this is a good game with really not much substance to it
theres some puzzles on what you need to do to get some photos (gyarados can go to hell), you can use a pokeflute to sing, throw stink balls and apples, but really only the stink balls get any use. the rest are just kinda used a couple times and forgotten. beyond that, its just an on-rails game where you take pictures of pokemon
its fun, but its only got 63 pokemon (bro this is a nintendo 64 game just add one more) and a handful of levels, so there certainly could have been more. i'm aware of the new game (but im broke so i wont be playing it for some time) but i do wish pokemon snap was just one of those spinoff pokemon games that lingered on for longer. there arent enough games about monster photography, and its a niche i hope to see catered to more one day.

A fun, charming side-game in the franchise that defined and characterized two consecutive generations, eat your heart out, Yu-gi-oh. The fact that this game had a remake is proof that we are living at the dead end of culture, and there's nowhere to go from here. I used to play this game at hotels that had the N64 attached to the TV, for $9 per hour...and at the kid-themed barber shop back in my hometown, before it was shut down, like the Blockbuster next to it. I write these things so as not to forget, I also pray to God, existing outside of Time, that my younger self will truly appreciate the magic time he lives in, because it's all going away sooner than he thinks. The lights have gone out in the Free World, never to be relit in his lifetime.

Short But Sweet.

A true little gem of a game, this one is for the fanatics.

Ever dreamt of riding through beautiful locations and capturing pictures of Pokemon all for Prof. Oak to half blindly say it wasn't good enough? This has you covered.

A truly beautiful game for the n64, and a tribute to the world of pokemon. This 5 hour adventure will have you itching for more (lucky for you there's a sequel now). This is a game I go back to every now and then. And everytime it brings a smile to my face.

Gameplay - 800
Replayability - 1000
Photography Judging AI - 50

You were close!

Pros: Puzzle-centric on-rails "shooter" of sorts, well, a photo safari game where your subjects are Pokemon instead of regular wild animals, but, I really appreciate the Pokemon in this game acting like wild animals, in habitats that they would inhabit in nature. It's fun to see them move about, animate, express emotions, and do cute little animal-like things that you never got to see the Pokemon do in games beforehand. The puzzle aspect is one of my favorites though, throwing balls, or bait, to get the Pokemon to do things, so you can set them up for the right photos that'll get you tons of points, is really fun, and the photos are nice rewards you can always look at later, but more than just getting a good photo-op, is getting the stage or your path to change, interacting with it in similar ways. My favorite of these, is getting Pokemon to evolve through such interactions! Getting a Slowpoke to walk over to a river to drop its tail and evolve into a Slowbro, getting a Charmeleon to evolve into a Charizard by knocking it into a lava crater, or getting a Magikarp towards a waterfall to evolve into a Gyarados! These among many others, were the highlight of the game for me, and especially in terms of "catching them all", well... on film anyway, heh.

Cons: The controls are very stiff, and getting the right photo with the right framing, is more of a chaotic venture than it is a fun activity, particularly because you're moving on a track the entire time... hard to do photos right while in constant motion. That's a bit of a fundamental issue with the whole concept behind the game. As fun as on-rails shooter stuff is, and the safari aspect of seeing Pokemon through a course and altering their behaviors... It's not exactly the best way to get a photo, and getting those photos are the crux of this game, so, gotta dock it a bit there. Though however, you do unlock the ability to hit the brakes on your vehicle, or even boost through a stage, but that doesn't change the nature in which you move through a course on a rail... does help a little though.

What it means to me: This was the first Pokemon game for Nintendo 64 in the west, the first time we'd see any of the Pokemon we fell in love with from Red & Blue in 3D! And that was exciting, so I really got into this game for that reason. I recall playing that Mew stage, over and over and over again, to get the perfect picture. And eventually I figured out the right amount of distance to get the shot of my dreams! That was satisfying, for sure! But y'know, afterwards, and since then, it hasn't been nearly as enjoyable to go back to, and the control issues and fun of photography, just ain't there like it used to be.