In 1999, the spinoff game Pokemon Snap was released in Japan and America. It was a very simple game; take a ride around a set course or area and take pictures of the pokemon in the area. Every picture would have a score, and your goal was to get a high score and discover all of the pokemon in the area, being the first 151 pokemon. The score of your picture was determined by the number of pokemon in the photo, how centered the pokemon was, and the size of the pokemon in the image. You would also get bonus points if the pokemon was doing something special, like using a move. It wasn’t pokemon's biggest game by any means, but it was able to gain a cult following, mainly because it was simple and calming. There's no inherent challenge: you just ride in a vehicle taking cute pictures of pokemon for fun. It holds a sharp contrast to the fighting focus of the other games. The game also had fun areas to explore, with some having secret paths that led to new areas to explore. There was even a bit of a puzzle aspect to it, as you had to use certain items to enter a location, or use an item to get a pokemon close enough to take a picture of. Overall, it’s a simple, entertaining, relaxing pokemon game for really anyone to enjoy, and as much as I love it, I can’t brush over how simple it really is. Nevertheless, it is still a very fun and enjoyable game, and I would rate it an 8/10. 

Well, believe it or not, our story doesn’t end here. You see, in 2021, New Pokemon Snap was released for the switch, and my opinions about it aren’t as straightforward. While this isn’t the first nor the last time Nintendo would continue a series that went without a new game in the series, this release was a pleasant surprise. While I haven’t beaten nor gotten 100% on New Pokemon Snap, I have put many hours into it and enjoyed it for the most part. Surprisingly though, there were a few things I actually sort of disliked about the game.

To start, let's talk about the basics of the game. For the most part, everything that was in the original was included in the new version. For instance, the goal is still to try to take the best pictures of every pokemon, but they actually expanded this system. Now, depending on what the pokemon is doing, it will fit into a category from 1-4 stars, 1 being a normal picture to 4 being a very special action or interaction. For instance, getting a picture of bellosom (one of the pokemon in the game) doing a dance would be considered a 4 star image. This was a pretty good change I feel like, as it leads to more replayability, and also gives you incentive to keep playing levels to try and capture these interactions with pokemon, as well as fill out every category for each. The new version kept all the special actions the player could do in the original, which were being able to throw apples for the pokemon to eat or to get the attention of them and being able to play music which can lead pokemon to do certain things, which is actually what you need to do for the 4 star bellosom picture. However, they also added illumina orbs. This I’m a bit more mixed on. The illumina orb is a throwable object that lights up pokemon a certain color depending on the area, and it boosts the score of the picture as well as glowing up the area; however, this led to an aspect of the game that I’m not too keen on.

Before we get to that, let's talk about more of the positives. For instance, they added a story to the game. While it’s nothing too special, it gives a more guided game and is nice to have. It basically just makes the game feel more alive. They also added more variety of what areas you could explore and more areas to explore in general, as well as adding more pokemon you can photograph. They even added small objectives to complete, which were basically tasks given from characters in the story, and it was them asking you to take a certain picture, like trying to photograph a certain pokemon eating or doing something specific. All of these changes led to more playing time in the game, and I think were really good and beneficial changes for the game.

However, there are definitely a few aspects of the game I’m not exactly a fan of. For instance, like I mentioned before, I’m mixed on the illumina orb. On its own it’s pretty good and can help you take some cool images in the game, but it also led to a set of levels I don’t really like, which are the illumina spots. Imagine this, you go into a normal level and go through the path to take pokemon, but take all the pokemon that are normal there…and keep one. That is exactly what an illumina spot is, a normal level with just one pokemon to take pictures of. At first it’s cool, especially because these levels are the only levels with that pokemon, but it gets boring very quickly, and especially annoying with the level up mechanic. See, when you take pictures and get your score, it applies to an xp bar specific to each level. The problem is, there's only so much xp you can gain from just one pokemon, and with the way you gain xp from just taking better pictures, it can become very difficult to take better scoring pictures than what you already have.

     That being said, I actually enjoy the leveling up system in normal levels. There's usually 4 or 5 levels you can move up by taking pictures. Everytime you move up something changes in the level, things like being able to see new pokemon or having pokemon appear in different places so you can take new pictures. I like this system as it leads to more replayability as well as more reason to replay levels.

  There was actually an aspect of the game that I think was exponentially improved on in the new version of the game, being the secret/split paths. There are more split paths, as they aren’t too secret, but usually requires the player to do something in order to get a pokemon to do something in order to unlock a split path. For instance, on the Lental Seafloor undersea course, in order to unlock the split path you need to get to level 2 and help a Clawitzer break through a wall. I like this system as it gives variation to the locations you can take pictures of, as well as once again leading to more replayability. I also like how it leads the player to have more interactions with certain pokemon and sort of livens up the game and the areas you go through.

Before I get to the main reason I like this game and wrap up this review, there is one more aspect of the game I wanted to talk about that I think really improved the game, being the day and night modes. In New Pokemon Snap, you can go through two different versions of almost every level, one during the day, and one during the night. While it might not sound like much, it actually leads to a ton more pokemon interactions that you're able to see, as well as being able to see different pokemon depending on if it's day or night. I think adding this was a really good way to add more gameplay and more replayability to the game, as it just adds more you can do and more things to take pictures of, and I believe it was a really good addition.

Overall my opinions are mixed on whether or not New Pokemon Snap is really better than the original. While it definitely had some major improvements, it also had some elements I’m still pretty mixed about. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I still love both games. It mostly comes from the reason you would play it. The games aren’t challenging, it doesn’t take much skill, and nothing feels too long and grueling to do in the game. Pokemon Snap and New Pokemon Snap are games that you can just pick up and play to relax. They are calming, easy games that can take up hours of downtime and enjoy every minute of it. While it isn’t the greatest game by any means, New Pokemon Snap is still a fun and enjoyable game for really anyone who just wants to relax.

Overall rating: 8/10

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