It appears that Fujifilm will be launching a Pokemon-themed special edition of its Instax Mini Link smartphone printer soon. According to Japanese leakster Nikoshita via Twitter, the device will be released alongside the upcoming New Pokemon Snap video game for the Nintendo Switch in late April.
For those unfamiliar, the Instax Mini Link mobile printer was launched by Fujifilm in October 2019. On top of being able to print Instax-sized photos, it features motion-based controls for printing, as well as for controlling your smartphone camera operations via a dedicated companion app. Naturally, the mobile app also comes with image editing capabilities for you to fully customise your photos before printing.
https://twitter.com/nokishita_c/status/1384817917670268928?s=20
Meanwhile, New Pokemon Snap is a sequel to the fan-favourite spinoff of the popular franchise that was originally released on the Nintendo 64 (N64) console back in 1999. The game, much like its predecessor, is an on-rails first person simulator that takes players to different locations – tasking them to take photos of various Pokemon for points.
Back to the printer; Nikoshita says that the New Pokemon Snap edition of the Instax Mini Link will come with a specialised mobile phone companion app which can connect to the Nintendo Switch console. This enables users to transfer photos taken in-game to their phones and have it printed via the mobile printer. It is not revealed if the device’s motion controls will play any role in the game, but it’s very unlikely – seeing that it only connects to smartphones instead of the console. Lastly, this version of the printer will also come with a Pikachu-themed sleeve.
As mentioned earlier, the New Pokemon Snap special edition of the Fujifilm Instax Mini Link is said to be released on the same day as the game itself, which is on 30 April. Pricing for the mobile printer was not revealed, however. For your reference, the vanilla Instax Mini Link is currently retailing at RM548, according to several local store listings.
(Source: Nikoshita [Twitter])
