After so many years of waiting, Pokemon Snap fans will finally be able to enjoy its long-awaited sequel, New Pokemon Snap, later this month. Rather than catching Pokemon and using them for battles, like in Pokemon GO, New Pokemon Snap is a photography game where players observe Pokemon in their natural habitats and take photos of them instead. But while their core gameplay may be different, Niantic is taking part in some cross-promotion and running a tie-in event alongside Snap's release.

Simply called the New Pokemon Snap Celebration, the event will only run for a very limited time from Thursday, April 29th at 10 am local time (the day before New Pokemon Snap releases) until Sunday, May 2nd at 8 pm local time. Given Snap's status as a photography game, Pokemon GO will use the event as an opportunity to encourage players to use its Snapshot feature, which is GO's own photo mode.

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Specifically, taking Snapshots during the event will yield an appearance from Smeargle more often than usual. In GO, Smeargle can't be encountered in the wild; it will only appear by photobombing snapshots, which makes it one of the rarest Pokemon in the game. It's also incredibly unique in that it can learn practically any move in the game.

While this is the perfect opportunity for collectors, it also marks the debut of Shiny Smeargle, where its fur is colored yellow and the tip of its paintbrush-like tail goes from green to red. It sounds like Shiny Smeargle will be an even rarer find, which means players may need to take a lot of photos to get it to appear. Niantic does warn that Shiny Smeargle will only be available for the duration of the event, but it may return in future events.

Aside from that, Pokemon inspired by the deserts, jungles, and underwater landscapes of the Lental region (the setting of New Pokemon Snap) will more frequently appear in the wild, like Lotad, Cacnea, and Ducklett, and Pokemon native to the Lental region will appear more often in raids, such as Trapinch, Vaporeon, and Meganium. That last one has been heavily used in Snap's promotional material.

A new camera item for avatars and a camera-themed Gift Sticker will be added to the shop as well during the event, with the Gift Sticker also being available at PokeStops. And lastly, Niantic says that there will be exclusive Field and Timed Research focused on taking snapshots.

Pokemon GO is available for Android and iOS devices. New Pokemon Snap releases for Nintendo Switch on April 30th.

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Source: Niantic