New Pokémon Snap analysis: immortalizing the magical world of Pokémon in photographs

The Pokémon saga has received dozens of video games of all kinds throughout its 25 years. The Pokémon Company wanted this event not to be forgotten and that is why one of the titles it announced for Nintendo Switch was New Pokémon Snap.

The original title debuted on Nintendo 64 and there are not a few who since then have not stopped requesting that a new installment be developed on each of the different platforms of the great N that have been going on sale. In the end, after so many years of waiting, the prayers have been answered and this continuation will finally arrive in a couple of days.

Before that happens, we have had the opportunity to thoroughly play New Pokémon Snap in order to bring you our analysis to tell you what we thought about this adventure with which we will travel the magical world of Pokémon equipped with a camera.

Nonstop photographing Pokémon in their natural habitat

The game puts us in the shoes of a young man or woman photographer who will travel to the Lensis region, where Professor Espejo has requested our help to carry out an investigation with which he plans to find out the qualities of the mysterious Lúmini phenomenon. To achieve something like this, he wants us to simultaneously shape the first Fotodex of this place, hence our main objective will be to photograph each and every one of the Pokémon that we come across.

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In this sense, forget about training, fighting, captures and other functions that are present in the main series of the franchise, because the experience that this adventure will offer you is completely different and much more relaxed. The point is that, as we have already indicated, you will only dedicate yourself to taking snapshots of the Pokémon that you come across in their natural habitat.

Even so, it is not that you have full control of your character, because he will move automatically with the help of the Neo-One. It is a vehicle that will simply be dedicated to following a previously established route, so the only thing we can do is move the camera in any direction in search of the Pokémon that are in the surroundings to take the best possible photograph.

During the tours we will visit a few islands in the Lensis Region. In order not to gut you how many circuits there are exactly, let's say that the experience is more extensive than that of the original Pokémon Snap, which will take you through forests, jungles, caves, beaches and many other places that will look great and will be full of details. In fact, many times it makes you want to simply enjoy the trip looking everywhere and nothing else to enjoy the magnificent beauty of the surroundings.

Without a doubt, all of them present an impressive graphic section that makes us dream of the possibility of actually visiting them. Naturally, the fact that Pokémon are present everywhere makes them score even more points as we discover how they live and behave in situations of all kinds. Some of them are worth framing, precisely those will be the ones that will require us to pay attention to everything that happens to take the photograph at the right moment.

And it is not enough just to dedicate ourselves to photographing the Pokémon that we see, because at the end of each tour we will have to select which have been the best snapshots that we have taken. This will help Professor Mirror evaluate them and offer us a score based on certain criteria, such as the fact that the Pokémon in question is seen from the front, full body, has a peculiar pose, other creatures appear nearby. Or also if the framing has been the most appropriate. In the end, all these details will determine what our overall result has been.

In fact, unlike the first Pokémon Snap, the criteria will also influence the number of stars they will award us. The same is something that can be observed when selecting the photographs, since in them it is previously indicated if they have a quality of one to four stars. From there it will depend on each one which one prefers to teach the Teacher, whether it is one of a new category or another with which we believe that it will give us a higher score than the one previously assigned to us.

That is why completing the Fotodex 100% will take us dozens of hours, because apart from locating the more than 200 Pokémon that are available in the game, it will be necessary to take four photographs of each of the four categories divided by stars. The bad thing is precisely the fact that we can only select one photo per Pokémon in each tour, because there will be many times that you have a photograph of a star that you love and another of three stars that you think is incredible and in the end you will have to opt for one or the other.

In any case, the captures that you discard will not be lost in limbo, because the game offers the option that we save as many as we want on the console in order to remember the moments we have experienced. In addition, these photos will also have the option to edit them with all kinds of stickers and frames to give them a touch of the most special and unique that can later be shared with the rest of the players in the world so that others can observe our creations and can rate themselves the result according to whether they liked it or not.

The other tools that will be of great help

When we start, the only object that we will have at our disposal is the camera, our inseparable companion in this odyssey. That does not mean that the further we advance we will obtain a greater number of tools that will be necessary when taking the photos. In this case sooner or later we will get to obtain items such as apples, a radar or the lumini orbs.

All of them will be used to interact with the environment or with the Pokémon that are walking quietly in the area. For example, the apples will be sufficiently padded so that when thrown at the Pokémon we do not harm them, which does not mean that they startle when they impact against them, especially in those that are smaller, because the big ones can have more than guaranteed that the normal thing is that they do not flinch. Thanks to this we will get them to capture their attention in some cases or even to eat the apples in order to take different photos from the usual ones.

In the same way, throwing apples at them can also cause them to get angry and run away or, on the contrary, get closer to our position, so it will be necessary to practice without stopping and test with all the Pokémon to find out what the effects are on each one. . The truth is that apples are the most useful and the object that we have used the most in most situations, something that cannot be said about the radar or the orbs mentioned previously.

In the case of the first, it will act as a scanner to determine what we have around us. It is a good way to find out if there are hidden Pokémon or not very in sight so that we are attentive to take a photo with the camera or its zoom, but in general it does not go beyond there, because it is said that some react to the noise that it emits and that will only happen on very specific occasions.

For its part, a similar situation is repeated with the orbs. By throwing them at a Pokémon we will make it shine and light up, but a large part of them will remain as one who is watching life go by. That does not mean that there is indeed more than one that is alerted and performs a particular action, so again we have to emphasize that you will have to try and test without stopping until you see what the effects of each tool are on the different wild Pokémon .

In any case, it is a bit shocking to be presented with these tools thinking that the circuits will be completely different when taking advantage of them and in general it is not that there are many very drastic changes. Although some are very remarkable and capable of significantly influencing the behaviors of Pokémon, we have generally missed a bit more interaction between them or with themselves as happened in the Nintendo 64 Pokémon Snap, when sometimes you used something to do so. a Pokémon will evolve.

Entering the routes in search of different routes

One of the characteristics of the levels is that, as we have already mentioned, the Neo-One vehicle will automatically move through them following a circuit. However, these paths can be altered in order to take different routes, which at the same time will influence the fact of encountering even more Pokémon or in other types of habitats in which we have already seen them before.

That is where radar or other objects do have a great role, because in this case they will serve to discover hidden detours or for Pokémon to interact with the environment and open paths that at first glance seemed inaccessible. In this way, the number of levels is greatly expanded by the number of routes to discover. As if that were not enough, to all this we must add the fact that there will be islands where we can enter the circuits by day or at night, something that in turn will affect the Pokémon that appear.

In this sense, it may be the case that there are some who during the day are very savvy and running around, while at night they are sleeping peacefully or vice versa. On the other hand, what has not convinced us so much is the fact that some circuits are forced to repeat them over and over again to advance in the story in order to unlock new levels or have the possibility of accessing new routes.

For this to be possible in most cases, at the end of a phase and based on the score obtained, we will gain experience that will increase our level of exploration in that particular area. However, those who are not very skilled with the camera or are not able to locate the way to find new behaviors in Pokémon, will be obliged to repeat the route until they accumulate enough experience for Professor Mirror to allow us to travel to others. places.

Even so, this will not always be the case, because sometimes we will also have to photograph special crystals or illuminate them with the lúmini orbs to help us continue with the adventure. The problem is that in some cases these are located near the end or in very remote places, so those who miss them will have to start the level from the beginning until they find them again. Consequently, it could happen that someone finds it a bit tedious to have to return to the same places for situations of this type.

Luckily this is solved thanks to the fact that there are so many different routes and a good handful of levels so that if we get tired of water we can go to the desert or get fully into the jungle. Besides, the level of exploration that we go up will also cause the circuits to be slightly altered, but above all it will make the Pokémon that we will find different. Thus, it will be difficult for the adventure to be repetitive as it has such a variety of phases and especially for those who intend to complete the Fotodex.

VidaExtra's opinion

You could say that New Pokémon Snap is the ideal game for all those who want to avoid the problems of everyday life and want to enjoy something different. A quiet, entertaining, fun and very magical experience that is capable of instantly catching you and immersing you fully in the fabulous world of Pokémon.

Graphically, it is a beautiful game and you cannot put any negative point in this regard because it has amazed us from the first moment. On the contrary, the soundtrack has given us the impression that it limps a little and, although they are relaxing songs and that accompany the experience, they are not at all remarkable or melodies that you will continue to hum when you finish playing.

On the other hand, none of the Pokémon has their usual screams and will only emit sounds or screams like those of a normal animal. Only Pikachu is the only one that can boast of having its own habitual phrases with the voice that we are more than used to hearing.

In short, New Pokémon Snap invites us to participate in a journey full of routes, surprises and very special moments in which we will basically dedicate ourselves to taking photos of hundreds of Pokémon and with which we will feel like a true explorer (and photographer) while we visit their natural habitats in places we would never want to escape from. A game that may not be one of the biggest essentials in the Nintendo Switch catalog, but it is one of those adventures that it is always appreciated that they arrive from time to time for presenting a proposal dedicated to all types of public and of all ages.