It may be easy to write off Pokemon Snap as yet another gimmicky spinoff of Nintendo's most lucrative franchise, but looking back, it’s honestly a very refreshing take on the arcade rail-shooter. HAL Laboratory managed to transform a gameplay vessel known for flashy, action-packed titles into one of the most relaxing and heartwarming diversions in the N64 library. Just consider how the mechanics were translated: the guns became your toolkit, in the form of your camera and your apples + Pester Balls to interact with the environment and local wildlife, and the “damage” became a photography scoring system as you carefully manipulate your surroundings and wait for the perfect moment to take your shot. The game has excellent replayability due to its depth of interactions packed within the span of a few hours, and becomes a fantastic exercise of discovery and optimization: it’s quite satisfying figuring out exactly how every Pokemon can be lured and baited into favorable positions to maximize your score while unlocking a few new courses along the way. Furthermore, experimentation never feels punishing because courses are already naturally short (within 5 min per run) and you’ll later unlock the Dash Engine to accelerate your cart if there are any particular sections you want to get to immediately. It’s a fantastic way to encourage finding as many unique interactions as possible while rewarding acute player awareness; my favorite examples include stringing together multiple far-away shots of Lapras across the beach stage to finally snag an up-close profile photograph at the end, or realizing that you can "feed" Grimer with enough Pester Balls to spawn Muk. Of course, this goes without saying that nothing quite hits the spot like taking pictures of happy, dancing creatures on a chill Pokemon safari.

What does hold Pokemon Snap back a bit is the scoring system. It unfortunately feels like a crapshoot trying to snag a perfect score, since Professor Oak’s requirements regarding size seem a bit nebulous besides the obvious guideline of “make the Pokemon as large as possible within the frame with the whole body included” and pose specifications feel even more arbitrary (given that the Pokemon is facing forward of course), with anything that’s not an aggressive or flashy Pokemon stance often meeting the fate of “it’s so-so,” whatever that means. Also, needing to be exactly pin-point accurate on the reticle in order to associate a score with a particular Pokemon species should work well in theory, but this concept doesn't quite hold up in scramble situations when multiple species are present in the frame and none of them are covered by the reticle. Case in point, Professor Oak was very sure that this was meant to be a picture of Haunter. Let’s just say that being at the forefront of Pokemon research with a PhD doesn’t necessarily make him the most qualified to judge photography. The flimsy scoring mechanics aren't a huge deal for most of the game, given that unlocking courses seems to be locked behind photographing a certain number of different species as opposed to sheer score accrual, but it does hurt the post-game appeal of trying to beat the challenge scores.

Regardless, Pokemon Snap remains a somewhat overlooked and innovative twist on a classic video game genre, popularizing photography games and spawning many spiritual indie successors that have begun sprouting in recent years. While a part of me does wonder what HAL Laboratory could have done with a bigger development budget, given that there are only six main courses and only 63 out of the original 151 Pokemon were included, I have to respect how so many different hidden secrets were packed into a game that can be easily completed in a single afternoon. It never fails to put a smile on my face, playing the Pokemon flute and watching Snorlax bob its chubby face to the rhythm, or luring a horde of Charmanders from over a hill with apples and snapping shots of them jumping joyously about. I’m very much looking forward to committing to a full run of the long-awaited sequel later this year to see how the franchise decided to expand from this snug and breezy little package.

After replaying this my thoughts were "if this came out today on a mobile phone -just like it is- nobody would play this. Maybe for free.. but not if it costs any money". And I still think this is true. The idea is "ok".. you move on a fixed track and take pictures of pokemon. That's all. So if we really be honest to ourselfes.. this is even less gameplay than Pokemon Go.
BUT for 1999 is was fine to the kids we were. But today kids expect more. My Nephew played it and thought it is boring. He wanted to play zelda instead. And I really understood him.

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.

An unexpectedly great game - who would think that a Pokemon photography game would be fun?
So, what makes it fun?
You aren't just taking photos, you are also making Pokemon act a certain way, making them evolve by doing specific actions(sometimes through the entire level!), unlocking areas by interacting with the levels, all while having a sense of urgency because you are on a cart that is always moving ahead.
If you wish to complete the game and get pictures of every Pokemon (which you will want to do), you will have such a great time.

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.

Gameplay - 800
Replayability - 1000
Photography Judging AI - 50

You were close!