I do not regret having recently purchased the Wii U Virtual Console version
Many of you still have your original Pokémon Snap cartridge, but for those of us who never bought the 1999 photo-snapping spin-off (or experienced it strictly as a weekend rental long ago), it’s not too late to go back before New Pokémon Snap carries the torch to Nintendo Switch in late April.
Inspired by the recent release date trailer, I fished out my Wii U from storage, swiped away the shiny GamePad with fingerprints, added $ 10 to my account, and bought the fondly remembered N64 original – a quiet, shocking experience as anyone who have become extremely comfortable with their Switch and tend to forget how slow the Wii U can be, even when you’re just opening menus.
Yes, you can still buy games from the Wii U eShop in 2021. It’s not ideal, and I wish more of these Virtual Console favorites would make the switch to Switch. Their constant absence confuses me. That said, if you don’t have the original hardware or your current TV isn’t well-equipped to handle older platforms (latency, lack of input, etc), this is an option. Playing on the Wii U made sense for my setup.
It takes a while to adjust to the (intentionally) dark picture quality of Nintendo 64 games running on Wii U, and I would say many of these games feel best on the controller they were originally designed for, but it I succeeded. And the ability to create save states certainly comes in handy Pokémon Snap.
I am not here to convince you that this is the best place to play Pokémon Snap – there are definite pros and cons – but I’m here to tell you it definitely holds up. It is still the perfect “weekend” video game.
It’s as short and easy as you want. Puzzles that struck me as a Poké-obsessed child now seem more intuitive, and after exhausting every environmental interaction in every zone to the best of my ability, there’s the internet – I don’t mind looking up some of the more obscure solutions.
There is such a sheer amusement park-like joy to see Pokémon “perform” all around you while stuck in a ride on the rails through different habitats. Yes, the levels are super short. And yes, many of your interactions have junk thrown all over the place until you get out of these wild creatures.
But the game just works fundamentally. It’s fun the first time – and the 30th. I still love it in 2021.
although Pokémon Snap is a scripted game with dated graphics and a dead simple premise, there’s enough fast moving mayhem to keep you scrambling. The controls fight back just enough. It feels like there is a healthy mix of skill and luck involved in clicking the rarer Pokémon at the right time from the perfect angle. If that balance didn’t seem like it would be frustrating. The mood would change.
Instead, you don’t really know what you’ve done in the field until you consult with Professor Oak. I think delayed judgment has a huge impact on game play and the continued motivation of players to improve on every shot. It’s naturally fun to take photos, whether they’re good or bad in the end, and it doesn’t sting too much if you sift through your submissions just to find a bunch of duds.
Does nostalgia play a role here? Of course. There is something to be said about having a curated group of iconic Pokémon taken from the original Red and Blue grid, not to mention the N64 as a console in general. But I also think New Pokémon Snap can succeed with those of us who are nowhere near as in the broader range as we once were. The images in the last trailer click with me. It looks perfect.
As long as the shot-in-the-dark interactions and a-ha moments can meet the vastly improved visuals, we should expect something special again. It’s been two whole decades. I am more than done.
I can’t wait to see a deluge of ridiculous Pokémon photography in my social media feed.
[Image Credit: LaunchBox Games Database]
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