 New Pokémon Snap is a non-violent game about taking photos of adorable cute little cartoon animals. It's charming, wholesome, and family-friendly. It's interesting to note then that while the game is obviously a successor to the original Pokémon Snap on the Nintendo 64, New Pokémon Snap can also very clearly trace its lineage back to fighting games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. While the first Pokémon Snap was developed by a team at HAL Laboratory, New Pokémon Snap was developed by Bandai Namco. The company was given this opportunity because of their successful work on the Pokken Fighting Game, which in turn came about simply because Pokémon Company director Tsunekazu Ishihara is a fan of Tekken. It was never originally the plan to create a new Pokémon Snap, or even a Pokémon Fighting Game. These two projects came about because the Pokémon Company was exploring collaborating with Bandai Namco on a Pokémon rhythm game akin to Tyco Master. When director Ishihara heard of the collaboration, he is quoted as having said, If we're going to work with Bandai Namco, I want to do a collaboration with Tekken, and that was it. The higher-ups at Bandai Namco didn't need to look far to find the perfect developer to spearhead this new fighting game. All they had to do was ask the leader of the in-office Bandai Namco Pokémon gym. Masaki Hoshino has had a role in developing each Soul Calibur game, starting as a camera programmer on the first game, and rising up the ranks to serve as a technical manager and director on more recent games in the series. He's also a tremendous Pokémon fan. He started his own little Pokémon club at work, encouraging other developers at Bandai Namco to play the game with him in their spare time. This was purely for their own simple entertainment, without any plans of making a game. They just love Pokémon, said Hoshino. We were looking at who at Bandai Namco could lead Pokken, and because of my history with Pokémon, it fell on me. It was a great honour. Hoshino was a perfect fit for the game, and he and his Pokémon-loving colleagues set to work. Their primary goal was to avoid making a Pokémon-themed Tekken game, but rather something that felt authentic within the Pokémon universe. He said, When we first announced Pokken, a lot of people had the impression that it's Tekken gameplay, but with Pokémon characters. But that's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to make sure it was a lot more approachable, something that's really easy to understand and pick up and play for pretty much anyone. Making Pokken feel organic paid off, as the Pokémon company was so impressed that they offered Bandai Namco the chance to work on a new Pokémon game. Said director Haruki Suzaki, Pokken Tournament utilised Bandai Namco's studio strengths, and it made Pokémon appealing in a new way. Because of this, we got another opportunity to do something together again, and this led to the development of new Pokémon Snap. We were able to talk with the developers from the original game, and the project started with the involvement of many people. According to Suzaki, there have been several attempts in the past to resurrect the Pokémon Snap franchise, but nothing had progressed very far. He said, The idea of photography has changed so much in the last 20 years. Combined with the new Pokémon Switch hardware, that we thought it was the perfect time to create a new version of Pokémon Snap, and that's why we started the project. As such eager fans of the Pokémon series, the team at Bandai Namco had worked hard to make Pokken feel like an extension of a living, breathing world. This went on to form the basis of new Pokémon Snap. Suzaki said, The main focus was to build the world where wild Pokémon actually live in this game. To do this, we first set out to create an exciting world by thinking about the environment in which Pokémon live, creating scenery and detail, and also using Switch's hardware capabilities to the fullest. While doing so, we tried to make Pokémon the star of the game by making them move naturally, and with the feel of presence, so that it's fun to just watch them, and it's even more fun to take pictures of them. Some environments like Space were considered, but the team decided that it would be better to stick to areas where they could show a wider variety of Pokémon interacting with each other. Said Suzaki, We created the behaviour and reactions of Pokémon by imagining what they would do as living creatures. In doing so, we would reference various ideas such as the inherent nature of Pokémon, their actions from other Pokémon titles, as well as the behaviour and characteristics of animals of a similar lineage in the real world. The result is an incredibly cute, colourful and charming game that many Pokémon fans have been waiting for decades to play, and it's all because a group of fighting game developers have a special love for Pokémon. The moral of the story? Have fun. Enjoy yourself. You never know what incredible things can come out of your passion for the things you love.