The New Pokemon Snap Pokedex has been revealed and a lot of fan favorites are in this upcoming Nintendo Switch game, but there are certainly some strange ommissions in the list — including a lack of many popular starter pokemon.
New Pokemon Snap is... well, it's a new Pokemon Snap game. It's a pretty straightforward naming scheme Nintendo has going on here. Gamers get to head to the new Lental Region with a mission somewhat different from most Pokemon games; rather than try to capture them and battle other trainers, you're tasked with taking pictures of pokemon out in the wild.
We now finally have our eyes on the New Pokemon Snap Pokedex and there have certainly been some interesting choices made with this game. Most notably, some of the more popular pokemon have been left out entirely and that's not even the most surprising thing: it looks like there will be no shiny pokemon at all.
What's in the New Pokemon Snap Pokedex (and What's Missing)
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the entire New Pokemon Snap Pokedex is already available to view on Serebii. A lot of familiar faces are on there, but some of our favorite friends are missing, too.
Let's start with popularity — last year, Nintendo ran the Pokemon of the Year poll. Here are the Top 30 most popular pokemon per these votes:
- Greninja
- Lucario
- Mimikyu
- Charizard †
- Umbreon †
- Sylveon †
- Garchomp
- Rayquaza
- Gardevoir †
- Gengar †
- Dragapult
- Tyranitar †
- Bulbasaur †
- Toxtricity
- Lugia †
- Rowlet
- Aegislash
- Chandelure †
- Pikachu †
- Eevee †
- Luxray †
- Decidueye
- Zoroark
- Lycanroc †
- Corviknight
- Flygon †
- Hydreigon †
- Sceptile
- Blaziken
- Snom †
† included in New Pokemon Snap
Pokemon marked with a dagger (†) are included in the New Pokemon Snap Pokedex. Nearly half of the top 30 per last year's poll are in the game, and only the fourth and fifth of the top 5 are included.
Adding to the strangeness, it seems that evolutions are missing or set up in strange ways, too. Squirtle and Blastoise are in the game, for example, but the middle evolution Wartortle is strangely missing; Charmeleon and Ivysaur are M.I.A., too. We also have different versions of pokemon mixed up; there's normal Pikachu and Alolan Raichu, Alolan Vulpix and regular Ninetales, and a few other examples.
As you can tell from the Wartortle omission, starters are getting the shaft, too. There have been a lot of starter pokemon over the generations and many of them are missing, including adorable fan favorites such as Chikorita and Mudkip.
Missing 'mons aside, there's another strange omission from the game: it looks like there won't be any shiny pokemon at launch.
"There are no shinies in New Pokémon Snap, but that doesn't rule out future updates adding them in." read a tweet from dataminer @Kaphotics.
Thankfully, it's not all bad news. Pokemon Sword and Shield showed that Nintendo is growing more and more open to post-launch content and DLC, and that's reflected in the datamined information. A tweet from @Kaphotics' datamining partner @SciresM notes that there are reserved Pokemon IDs — that is to say, there are numbers in the Pokedex that don't have any associated data.
The missing data in the New Pokemon Snap Pokedex means that Nintendo has left a bit of space to add in more creatures at a later date. There is, of course, always the opportunity for the devs to extend the Pokedex at the end.
Either way, there's still a pretty good variety of pokemon to check out in this upcoming game; you can pre-purchase New Pokemon Snap on Amazon and on the Nintendo eShop for $59.99 or your regional equivalent.
Disclosure: Amazon works with TechRaptor for affiliate partnership, and TechRaptor earns a small commission off purchases made from some links in this article.
What do you think of the missing 'mons in the New Pokemon Snap Pokedex? Are there any particularly disappointing omissions? Let us know in the comments below!
