Pokémon Snap
- If you were looking for the book of the same name based on this game, see Pokémon Snap (book).
- Snap redirects here. For other uses, see Snap (disambiguation).
Pokémon Snap (Japanese: ポケモンスナップ Pokémon Snap) is a spin-off Pokémon game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on March 21, 1999, in North America on June 30, 1999, in Australia on March 23, 2000, and in Europe on September 15, 2000.
| Pokémon Snap ポケモンスナップ | |
|---|---|
 Boxart of Pokémon Snap | |
Basic info
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| Platform: | Nintendo 64, Wii (Virtual Console), Wii U (Virtual Console), Nintendo Switch (Nintendo Switch Online) |
| Category: | First person rail shooter |
| Players: | 1 |
| Connectivity: | None |
| Developer: | HAL Laboratory |
| Publisher: | Nintendo |
| Part of: | Generation I spin off |
Ratings
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| CERO: | A |
| ESRB: | E |
| ACB: | G |
| OFLC: | N/A |
| PEGI: | 3 |
| GRAC: | N/A |
| GSRR: | N/A |
Release dates
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| Japan: | March 21, 1999 (N64)[1] December 4, 2007 (Wii VC)[2] April 6, 2016 (Wii U VC) June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Switch Online)[3] |
| North America: | June 30, 1999 (N64)[4] December 10, 2007 (Wii VC)[5] January 5, 2017 (Wii U VC)[6] June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Switch Online)[7] |
| Australia: | March 23, 2000 (N64)[8] December 11, 2007 (Wii VC)[9] August 19, 2016 (Wii U VC)[10] June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Switch Online)[11] |
| Europe: | September 15, 2000 (N64)[12] December 11, 2007 (Wii VC)[13] August 18, 2016 (Wii U VC)[14] June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Switch Online)[15] |
| South Korea: | N/A |
| Hong Kong: | N/A |
| Taiwan: | N/A |
Websites
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| Japanese: | Official site |
| English: | Official site |
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Japanese boxart
 Boxart of Pocket Monsters Snap.  Reverse of Pocket Monsters Snap. | |
It was released on Virtual Console for Wii in Japan on December 4, 2007, in North America on December 10, 2007, in Australia on December 11, 2007, and in Europe on December 11, 2007; it was released on Virtual Console for Wii U in Japan on April 6, 2016, in Europe on August 18, 2016, in Australia on August 19, 2016, and in North America on January 5, 2017; it was released on Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online application for Nintendo Switch worldwide on June 24, 2022. The Wii Virtual Console was made unavailable on January 30, 2019, and the Wii U Virtual Console was made unavailable on March 27, 2023.
In Pokémon Snap, the famous Pokémon Researcher Professor Oak is studying Pokémon on Pokémon Island, and invites Todd Snap, a talented young photographer, to assist in his research. The only current inhabitants of Pokémon Island are wild Pokémon, making it the perfect place to study Pokémon in their natural habitat. Whereas a Trainer may not be able to resist catching the wild Pokémon of the island, Todd's photography skills may equally aid in the Professor's research to complete his Pokémon Report.
Rather than catching and training Pokémon, the goal is to explore Pokémon Island and photograph its inhabitant Pokémon. Travel is restricted to tracks designed for the ZERO-ONE, and Todd's equipment includes his camera, apple-shaped Pokémon food, Pester Balls to knock out or stun Pokémon, and a Poké Flute to wake sleeping Pokémon. Some of these items Todd gains further into his journey, as well as earning the Dash Engine to increase the speed of the ZERO-ONE.
This game was also adapted into a novel for the Pathways to Adventure series in 1999. A sequel, New Pokémon Snap, was released for the Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2021.
Blurb
Professor Oak needs your help!
Professor Oak has asked you to capture the Wild Pokémon of Pokémon Island on film! Tour the Island in your ZERO-ONE vehicle and snap pictures of Pokémon in their natural habitat. Wild Pokémon are often camera-shy, so you'll have to use special items to bring them out in the open. Only the best shots will do for Professor's Pokémon Report so sharpen your photography skills and get ready to SNAP!
- The first-ever N64 game to feature the world-famous Pokémon - fully rendered in 3-D!
- Explore the many environments of Pokémon Island, like the sunny beach, the mysterious caves, and even a red-hot volcano!
- Many different types of Pokémon inhabit the island. See how many you can catch on film!
- Print your photos as stickers at Pokémon Snap Stations! Visit www.Pokémon.com or call 1-800-859-4521 for all the details and to find the nearest Snap Station nearest you!
Characters
Locations
Pokémon
63 species of Pokémon appear in this game:
Pokémon Signs
Six Pokémon appear in the form of a Pokémon sign.
Sticker Stations
For a period of time after Snap's launch, Pokémon Snap Sticker Stations were available at Blockbuster in the United States, and Lawson in Japan[16]. These stations which would print out stickers of pictures which were taken in the game for 3 Dollars/300 Yen[17], by loading credits on one of five cards that featured Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, or Jigglypuff.
There was also a mode in Pokémon Stadium which would take and save pictures of Pokémon and print them out at the Stations. Special overlays were made to promote Pokémon Stadium, so there exists two variations of the station.
Internally, these sticker stations are just a Nintendo 64 with a printer that connects to P4 port, a special version of the cartridge for the printing tasks, and a special cartridge adaptor to switch between Pokémon Snap Station and Pokémon Snap or Pokémon Stadium.[18][19]
Wii Virtual Console release
Pokémon Snap was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console with a few small changes. This version can upload pictures from the game to the Wii's Message Board, where they can be transferred to people on the Wii's Address Book.
In this release, Jynx were recolored purple from the black color they were in the original game, to reflect the changes in its design and to avoid controversy that Jynx's original design caused.
To celebrate this re-release, the Japanese Yahoo! Kids Pokémon page streamed all of the episodes in which Todd Snap appeared from December 14, 2007 to January 14, 2008.[20]
Development
In 1994, Nintendo put an ad in Famitsu Magazine, seeking to hire new talent for a team that would be given creative freedom when making games. The team, later known as Jack and Beans, would start working in 1995 on three separate projects, one of which was a camera-based game called "Jack and the Beanstalk". The team's inspiration for a camera game came from the Nintendo 64DD's ability to read and write data from disks, which had the potential to then move the photos to another medium to print them. [21]
By summer 1997, Jack and Beans' three projects were merged into one. Jack and the Beanstalk's characters and setting were then replaced with a Pokémon setting, to give players a clearer motivation and goal for taking pictures.[22]
Pokémon Snap would be announced for the Nintendo 64DD at Space World '97 in November 1997, with a release planned to coincide with the movie Mewtwo Strikes Back the next year - but this announcement was made without informing the development team beforehand. However, the game would not meet this deadline, and in 1998 would change format to a Nintendo 64 cartridge for three reasons: Nintendo could not find a suitable time to release Snap for the 64DD; Snap would not be compatible with Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions, so it had to be released before them; and Snap being on the 64DD would make it the odd one out among existing Pokémon releases on the Nintendo 64.
The development team aimed to have several Pokémon appear on screen at once - but to achieve this, they would have to use low-poly models - this meant that they could not use the same Pokémon models and animations as Pokémon Stadium, which was being developed at around the same time. The team's animations would not use the Pokémon anime as reference material - instead, team member Benimaru Itoh would act as a reference model, posing and acting as various different Pokémon, and other team members would serve as models when Itoh was unavailable.
Voice acting for Professor Oak and Todd Snap was added to the game last-minute, with the lines obtained during a recording session for the Pokémon anime.
The idea of printing pictures was tested through various methods, one of which was by using a combination of a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, a Game Boy, a Game Boy Camera, and a Game Boy Printer, but the resulting photos would only be grayscale. HAL Laboratory's hardware technician Masayoshi Tanimura then printed the photos as stickers with a video printer, and these stickers were well-received by Nintendo's business partners. The concept of players printing out photos from Snap would later be realized with the Pokémon Snap Sticker Stations.
Staff
- Main article: Staff of Pokémon Snap
Gallery
Virtual Console icons
Wii U Virtual Console icon (English)
Wii U Virtual Console icon (Japanese)
Reception
The game received good reviews in the media, scoring a 7.8 on IGN, an 8.0 on GameSpot, and a 77 on Metacritic. The game has a strong fan following, even a number of years later, giving it a status similar to that of a cult classic.
Trivia
- This is the only game to show Slowpoke's evolution happening true to the Pokédex. Using Pokémon food, Slowpoke can be lured to the River where it will dip its tail in the water. When Shellder chomps down on Slowpoke's tail, Slowpoke will evolve into Slowbro.
- Although the game features voice acting from the anime series, certain Pokémon that were given new voices for the dub still have their original Japanese voice acting in the game. These include Metapod, Diglett, Dugtrio, Magnemite, Magneton, Geodude, Graveler, Psyduck, and Porygon.
- This was the first Pokémon game released for the Virtual Console service, the only Pokémon game from the Nintendo 64 to be released for the Wii U's Virtual Console service and the first Pokémon game released for the Nintendo Switch Online service.
- Ekans was intended to be included in the game, but was ultimately cut.[23]
- A song called Fantasic Horror was cut from the game. The song was meant for a Ghost-type level, but as there were only three Ghost-type Pokémon in Generation I, said level was cut. Additionally, there was a boss song exclusive to the level that also did not end up in the final game.[23]
In other languages
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. |
References
- ↑ Pokémon.co.jp - Pokémon Snap (N64)
- ↑ Pokémon.co.jp - Pokémon Snap (VC)
- ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Japan)
- ↑ Pokémon.com (US)
- ↑ Nintendo Pressroom (requires login)
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (North America)
- ↑ Nintendo Australia (archive)
- ↑ Nintendo Australia - News (archive)
- ↑ Nintendo Australia & New Zealand Twitter
- ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Australia)
- ↑ Pokémon.com (UK)
- ↑ PEGI
- ↑ Nintendo Europe Twitter
- ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Europe)
- ↑ Pokemon Snap -- and Print - IGN
- ↑ 1999 Pokemon Snap Photo Contests - pokumon.com
- ↑ The Pokemon Snap Station - Sixty Formula - YouTube (Dead link - private video)
- ↑ VIDEO GAME KIOSKS - Extreme Game Collecting! - MetalJesusRocks - YouTube
- ↑ [2] (archived)
- ↑ "New N64 Game Facts Discovered" - Did You Know Gaming - YouTube. Translation of an interview from The 64 Dream's May 1999 issue, and Shigesato Itoi's website 1101.com. (6:36 - 16:05 in the video).
- ↑ Iwata Asks - Satoru Iwata: "Originally, Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64 system wasn't a Pokémon game, but rather a normal game in which you took photos, but the motivation for playing the game wasn't clear. We wondered what players would enjoy taking pictures of, and later on we made a somewhat forced switch to taking pictures of Pokémon"
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Prerelease:Pokémon Snap - The Cutting Room Floor
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This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |