The Pokémon Direct on June 17th revealed a lot of fun projects Game Freak has in store for us fans. Some are even going so far as speculating that the plushies in the video are teasing a Gold and Silver edition of the Let’s Go games, a surprise which could be revealed in the next planned Direct, scheduled for June 24th. However, nothing delighted older Nintendo fans more than the announcement of a Pokémon Snap remake.
Players who recently got into the series might be wondering what the hype is around this seemingly simple game. After all, a title where you don’t do anything but take photos of wild Pokémon sounds generic, but veteran gamers know Snap is anything but. How in the world did a photography game become such a hit players of the early 2000s? Spoiler alert: there’s more to it than picture taking.
Pokémon Snap Was One Of A Kind
This game deviated from the tradition of catching and raising Pokémon by having the player guise as a photographer named Snap recruited to help Professor Oak. Todd Snap is actually a character who made a cameo in the anime a few times, having used his skills to expose a theft scheme by the villains Butch and Cassidy at one point. Besides his anime appearance, the Emerald section of the Pokémon Adventures manga also featured him in a cameo role. Basically, Todd is a big deal in the Pokémon world. In this game, his job is to capture shots of Pokémon in their natural habitat. The place he travels around is known as Pokémon Island, which is canonically a land under special protection from outsiders. As such, you are limited to traveling in an onrails all-terrain vehicle known as the ZERO-ONE. This allows you to get up close with the wild inhabitants without interfering too much.
It’s a paradise for the Pokémon and a research haven for Professor Oak. The pictures taken are graded through a points system based on factors like the subject’s pose or if they’re centered in the photo, are they facing the camera, etc. Your vehicle moves automatically, so you need to work quickly to get the best shots. Not to mention the Pokémon aren’t exactly predictable in their behavior. The gameplay is tricky, but not all that difficult. Fans, in fact, tend to find it leisurely to play.
Finding The Perfect Shot
Snap’s lighthearted atmosphere appealed to players and was one of its biggest selling points as a title. There’s no concrete story in it, no crazy hard modes, and as such, no real pressure to rush through it. In fact, you’re meant to repeatedly play through the different levels, because as you progress, Oak will give you items to use to prompt the wild Pokémon into posing better. For example, on the first level, the Beach, there is a lone surfboard in the sand near a Pikachu. Once you get access to apples later after unlocking some levels, you can use them to go lure that Pikachu close to the surfboard and he will pose on it like he’s riding the waves.
Pokémon Snap encourages you to take your time to hone your skills to get the best pictures possible. Part of the fun is just savoring the aesthetic of this wild world. This game gave many players the chance to see Pokémon in beautiful three-dimensional colors for the first time, revealing what Pokémon look like in their natural environment. Twenty-one years and nine generations later, New Pokémon Snap is sure to bring back everything we love about the original in stunning HD.
People Love Taking Pictures
Players don’t need to be hardcore Pokémon fans to appreciate this game. After all, platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are so popular because of how much people love taking pictures. If Instagram was a video game, it would have very similar mechanics to Pokémon Snap. Hopefully, Nintendo recognizes this market and uses it to host things like photo contests. Pulling off a multiplayer mode in this game would be difficult, so this would be an ideal method to bring fans together.
Pokémon Snap has universal appeal because it overlaps with the ever-growing leisure game genre. Titles like Animal Crossing and Pokémon Eevee & Pikachu Lets Go have increased the demand for family-friendly gaming. This game will be a fun way for your kids to test out their creativity without spilling glue, glitter, and pipe cleaners all over your kitchen table.
Hopefully, you learned a lot about Pokémon Snap and why all of us are so excited for the remake. There is currently no release date, so in the meantime, you can get your Pokémon fix with Pokémon Sword and Shield, available on the Nintendo Switch today.
Sources: Bulbapedia , Wired
