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It's been two weeks since my last upload, and thankfully, I got it out on time on my blog, too, because the following weeks are going to be jam packed with games I'm going to play, and games I'm still finishing up even now. I’m incredibly fortunate I have a vacation right now to get my vaccination, because I don’t think I’d be able to play any games at all, otherwise. Also, this was supposed to go up yesterday, but, uh the game got in the way. Hahaha.

The tl;dr is it’s ******** wonderful. Also, this review is spoiler free! Peruse at your leisure.

I love Pokémon Snap. I still play the original to this day. I can beat the game in under three hours since I have lots of practice playing it over and over during the years. I have the original sticker sheets that I printed out from blockbuster, along with the credit cards they gave out to hold your images from the cartridge. In near pristine condition, too. This is a sequel I’ve been waiting for since the year 2002, When the concept of video game sequels became relevant to me, because of Majora’s Mask. My classmates and I used to share thoughts and ideas of what a Pokémon Snap 2 could be like. More Pokémon? More locations? New ways to take pictures?

Who would have thought that my wish would be granted in 2021? Back in April of 2020, I lamented that Game Freak had a chance to make a Pokémon Snap for the Wii U, and they blew it. I feel that the Wii U would have been a better fit because of the Game Pad. What are the odds that my hope paid off? I am absolutely delighted.

It’s anyone’s guess why Pokémon Snap scratched such a specific itch. I mean, back in 2010, I was setting myself up to make my own photography studio, it didn’t happen due to broad circumstances, but I still love photography and I love things like Beyond Good and Evil, Fatal Frame, and DreadOut… I think Pokémon Snap stands out since it’s a nice happy game with the picture taking mechanic, and not a horror game.

As much as I love Pokémon, in recent years, I find myself becoming more critical of the franchise as a whole, and I look forward to the day the anime finally ends, and it can be buried so the games can flourish on their own, without corporate meddling. Pokémon side games are usually spot on. The only one that's truly awful is Detective Pikachu, and that made a pretty decent movie, so it cancels out.

Comparing most of the side games, from Colosseum to Gale of Darkness, the side games have always had a bigger personality. They had a chance to present either new game mechanics or focused stories and ideas that the main games couldn't focus on.
Most of the entire franchise is based on battling, that's the point, but the roster is so huge, that they have to pick and choose who gets the spotlight, and you can always guarantee that Charizard will have a snug little spot picked out for themselves. The other 897 mons is a toss up, honestly. It could be Mewtwo, Blaziken, or Greninja, but that’s all your guesses.

I bought New Pokémon Snap the day before yesterday and blazed through about eight hours of it, I’m streaming it privately with friends and family, so I haven’t gotten incredibly far, but I got all the mechanics down and I’ve played through most of the main game. It seems like the game is about a 10 to 15 hour experience, so I feel like I have a lot to go still, which is so exciting!

My initial thoughts are it's fantastic. The game looks beautiful, and plays really well, I find myself switching between motion controls and stick, I'm not sure which I personally prefer. I find they both have their unique advantages.

I mean this with the most heartfelt sincerity, the game looks incredible. It's gorgeous, it's lush, it's vibrant. It's everything SwSh was supposed to be. Regardless how good the main line games play, there's always been a simplicity, or in SwSh's case, a lack of background detail. The game looks like some of the best 3DS games. And that's really bad. I remember shiny hunting in Shield and the game would chug at 10 fps for a solid minute if too much was happening. The Isle of Armor was the worst. That's poor optimization.

Mind you, New Pokémon Snap does lag, but... it's not horrible, in fact, unlike in most games, I find the lag can be super useful. How? Well, since the game is slowing down for a few seconds, somehow there's no input lag, so I've gotten some incredible snaps of Pokémon without even meaning to. And when I say lag, I mean the frame rate drops marginally few seconds and goes right back to normal. Sometimes, it’s not even noticeable.

It feels nostalgic, as a sequel to a game that came out twenty years ago, it's pretty much everything I hoped for and more. Apart from the rivals. They are, as always, kind of annoying to me. One is an Iris alt, and the other is a Gon ripoff from Hunter x Hunter. I feel the human designs really could have used some work. They feel too reminiscent of other characters and lack any distinctive personality.

Except for Todd. No. He's exactly what I hoped he'd be at this point, and they didn't keep him as a child, which is the largest surprise to me. Professor Mirror is new, and as far as professors go, at least he’s more memorable than Professor Magnolia.

I’m not super into this community aspect of the game yet, most of the charm of the original was that everything was done on your own, you did everything you could by your bootstraps, and then asked the kids on the playground if they had any ideas.

And boy howdy are those community pages filled with spoilers. I got through so much of the game without much help, and I highly suggest you play it that way yourself. It has so much of the old exploration methods, and it feels super old school in that regard. Although, this game is better at giving out hints, and the challenges are also really helpful, they give a decent description of events while allowing you to figure out the mystery yourself.

My only criticism is… Is it worth full price? I mean the original was fully priced like every N64 game, but that was also a time when games were cheaper, and the economy wasn’t in shambles. I paid a solid 50$ for Pokémon Snap in 2003. I played during the Blockbuster Era, so sue me. I still love the game something fierce, but I am legitimately wondering if it is worth the price tag. I think it’s the biggest detriment to the title, but at the very least, I think the effort is there, and the developers of the game absolutely deserve high praise and compensation for making something so high in fidelity and graphical output.

On that note, there are no Shiny Pokémon in the game. Do I think that’s detrimental to the experience? For some reason, absolutely not. Since the game has it’s own unique mechanics and forms all over the map, I personally think Shiny Pokémon would take away some of the core experience. They're also a little unnecessary in this setting.

I love New Pokémon Snap. Every moment I’m searching, I’m finding something new, and then I’m shouting in excitement over a Pokémon I’ve found. Or being terrified. There are some parts where it feels like a horror game, but I think I just conditioned myself into that mind set after playing so many horror games.
It’s great, and it’s genuinely entertaining and I’m happy I put the effort out to avoid any trailers, screenshots, or promotional material. This is the most fun I’ve had playing a video game in months, perhaps since the beginning of the pandemic. Have I mentioned I really love photography? And it’s been well over a year since the last time I went for a photo op? That probably also had a lot to do with it.

Stay tuned for May 15th . What’s on that day? Hopefully, I’ll have finished most of Resident Evil Village in it’s entirety and I can give a stellar review of it. I am so stupidly excited for it. I can’t wait to be legitimately scared and horrified.