The Unexpectedly Strong Legacy of Pokemon Snap

So one of the trending topics in gaming social media is the upcoming sequel of a small three-hour video game that is over two decades old. If you sit and truly analyze this, its rather shocking that a video game from four generations ago still has such a demand for a sequel. But Pokemon Snap isn’t just another good video game for Pokemon and Nintendo fans, its an example of where the franchise can go, and where the franchise if we’re being honest has not gone to.

The Pokemon series is the second most successful in the history of gaming, behind the Super Mario franchise and his dozens of spin-offs. The main source of its success lies on its ever-growing cast of adorable characters and the consistent output of RPG adventures attached to the monsters. The quality of the mainline games ranges from mediocre (Sword/Shield, Ruby/Sapphire) to mostly extremely good (SoulSilver/HeartGold, Diamond/Pearl); but the consistency between each of these games is that none of them quite feature graphics and advancements that are up to par with Nintendo’s best and with what the hardware can handle.

This was forgivable during the Game Boy days with the early games released late in the handheld’s cycle, but as the hardware improved and the world of RPGs has stepped up in various aspects in the new millennium (with Paper Mario beginning the transition on the Nintendo side), it was starting to wear a little on the fandom to see these games play familiar, play well, but still lack that visual flair you are used to on Nintendo’s best games. On the Nintendo DS, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl looked leagues weaker than other RPGs like Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and The World Ends with You. With the latest entries, it became a mild controversy as Pokemon Sword/Shield looked extremely inferior to other RPGs of the same era, even some within the Nintendo Switch itself. Look at how well Breath of the Wild looks and runs, and then look at Sword/Shield. Look at other RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and look at Sword/Shield. There is clearly a difference in more than just graphics, but in the quality of the surroundings and the characterizations.

A common misconception outside of those with extended knowledge of the gaming industry is that Nintendo makes these games. Nintendo owns most of the franchise and has exclusive rights to the games, but they don’t actually make the games. Back when Pokemon Go first exploded into the scene, Nintendo’s stock skyrocketed for a brief moment because it was believed they made the phenomenon and all the earnings would go straight to the House of Mario. And here lies the issue: the best game development company in the planet doesn’t actually make their second-biggest franchise, which really harms the potential of where the Pokemon franchise can go and how it can look.

Nintendo not only makes the best games, but they also maximize every hardware they release. Even if Nintendo’s hardware is inferior to that of Microsoft and Sony, they can still craft visuals that competes with the best of them. The Super Mario Galaxy games were notorious in bringing a level of awe that most competitors could never accomplish even with the extra money and memory capabilities. Its Nintendo’s software that allowed them to basically support the original line of monochrome Game Boys for over a decade even after there were several competitors with handhelds featuring colors.

Today, Nintendo arguably has two of the best games released this generation with Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, two spectacular massive video games with so many secrets and corners to explore it took even the most seasoned gamers months to find everything. The biggest game of 2020 is actually Nintendo’s very own Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Argue their decision-making all you want (Nintendo Online, why the hell is it still the way it is), but when they make games, you get your money’s worth.

The last time Nintendo displayed to the world what them and their closest allies can actually do with Pokémon came in the form of a spectacular spin-off trilogy on the Nintendo 64: Pokemon Snap, Stadium, and Pokemon Puzzle League. Snap would successfully recreate the concept of Pokemon interacting in the wild, Stadium would offer a grandiose experience of competing in Coliseum-esque tournaments, and Puzzle League would also elevate the presentation of Pokemon characters and monsters alike with even an exclusive animated sequence. But for the sake of remaining focused, we are sticking with Pokemon Snap’s impact.

First on this Nintendo Pokemon trilogy was Pokemon Snap, made by HAL Laboratories, a company with no ties to the Pokemon Company but with a storied history making games for Nintendo (Kirby, Smash Bros. Melee). HAL made Pokemon Snap using a game engine that was originally going to be for another photography game, and the results were amazing because this was not only the first time seeing and hearing Pokemon outside the anime in a 3-D format, but this was a game which saw Pokemon behaving like wild animals, interacting with each other, sometimes even battling on their own.

In this game, you see Pikachu riding an Electrode, you saw two Magmars battling, you saw a Meowth chase after a Pidgey, among other fun and surprising interactions. This easy video game nonetheless had a ton of replay value because depending on where you were and what you did, different Pokemon would appear. One of the best memories was when you evolved an angry Magikarp into a Gyarados popping from a waterfall, spitting water and roaring towards you. It felt like a living, breathing world that to this day none of the RPG games have been able to properly re-create. The environmental interactions still don’t exist, the creatures don’t acknowledge each other, only noticing the trainer running through the area. It works slightly to an extent as a role-playing game, but it doesn’t have the epic, living, breathing world feel of some of your better role-playing adventures like Breath of the Wild, or Final Fantasy.

Pokemon Snap has aged extremely well because it was a great visual journey back in 1999, and to this day remains one of the strongest examples of how to properly re-create the world of Pokemon to give it its extra bit of life as opposed to reducing them to dozens of interactions in the wild. Pokemon Snap was a sample of what the best-looking Pokemon game can look like today. When Sword/Shield was originally announced, we were imaging the potential of blending the vast world design of Breath of the Wild with the world of Pokemon, how the elements, weather, seasons, and areas interacted with your persona. And truth be told you wouldn’t even need a full pokedex to satisfy the gamers as long as you were finally able to advance the presentation of Pokemon Snap for a new generation, and apply the RPG elements that has made the series such a success story.

But instead all the changes and attempted enhancements revolve around the battle system and the diversity of the regional settings, and not necessarily the presentation. And for as long as the series remains stagnant on its basic visual look, it will never feel like Pokemon has peaked as a franchise and reached its maximum potential. Imagine if Pokemon was given the Final Fantasy budget, or the Zelda budget, or even the Smash Bros. budget. Imagine if as opposed to reliance on stronger budget they relied heavily on style similar to Persona 5 and Octopath Traveler. Imagine if Nintendo were to take over and make the game themselves, and hand the reins over to master designer God Masahiro Sakurai. Instead we have Sword/Shield which honestly could have functioned as a 3DS game.

Yes, Pokemon Sword/Shield was rushed to coincide its release with the anime and the merchandise. Yes, with extra time we’d be willing to wait we’d see a more polished game. But truth be told, as long as its Game Freak and the Pokemon Company having full control of the franchise, we’ll never see the main games reach the levels we’ve seen in other franchises in Nintendo’s history. And as long as the sales remain decent (17 million on the Switch, pre-expanded content), Nintendo really sees no need to exhaust their resources on a franchise being handled by someone else.

Pokemon Snap however continues to be that “What Could Have Been” game of the franchise because of its visual and presentation depth. And we’re back to today, where we are excited and thrilled that we are seeing Pokemon in a visual style we never quite enjoy in the RPG series. One can even be argued the success of the film Detective Pikachu was because of their ability to create a visual world of Pokemon interacting with each other and with humans.

Developed by Bandai Namco, responsible for another Pokemon spinoff with superior presentation (Pokken Tournament), the New Pokemon Snap game within minutes unveiled footage we’ve been dreaming about. A photography video game in the social media era, enhanced by Pokemon and the most-portable console ever created will make this a sure-fire hit. But adding to the appeal and the hype is the sheer lack of this type of interactivity with Pokemon within the past two decades. What you see is another Pokemon game, what we Pokemon fans see is just yet another installment of a society in which the Pokemon franchise was treated like a AAA IP, as opposed to a quick buck AA game.

The Pokemon games are the video game equivalent of Shaquille O’Neal: has all the prowess and potential and structure to become a AAA game-changing legacy-building behemoth; but settles for the more guaranteed B+ with less effort. At the very least New Pokemon Snap will temporarily fill that void being created with every mainline RPG entry. And for that reason, a 20-year-old game with a less than a dozen hours of content has remained a beloved piece of Nintendo history, because Pokemon Snap opened up a world of potential that has yet to be achieved.