Game:

New Pokémon Snap (2021)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 45:12

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6

Finishing off the series with the final few LenTalk requests, and the 4-star shots of the Illumina Pokemon!

00:00 Meganium & Sylveon
09:17 Milotic
12:10 Lental Undersea Ancient Ruins
13:02 Volcarona
19:26 Steelix
25:16 Houndoom and Xerneas
31:04 Reflections

New Pokémon Snap is an on-rails first-person photography game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. It is a sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap. Announced in June 2020, it was released on April 30, 2021. Players travel in the Lental region using an on-rails hovercraft and research Pokémon by photographing them.

New to this installment is the option to view courses at different stages of day, such as daytime and nighttime, which offer the player chances to capture different Pokémon and poses not offered in the standard course runs. The player can also access "Illumia" stages that allow the player to capture photos of Pokémon in their Illumia form, a new feature unique to Snap. Pokémon photo scores have also been expanded upon, with letter rankings added for an additional challenge. Certain courses may only be unlocked by achieving a baseline score, and capturing Pokémon in specific poses, recorded in a journal, results in additional bonuses.

The game follows the protagonist, as he helps Professor Mirror and his associates to uncover the secrets of the Lental region, which is famous for its phenomenon of luminescent Pokémon. Researching five legendary species protecting the islands, they find out that they are linked to a local legend. 2000 years ago, they protected the island from a meteor strike under the guidance of Xerneas, who gave them their powers.

In New Pokémon Snap, the player is a Pokémon photographer who visits various islands in the Lental region to help the research studies of Professor Mirror and his assistants Rita and Phil. Todd from the original Pokémon Snap makes an appearance in this game. The research lab located in the Lental region is called the Laboratory of Ecological and Natural Sciences (L.E.N.S.). Taking photographs helps the player build a compendium called a Photodex; the game features over 200 different Pokémon for the player to photograph. In addition to adding photos to the Photodex, the player also helps investigate the Illumina phenomenon, where Pokémon and plants appear to have a special glow.

For each research expedition, the player travels in an on-rails hovercraft, the NEO-ONE (an updated version of the ZERO-ONE from Pokémon Snap), to safely photograph Pokémon in their natural environments. With the new content update, aside from being able to travel underwater and faster, the NEO-ONE is capable of shrinking, along with its occupants. These habitats include jungles, deserts and beaches, which can be visited during daytime or at night in order to photograph different types of Pokémon. Each photo the player takes is graded by Professor Mirror on a scale of one to four stars based on how rare the current activity of the Pokémon is. Each photo is also given a score taking into account things like shot composition, how close the Pokémon is, and whether they are facing the camera or not. Players can decide to save those photos to the Photodex, which can hold up to four photos of each Pokémon (one at each rating). As players take higher-quality photos, they earn Expedition Points that go toward improving the Research Level of each area in the Lental region. Achieving higher research levels will open up more levels to explore in that area.

To get better pictures, the player is encouraged to use various tools to coax out rarely-seen Pokémon reactions on camera. To lure Pokémon out, players can use a fruit called a fluffruit, or play a melody that can get some Pokémon to dance. They can also throw an item called an Illumina Orb to cause Pokémon to glow. The orbs serve to not only help the player take pictures at night, but also potentially change a Pokémon's behavior. Depending on the Pokémon, the Illumina orb can help wake up sleeping creatures, or even sometimes cheer them up. Players can find hidden Pokémon in the area by using their camera to scan for them.

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