New Pokémon Snap Director Explains How They Decided Which Pokémon Would Make The Cut

“ those complaints have largely settled down”

They really haven’t lmao.

If anything it’s gotten worse, a lot of people are expecting Pokemon to be missing from the Diamond & Pearl remakes too.

It's not quite as big a deal in this game than it was in the main games. In this game animation is even more important than in the core series so focusing on that is more important than having all the pokémon in the game. I'm getting it and I'm sure I'll enjoy it quite a bit! So long as they don't fudge it up in other aspects anyway.

I don't think it's a big issue in the spin-off games, especially this one where they need a lot more work in the animation department.

I have a bigger issue with the mainline games where they expect us to pay for Pokémon storage and transfer....when we can't even use all of them? That's ridiculous. But I'm not losing sleep over any of it, it's just Pokémon at the end of the day

Snap is a different matter, noone expect to see the full Pokédex here (or at least I doubt many would expect it, surely not the fans of the original).

But we do expect a lot of animations, fun unexpected scenes to photograph and a wink to the pokedex's entries here and there where possible.

The potential is all there and they got decades of updates and new content to take advantage of, they really would need to work hard to screw this up badly XD; (please don't make this the famous last words...)

So, serious and kinda off topic question, but was I the only one who was fine with the national Dex being cut from swsh, and suprised they haven't done it sooner?

Like, with all the pokemon already made, and all the pokemon to come in future games, it seems inevitable that pokemon would be cut at some point, plus I thought that with the cut they would put a lot more time and care to the pokemon already in the game. I mean yeah that didn't happen with swsh, but before the game came out I thought that

@EliteXeos honestly, I'm just expecting pokemon from gen 1-4 in br/sp only, kinda like when let's go only had gen 1

@Doofenshmirtz The issue wasn't so much that they were cut. The issue was:

1. The 3DS games ran poorly, and GameFreak said it was because they were making sure they wouldn't have to cut any pokemon in the move to HD. So there were years of simmering resentment over the 3DS issues that suddenly came to the surface.
2. When we found out there would be cuts, GameFreak said it was because they were remaking the models and improving the animations. Neither of these things happened.
3. Despite massive cuts, SwSh was still massively disappointing.

TL;DR People are more resentful over being lied to than the actual cuts.

Cool. Now when is it going to be up for pre-order on the Nintendo UK store?

@Doofenshmirtz That's because Let's Go was a remake of the Gen 1 games.

Over 200 is definitely a lot more than 63.

I'm all for a smaller selection of pokemon in spin-offs and the main games.

Pokemon fans will be mad about anything so it doesn't really matter how they decided who to cut.

@Doofenshmirtz I was fine too. At some point it just becomes impossible to have all of them, specially if they start finally improving the lacking physical moves animations, but I at least wish we could do more with them in Home, like we could send them in quests and jobs in Gens 7 and 8, just so they don't sit there doing nothing.

@link3710 people that say game freak lied about remaking the models have never ever done any 3D work. A lot had to be redone to work in HD, the most noticeable to untrained eyes being the textures and shading. Probably a lot of fixing and double checking on the models as well. They don't seem to have been "remade from scratch", but the textures alone are already a ton of work, and those HAVE been remade. Let's hope they focus on improving the animations from now on, since that is what's truly lacking

@Doofenshmirtz A little while before that E3, the Youtuber JoCat did a video about looking at Pokemon animations. As a side note, he said with the sheer amount of Pokemon, no matter how linited their animations are, if they keep adding them, eventually they will have to have a limited selection in the games.

I found this completely reasonable and wasn't terribly surprised or upset that they were limiting Pokemon.

The thing that did make me angry was how they announced it. As a side note in a treehouse presentation. I watched it live and was like "Really? Did he really just say that all casual like maybe of they say it quietly people won't notice?" And then Gamefreak was just a little scummy about it. They really could've used more tact.

@dux ...what textures were remade? Most Pokemon just have flat color textures, the improvements came from the lighting system.

Don't get me wrong, there's definitely work put into porting them, but GameFreak very purposely set an expectation in interviews and failed to meet it.

I certainly didn't expect a full Pokedex in a Pokemon Snap game! I am more than happy with 200 of them, as long as there is a healthy amount of content to keep me trudging along for 20 hours or so. Not necessarily all in one playthrough, but including challenges, perhaps mini games, and camera picture ranking bonuses as ways to increase longevity would be nice. I want the game to feel complete and worth my 60 bucks.

I’m hyped for this game, but they waited a detrimentally long time to make this. Most of the old fans have moved on with their lives (not me), and new players didn’t play the Wii VC version, so they don’t understand the appeal. This could’ve been avoided if they’d made this an early 3DS or Wii U game (not that the latter would’ve sold well).

What irked me about the whole Dexit-kerfuffle in SwSh is that it was announced at the end of a presentation, in a “If we mutter it, maybe they won’t notice” sort of way, and that many animations were still pretty poor (Cinderace doing “Double kick” without actually, you know, moving its legs, for instance)

For New Pokemon snap, we have seen some very cool animations and interactions, so it stands to reason they can’t do that for all close to 900 seperate pokemon, not to mention that the game would have to be bloody immense to even have space for all of them (In level size, not file size)

@EliteXeos I fully expect a re ale to retain the original pokemon from that game, I mean the let's go remakes didn't add the rest of the pokemon and no one moaned about that.

@link3710 it was both for me as well as the whole adding more pay walls.
60$ for the game
30$ to get the dlc that makes the game almost worth 60$
5$ for pokebank
16$ for pokemon home
and another 20$ for the stuff locked off behind switch online

@UltimateOtaku91thats because the ones that complaining where busy complaining about everything else about it, its a glorified spin-off and people where more hyped up and waiting for the actual main series switch games and most saw it for the cash grab that it was.
so if anything, lets go's half-assedness just helped to raise the hype for a better game only to make the hate & disappointment for swsh worse.

monster sanctuary & temtem ftw

@link3710 it might seem textures weren't remade if you're not familiar with any type of 3D modelling and rendering, but trust me, they were. That doesn't mean they've changed massively, but they're simply not the same. A very clear way to see this is when people were complaining after release and someone modded Omanyte from Let's Go in SwSh, it looks off because it's not in the same art style, they'd need to change the texture (and also of course test it in many situations to see if they're consistent through battles, walking, Camp, Dex, etc)

@dux I was under the impression that was an issue with materials (aka the lighting system) and not textures.

@link3710 it's both. Rendering is a very complex system and people really don't give Game Freak and Creatures Inc proper credit to their creatures. Each Pokémon has a different body type and skeleton to animate and different textures and etc etc.... It's no wonder those games are getting harder to make.

@dux While I have no doubt of it's difficult, the fact that other companies are putting out larger games (such as DQ XI) without issue and making far less money off of them suggests this is an issue that could (and should) be overcome.

@Doofenshmirtz
This was my opinion too. Having every pokemon there is rather pointless, when it only benefits those who carry pokemon between all the games. And if they can focus on what they have, then great. They didn't.

But I am aware that they have HD models and animations of all the pokemon because they future proofed them on 3DS. So it was strange.

If the rest of the game was up to scratch and not ugly. Perhaps I'd have been more understanding.

@Doofenshmirtz You're not alone. To me, it was an inevitable and even welcome change. I don't want to play with the same Pokemon again and again and again and AGAIN, I want a new region with new inhabitants, new mons, maybe even some new ideas. Change is good.

I cannot fathom how so many people actually expect every Pokemon game to include all their old favorites. It's like being resentful that Star Trek TNG didn't feature Captain Kirk, Spock and McCoy in the starring roles. Imagine a Star Trek universe where Captain Picard never existed because the studio heads were afraid to upset the fandom by not making Kirk be the captain again. (This very nearly happened in Trek, too, and I'm forever glad it didn't).

@link3710 Does Dragon Quest come out annually like Pokémon does? Aren't most of Dragon Quest party members humanoids (I'm not a fan so I could be wrong here)? Game Freak is in a way buying time against their own success, shortening the Dex, making DLC for the yearly launch, outsourcing remakes and creating side series (Let's Go and Legends) just to build a little time between game installments and monster designs, because the Pokémon Company demands them to release SOMETHING each year.

@dux And this is why GameFreak should only be releasing one game per generation, while remakes should be handed off to another developer. There's no reason TPC can't afford to have multiple studios making games rather than just one.

@link3710 Well, it seems they're fulfilling your wish now! I for one am glad they can experiment changing their usual format in Legends now, and for me the next few years look brighter than ever.

@dux Yeah, having the remake not be by them is a nice first step. But we'll see if TPC keeps down that road or not. If CoD can have three developers, so can Pokemon.

Kind of infuriates me that I can't get a Mankey in Shield. Good thing I bought it used from someone who wasn't likely to buy another copy.