

My phone camera, propped on a windowsill, lost track of my face when I stood up straight and my Pikachu hat blipped out of existence when I tried to find the right spot for optimal face-to-phone interaction. How the Pokémon got inside my mouth is a mystery the game does not explain and haunts me hours later.īetween the purple bacteria clouds manifesting at a rapid rate and the “brush faster” prompts, I quickly fell behind the game’s rhythm. Scrub, baby, scrub!” In addition to the highlighted tooth section prompts, the game constantly encouraged me to “brush faster,” leading to intense toothpaste buildup and the suspicion that I had been cleaning my teeth too slowly for my entire life. "Now brush the back teeth on the left side. “Brush the front of the middlemost section,” Pokémon Smile commanded. 'Pokémon Snap' makes its triumphant return on Nintendo Switch Pokémon Smile counted down from five.and the game began. I could see my own face in the app through my front-facing camera, and was delighted to see that through no initiative of my own I was wearing an augmented reality Pikachu hat. My Pikachu was also there, standing in my illustrated mouth to zap away bacteria as I followed the prompts. The mouth model in the game provided text-free instruction for where to move the toothbrush by highlighting sections of teeth. (How the Pokémon got inside my mouth is a mystery the game does not explain and still haunts me hours later). Somewhere in that bacteria is a Pokémon, trapped. The game tracks brush movements with the front-facing camera to see if players are moving the brush in the right areas and rewards them with the dissipation of purple clouds identified as “cavity-causing bacteria.”

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The main game of Pokémon Smile involves following a series of onscreen visual prompts that correspond with sections of a human mouth, presumed to be the user’s. "Is Pikachu a dentist? Does she take my insurance?" is a real thought that crossed my mind. Once I admitted I was a 28-year-old female in the United States who would like one (1) Pikachu, please, I was ready to get brushing. It also asked me to select a starter Pokémon.
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When opening Pokémon Smile, the app asked for the kind of location and demographic information that I’m used to surrendering whenever I download something on my phone - my country of origin, date of birth, and gender identity ( Pokémon Smile offers “not listed” and “no response” in addition to boy/girl for gender categories). Even though I’d never attempted to do those two things at the same time, I was sure I wouldn’t e xperience any issues with Nintendo’s little tooth game.
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I grew up in the '90s and currently own a Quip, so I think I know how to catch a Pokémon and brush my teeth, thank you very much. I have to admit I approached Pokémon Smile with some condescension.

The circumstances were perfect, even if my morning routine was not. Since I have not played Sword, Shield, or Pokémon Snap before, I figured I'd help the games team at Mashable by reviewing Pokémon Smile, which launched on iOS and the Google Play shortly after the Nintendo broadcast.Īlso, it was past 10AM and I had a late start in the morning, so I think I was the only team member who hadn't brushed my teeth yet. Among these larger announcements was the reveal for Pokémon Smile, an AR game for mobile in which "children can brush their teeth to rescue Pokémon that have been captured by cavity-causing bacteria." Nintendo's Pokémon Presents broadcast introduced a series of exciting releases for fans of the franchise, including an expansion for Pokémon Sword and Shield and an upcoming new Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo Switch.
