teaming with the store chain Lawson in order to let players go and print out the pictures they snap in the game. No word on whether this will come to the US or other parts of the West, but it was available during the original Pokemon Snap days so we’ll see how it goes.
