Playing Pokemon Snap 25 Years Later

Pokémon Snap was released on the Nintendo 64 on the 21st of March, 1999. So many years ago, my brother would receive that for his seventh birthday (presumably, I’m making a lot of assumptions considering I’d have been… three?), and it began a new fixation for the both of us as we would start up the N64 and take photos.

Back in those days, there were only 151 Pokémon, but only 63 of those were actually used in the game. Recently, I decided to go back to it — it’s been on the 64 emulator on Switch for a while, and I’ve finally had time to immerse myself in the nostalgia. Another factor that started this was the fact that my childhood friend had recently found his old consoles, and we had to have a conversation about the games we loved as kids.

While I had been excited about the New Pokémon Snap, I have to admit, it never quite matched the original. It’s not that I had a problem with it. In fact, I would admit that it improved on a lot of the old mechanics, but it wasn’t the same. I have to admit, I always preferred the earlier generations of the series, mostly up to Sinnoh, so seeing the recent generations didn’t do too much for me.

Plus, as a kid, I remember running around, throwing apples at all the different Pokémon and trying to find out the best ways to get the best shot. Admittedly, now that I’m older, I can see why all my photos were godawful as a child. Seriously, I’m a lot better now than I was back then.

Upon turning on my Switch, I was delighted to find that it was exactly how I remembered it. As I explored Pokémon Island, I had Professor Oak meet me in the lab. Honestly, I just missed Oak — which is weird; he hasn’t gone anywhere. I think I just missed how they used to use the 4Kids voice actors for the Nintendo 64 spin-offs.

As I explored the islands, I noticed there was a challenge when angling the photos. The controls are a little bit inverted, so you have to be careful. In fact, some of the Pokémon won’t get near you until you unlock the apples or pester balls. Figuring out where to throw the apple and the pester ball to get each creature to do something is definitely a factor I missed out on as a kid. I rarely wanted to annoy the Pokémon, but now? Now, I’m willing to drive them up the wall.

So, as I re-immersed myself in the original Pokémon Snap, I’d like to say that I’ve opened up my old hyperfixation. It’s held up surprisingly well, even after 25 years, and while it’s not complicated, it’s still a game you can get hooked on as you get more points to unlock more areas on the island and more items to use.

Sorry, New Pokémon Snap, I think I’m gonna be playing more of the original for now. After all, I need to wake up that Snorlax and finally get that Surfing Pikachu that I dreamed of as a kid.