Just in time for the launch of New Pokémon Snap, Fujifilm has announced a new INSTAX printer for use with the Nintendo Switch, enabling players to take their best in-game photos to the real world.
The INSTAX Mini Link for Nintendo Switch Smartphone Printer will utilize a dedicated smartphone app to transport screenshots from your console, to your phone, and onto legitimate film. A tutorial video shows a user uploading an Animal Crossing New Horizons screenshot to their smartphone via the Switch’s QR code functionality, manipulating the image, and printing it on a Polaroid.
The new app launches on April 30 alongside New Pokémon Snap, an obvious choice for tie-in software, and will work with all existing Fujifilm INSTAX Mini Link devices. A new Ash White model will launch the same day—joining the existing lineup of Dark Denim and Dusky Pink—and will be also be available in a Special Edition featuring a Pikachu silicone case. The new Mini Link will retail for $129.99 CAD, while the Special Edition will follow later in May for $179.99 CAD. Refill packs retail for about $21.99 CAD for 20 sheets.
Fujifilm’s app will also allow users to manipulate their screenshots with frames, which will feature Mario, Animal Crossing, and New Pokémon Snap themes at launch. Other photo editing features will also be included before printing your masterpieces.
This new functionality is heavily reminiscent of the original Game Boy Printer, a peripheral Nintendo released in 1998 as their bestselling handheld was approaching the end of its lifespan. It allowed players to print images from a small list of supported games like Pokémon Yellow and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX. However, the printer’s quality was—of course—substandard, and it used an expensive, potentially harmful proprietary form of printer paper.
Surely Fujifilm’s proven product line will prove a fitting successor to Nintendo’s niche peripheral, and a perfect fit for trainers who want to create their very own physical Pokédex.
