Twenty-Two years is a long time for a treasured N64 game based on one of the greatest anime TV shows of all time to remain in stasis without a follow-up, but here we are with New Pokémon Snap on the Nintendo Switch. This 'New' Pokémon Snap features over two-hundred of the critters spread across a vast map with diverse locations and environments for you to explore by roving around on-rails style and photographing Pokémon whilst they're minding their own habitual business. Does New Pokémon Snap breathe new life and revitalize its two-decade old predecessor meaningfully or is it nothing more than a nostalgia trip?
New Pokémon Snap invites you into an idyllic archipelago populated by wild and carefree Pokémon known as the Lental Region, and your sole job is to take photographs of all that you see so you can be graded by the inspecting spectacles of one Professor Mirror. As you embark on your journey to you will be required to enter a handful of lively areas from vegetation strewn jungles and foreboding caves to bright glistening sun-baked beaches and freezing cold climes-each of which are home to habituated Pokémon ripe for photo-shooting. You will start at a nature park and progress to increasingly more treacherous wildernesses, making your tour around the Lental Region an impressively progressive experience, where the homeliness gives way to tranquility before sinking you into the gloominess of a forest, the dankness of a cave and the mysteriousness of a ruin before games end. In addition to the variety, each stage is separated into daylight, evening and night-meaning you will see different Pokemon depending on the time of day as well as different behaviours and interactions-giving a wonderful zest of richness to the already alluring practice of discovery.
Along the way you will be encouraged to take pictures of powerful glowing orbs called crystablooms, which are required to uncover Illumina Pokémon-rare goliath-like versions of existing Pokémon that glow with radiance. Taking these snaps are akin to boss battles and are separated as part of their own discrete section of a level. At first taking up-close shots of these majestic glowing Pokemon is as easy as snapping the rest of them, but later on you will need to throw illumina orbs and be precise with your timing because they might escape and appear from unexpected hidey holes. You also pick up the ability to throw apples to distract or hit a Pokemon, which will grant you great opportunities to snap photos of them chowing down, as well as a command that will let you play a brief musical melody that'll produce some surprising results and chances to take rare photos. You are rewarded with Research Titles if for collecting and taking types of photos such as ones specific to ice and fire-they're nothing more than pleasant little accolades you receive for playing NPS but you are encouraged to collect them all.
At its heart, New Pokemon Snap is an on-rails gameplay experience. You start an expedition on the game's titular roving vehicle the Neo-One-an upgrade and nod to the original game's initial model the Zero-One, and you move through the level on a prescribed path, whereby you will be able to use the Switch's analogue sticks, the left to move the cursor to set up frames for photographs- and the right stick to look around for targets to pepper with pictures paparazzi style. The process is simple, quick and satisfying, and you're given an ample amount of snaps per level so you have some leeway to go crazy if you want to. There's a scanner gizmo you can use to analyze the environments when a prompt appears, which may give you clues on how you can find Pokemon the information given, as well as new pathways that open up, making it possible to find and take picture of new Pokemon. Before the level's culmination a portal will open up and will beam you upwards like a UFO and then you will bear witness to Professor Mirror and the results screen.
When you greet Professor Mirror you will be given the choice of which photos you want him to examine with his sharp bespectacled eyes. Every Pokemon you have discovered will show up as folders and inside are all the photographs-of which you can only select one of each for him to look over. Mirror will reward each photograph two types of star rating-one that represents the quality of the photograph-illustrated by the colours bronze, silver, gold or diamond-and a quantity of stars based on the uniqueness of the shot. There are six criteria to consider including shot size, direction, place, background, the pose of the Pokemon, and whether there is more than one Pokemon in a single shot. If a photograph scores higher than a similar previous shot you took, you can select which of them to keep and store in the Photodex- essentially a Pokedex for your Pokemon photographs. In addition there is a photograph editor where you can apply stickers and change the contrasts as well as adding filters to your photos-it's a nice feature for those who want to spice up the pics they've taken but there's no additional incentive or value to using it so it will wear out its welcome before long.
Although the system generally does a good job of recognizing its own criteria, there are instances where certain shots are scored lower than others even if they were taken simultaneously and straight after previous shots in a cycle. These inconsistencies aren't hugely problematic but they expose the flaws in an already rather futile rating system. Another potential annoyance is having to upgrade to Research Level 2 in order to make progress through the game's story-yes it's easy to do but the game forces you to traipse through levels again to take clearer pictures and discover previously undiscovered Pokemon in order to progress the story, which can be bothersome and slow down the game's pace for the sake of repetition, even if there is a good reason to repeat stages.
At approximately six hours to completion time, New Pokemon Snap isn't a long or extensive picturesque tour of picture-taking but revisiting locations will keep you seeking out the best shots and ensures you can fill your Photodex with a range of of impressive snaps, and the game has tricks up its sleeve such as Research Titles to keep you playing longer than intended. Above all else though, playing New Pokemon Snap is relaxing and joyous-this more than any other reason should keep you playing.
At its best, New Pokemon Snap is breathtaking with an extraordinary sheen that makes the utmost of the Switch's hardware and allows for vistas and Pokemon to pop with vibrancy. The artistry is eloquently weaved through the handful of stages the game's main story mode offers with an eclectic range of environments that showcase the diversity of all the Pokemon featured. Some sights are truly majestic like witnessing a gaggle of Laprases gently roving atop the glistening waters at dusk in Maricopia Reef. The soundtrack is similarly fantastic, zinging with upbeat and jovial tunes that befit an exciting adventure of discovery and is nostalgically tinged to give off that classic N64 Pokemon Snap feeling.
It's been a long time coming but now the prolonged dormancy is over and New Pokemon Snap is here and it's excellent. The smorgasbord of idyllic locations on the Lental Region map gives you a plethora of habitats where Pokemon lay, hide and play, gifting you with a cornucopia of opportunities to take pictures and uncover the game's secrets. The experience is fairly brief but returning to any of the environments again will bring with it the potential to unearth new Pokemon you haven't discovered before, new pathways that incentivise you to explore every nook and cranny of an area, and new times of day where more surprises await you. Fundamentally the experience will seem identical to the N64 game, the star-rating system has its share of bugbears and is rather pointless, and you might be done with it sooner than you'd like, but New Pokemon Snap is a relaxing, calming, serene and beautiful game that has a true love for what the original did but it revitalized and rejuvenated on Nintendo Switch and is very well-worth the two-decade wait.
STORY: N/A
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
PRESENTATION: 9/10
LIFESPAN: 7/10
SCORE: 8/10
A fabulous resurgence of a beloved N64 classic, New Pokemon Snap delivers on two-decades of dormancy despite some niggles with the rating system and short length. Gotta snap em all.