fun game. i played this on the wii u virtual console mostly blind as a kid and making a lot of the games discoveries for the first time was a really fun experience. with that in mind some of this games secrets were too cryptic for young me so i did use a walkthrough. still thoroughly enjoyed it however. the 6 main levels all have a lot to them and even though the game only has like 60 something pokemon there is a lot to do/find leading to mew at the end. a lovely little game and still a joy to replay to this day

Pokémon Snap is a game I've been reading about and wanting to play ever since I was of single-digit age. Finally getting to experience it now in 2024, I'm stunned that it took Nintendo over 20 years to create any sort of follow-up to it, as it's incredibly fun and simple, but with a fair amount of replay value for those interested in score attacks. An on-rails photography game doesn't sound all that entertaining, but unlocking new tools to manipulate Pokémon and the environment leads to some very interesting interactions and photo opportunities that add to the longevity and intrigue of the game. It all culminates in what I think is the most clever possible way they could have implemented a "boss battle" in a game such as this.

Rather disappointingly, the game was only able to pack in 63 of the original 151 Pokémon, with a handful of them being very difficult to find without a guide, as the game itself is a bit cryptic sometimes. It also offers very little incentive to take any better pictures, and Professor Oak's scoring methods can make it hard to actually get that perfect shot in the first place. Lastly, while I won't hold it against the game's Rating, the gameplay itself felt off to me in a way that I would not be able to say for certain was due to the emulator or the game itself, with occasional slowdown and the camera sometimes failing to pick up Pokémon directly in the lens.

All in all, definitely a must-play for Pokémon fans even all these years later. While it may have some minor flaws, Pokémon Snap is a game with a very solid foundation that only needed a sequel or two in order to really perfect the formula. Hopefully that's what New Pokémon Snap was able to do!

In a bit of an early Christmas present to myself, I recently picked up a big pile of cheap N64 games that I’d been meaning to nab from a local used games shop. This was one of those games that I ended up picking up, as it’s always one I’ve been meaning to pick up and play all the way through. Or at least it was one of those XD. During the course of playing it, there were just too many things that seemed far too familiar, and while I’d originally assumed that I’d only briefly played Pokemon Snap but never ultimately finished it, I now think that I actually have played and beaten this game before at some time in the past XD. Regardless, that was so long ago I could barely begin to guess when it was, and I also had a great time (re)playing through it now! It took me around 4 or so hours to beat the game while snapping pictures of 58 out of 63 Pokemon, and I played the Japanese version of the game on real hardware.

The story of Pokemon Snap is one of main character Todd Snap (yes, really) who is a photographer in the Pokemon world. During one expedition of his, he manages to snap what he thinks are photos of the mirage Pokemon Mew, and it’s his mission to take a proper photo of it someday. Here is where Professor Oak enters our story, as he leads our main character to the ever so creatively named Pokemon Island. Using the auto-progressing vehicle, the Zero One, he wants you to photograph all sorts of Pokemon to help complete his Pokemon Report on what lives on the island. It’s a fairly threadbare story, but it more than adequately sets up the premise for your photo snapping adventure.

The actual gameplay of Pokemon Snap is, as the name suggests, “snapping” photos of Pokemon to submit them to Professor Oak. However, there’s a big difference between a good photo and a bad photo, so it’s up to you to aim for as high a score as you can for each shot you’re going to submit (as only one photo per Pokemon can be submitted at the end of one of the game’s seven stages). You’re judged on how big the Pokemon is in frame, how they’re posed (are they doing a special action or at least facing the camera?), whether they’re centered or not, and how many other Pokemon of their same species are in the frame with them (if possible). It’s something that doesn’t sound that ultimately great for a video game, admittedly, but it’s a much more addicting score attack kind of game than it first seems.

The rules are simple and intuitive enough that they’re easy to grasp even for someone like me who’s far from the biggest score attack or photography fan <w>. The Zero One also always follows a track in each level, and the same Pokemon appear at the same times, so there’s always an opportunity to try again if you mess up a particular trick or shot you’re trying to do. You even get more tools like Pokemon food or a Poke Flute as you progress, so there’s also a lot of value in revisiting old stages to find new secrets too~. It’s remarkably simple and as fun as it is novel, and it’s a gameplay loop that ends up working really well~.

The aesthetics would need to be pretty darn good in a game all about looking around and taking photos, and they thankfully achieve that really well! Despite the first (two) Pokemon Stadium games predating this, I’d wager almost none (if any) of those models were reused for this. You need to be so much more up close and personal with the Pokemon, and you also need the Pokemon themselves to be much more expressive (not to mention do things like ambulate around, which they never do in the Stadium games). The end result is a bunch of Pokemon that move great and look awesome, and the polygonal look of the N64 gives the whole thing a very fun retro charm on top of it all. The soundtrack is also great, with a lot of new very Pokemon-y feeling tracks to help make your adventure that much more fun~.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. This is a really great, super clever little game! It’s not too long, and it’s not too deep, but you can go really nuts with trying to improve your scores and find extra Pokemon if you got really into it. A bit like Pilotwings 64, while this certainly wasn’t my favorite game ever, I can absolutely see how this could be someone’s favorite game ever if it hit for them the right way. But even then, this game is so unique and fun that it’s well worth trying out, especially if you’re a Pokemon fan (and especially if you have the Switch Online N64 service, which this is also on~).

The concept of this game has always been fascinating to me. I have a (very casual) interest in photography and the idea of a game that mixes it with a franchise as iconic as Pokemon is frankly brilliant. I had seen at least a playthrough or two of this game before trying it myself and still had a great time after loading it up on a whim when looking through NSO. The number of levels is pretty slim and the game only features 63 Pokemon, but what's here is both charming and just an overall good time despite its admittedly short runtime.

love it to bits but also why is this game so weirdly imposing for what on paper sounds like a super chill concept

one the one hand you have oak with the passive hook that consists of "take some pics of pokemon as they frollick in their natural habitat, help me with my research" which quickly morphs into

"oh but it's on rails hop onto my rickety transportation module of questionable origin and go pelt the little shits with pester balls, they like apples oh ok here HAVE ALL THE APPLES x 100 drown them in the fucking apples I have for you today NOW CENTER THE SHOTS HNGGGGG UNACCEPTABLE DO IT AGAIN BITCH

BLOW UP THE ELECTRODE AND GIVE ME PERFECT SYMMETRY WHEN YOU COMPOSE THE SHOT OF THE BLAST"

and then somewhere along the way we ran out of places to visit so now we're revisiting all the old levels taking photos of optical illusions to then fight mew in a shadow realm with a bubble that's impervious to cameras or some shit but shhhh is ok just bask in the magnificence of the moment

certainly didn't help that I had the german version which only excuberated the terrifying nature of Oak's rants and I later found this was a common mistake for a lot of PAL region residents who had parents that mistakenly bought it for them as kids because it was poorly labeled

If there is any game that champions the "short and sweet" mantle, it is Pokemon Snap.

Pokemon Snap is the on-rails phototaking game one would expect from this genre, expect it's way more endearing since you're taking photos of Pokemon in their habitat.

What also puts Pokemon Snap above other games in this genre is the gameplay loop, which also makes it a semi-puzzle game. The gameplay loop will find you replaying levels using tools you've unlocked to uncover new Pokémon you might have missed in your first run, or new poses for existing Pokemon, resulting in a higher score and therefore more tools to uncover more secrets.

While fun, it is sadly short lived and can be fully completed in an hour. It feels like a concept for a much bigger game that would be developed decades later (foreshadowing). Although the replayability factor on this is great like star fox 64 where replaying to get the best scores can become addicting.

I would have been mad if I bought this for full price back in the day, but playing today as part of my NSO subscription service totally makes this game worth your time if you are a fan of Pokemon, and on-rails games.

As a person who is not really big on Pokémon, I always had curiosity on this game, because it looked pretty enjoyable taking pictures of these creatures.

And that's pretty much the game. It's short, but sweet. You can take pictures of various Pokémon, doing many poses, and you get some items along the way to help you make Pokémon do different poses, or to find new Pokémon altogether.

It's a fun short ride, that I recommend, even for people who aren't into Pokémon.