Pokémon Snap - Bulbapedia

If you were looking for the book of the same name based on this game, see Pokémon Snap (book). Snap redirects here. For other uses, see Snap (disambiguation).

Pokémon Snapポケモンスナップ
Boxart of Pokémon Snap
Basic info
Platform:	Nintendo 64Wii (Virtual Console)Wii U (Virtual Console)Nintendo Switch (Nintendo Classics)
Category:	First person rail shooter
Players:	1
Connectivity:	None
Developer:	HAL Laboratory
Publisher:	Nintendo
Part of:	Generation I spin off
Ratings
CERO:	A
ESRB:	E
ACB:	G
OFLC:	N/A
PEGI:	3
GRAC:	N/A
GSRR:	N/A
Release dates
Japan:	March 21, 1999 (N64)[1]December 4, 2007 (Wii VC)[2]April 6, 2016 (Wii U VC)June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)[3]
North America:	July 26, 1999 (N64)[4][5]December 10, 2007 (Wii VC)[6]January 5, 2017 (Wii U VC)[7]June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)[8]
Australia:	September 1999 (N64)[9][10][11]December 11, 2007 (Wii VC)[12]August 19, 2016 (Wii U VC)[13]June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)[14]
Europe:	September 15, 2000 (N64)[15]December 11, 2007 (Wii VC)[16]August 18, 2016 (Wii U VC)[17]June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)[18]
South Korea:	June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)
Hong Kong:	June 24, 2022 (Nintendo Classics)
Taiwan:	September 9, 2025 (Nintendo Classics)
Websites
Japanese:	Official site
English:	Official site
Japanese boxart Boxart of Pocket Monsters Snap.Reverse of Pocket Monsters Snap.

Bulbanews has multiple articles related to this subject: Articles relating to Pokémon Snap

StrategyWiki has more about this subject: Pokémon Snap

Pokémon Snap (Japanese: ポケモンスナップ Pokémon Snap) is a spin-off Pokémon game for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on March 21, 1999, in North America on July 26, 1999, in Australia in September 1999, and in Europe on September 15, 2000.

It was released on Virtual Console for Wii in Japan on December 4, 2007, in North America on December 10, 2007, in Australia on December 11, 2007, and in Europe on December 11, 2007; it was released on Virtual Console for Wii U in Japan on April 6, 2016, in Europe on August 18, 2016, in Australia on August 19, 2016, and in North America on January 5, 2017; it was released on Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Classics application for Nintendo Switch worldwide on June 24, 2022. The Wii Virtual Console was made unavailable on January 30, 2019, and the Wii U Virtual Console was made unavailable on March 27, 2023.

In Pokémon Snap, the famous Pokémon Researcher Professor Oak is studying Pokémon on Pokémon Island, and invites Todd Snap, a talented young photographer, to assist in his research. The only current inhabitants of Pokémon Island are wild Pokémon, making it the perfect place to study Pokémon in their natural habitat. Whereas a Trainer may not be able to resist catching the wild Pokémon of the island, Todd's photography skills may equally aid in the Professor's research to complete his Pokémon Report.

Rather than catching and training Pokémon, the goal is to explore Pokémon Island and photograph its inhabitant Pokémon. Travel is restricted to tracks designed for the ZERO-ONE, and Todd's equipment includes his camera, apple-shaped Pokémon food, Pester Balls to knock out or stun Pokémon, and a Poké Flute to wake sleeping Pokémon. Some of these items Todd gains further into his journey, as well as earning the Dash Engine to increase the speed of the ZERO-ONE.

This game was also adapted into a novel for the Pathways to Adventure series in 1999. A sequel, New Pokémon Snap, was released for the Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2021.

Contents

• 1 Blurb
• 2 Characters
• 3 Locations
• 4 Pokémon
  • 4.1 Pokémon Signs
• 5 Sticker Stations
• 6 Wii Virtual Console release
• 7 Development
• 8 Staff
• 9 Gallery
  • 9.1 Virtual Console icons
• 10 Reception
• 11 Trivia
• 12 In other languages
• 13 References
• 14 Related articles

Blurb

Professor Oak needs your help!

Professor Oak has asked you to capture the Wild Pokémon of Pokémon Island on film! Tour the Island in your ZERO-ONE vehicle and snap pictures of Pokémon in their natural habitat. Wild Pokémon are often camera-shy, so you'll have to use special items to bring them out in the open. Only the best shots will do for Professor's Pokémon Report so sharpen your photography skills and get ready to SNAP!

• The first-ever N64 game to feature the world-famous Pokémon - fully rendered in 3-D!
• Explore the many environments of Pokémon Island, like the sunny beach, the mysterious caves, and even a red-hot volcano!
• Many different types of Pokémon inhabit the island. See how many you can catch on film!
• Print your photos as stickers at Pokémon Snap Stations! Visit www.Pokémon.com or call 1-800-859-4521 for all the details and to find the nearest Snap Station nearest you!

Characters

• Professor Oak
• Todd Snap

Locations

• Pokémon Island
  • Beach
  • Tunnel
  • Volcano
  • River
  • Cave
  • Valley
  • Rainbow Cloud
• Professor Oak's Laboratory

Pokémon

63 species of Pokémon appear in this game:

Bulbasaur Charmander Charmeleon Charizard Squirtle Metapod Butterfree Kakuna Pidgey Pikachu Sandshrew Sandslash Vulpix Jigglypuff Zubat

Vileplume Diglett Dugtrio Meowth Psyduck Mankey Growlithe Arcanine Poliwag Weepinbell Victreebel Geodude Graveler Rapidash Slowpoke

Slowbro Magnemite Magneton Doduo Grimer Muk Shellder Cloyster Haunter Electrode Koffing Chansey Kangaskhan Goldeen Staryu

Starmie Scyther Jynx Electabuzz Magmar Magikarp Gyarados Lapras Ditto Eevee Porygon Snorlax Articuno Zapdos Moltres

Dratini Dragonite Mew

Pokémon Signs

Six Pokémon appear in the form of a Pokémon sign.

• Kingler
• Pinsir
• Koffing
• Cubone
• Mewtwo
• Dugtrio

Sticker Stations

For a period of time after Snap's launch, Pokémon Snap Sticker Stations were available at Blockbuster in the United States, and Lawson in Japan[19]. These stations which would print out stickers of pictures which were taken in the game for 3 Dollars/300 Yen[20], by loading credits on one of five cards that featured Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, or Jigglypuff.

There was also a mode in Pokémon Stadium which would take and save pictures of Pokémon and print them out at the Stations. Special overlays were made to promote Pokémon Stadium, so there exists two variations of the station.

Internally, these sticker stations are just a Nintendo 64 with a printer that connects to P4 port, a special version of the cartridge for the printing tasks, and a special cartridge adaptor to switch between Pokémon Snap Station and Pokémon Snap or Pokémon Stadium.[21][22]

Wii Virtual Console release

Pokémon Snap was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console with a few small changes. This version can upload pictures from the game to the Wii's Message Board, where they can be transferred to people on the Wii's Address Book.

In this release, Jynx were recolored purple from the black color they were in the original game, to reflect the changes in its design and to avoid controversy that Jynx's original design caused.

To celebrate this re-release, the Japanese Yahoo! Kids Pokémon page streamed all of the episodes in which Todd Snap appeared from December 14, 2007 to January 14, 2008.[23]

Development

In 1994, Nintendo put an ad in Famitsu Magazine, seeking to hire new talent for a team that would be given creative freedom when making games. The team, later known as Jack and Beans, would start working in 1995 on three separate projects, one of which was a camera-based game called "Jack and the Beanstalk". The team's inspiration for a camera game came from the Nintendo 64DD's ability to read and write data from disks, which had the potential to then move the photos to another medium to print them.[24]

By summer 1997, Jack and Beans' three projects were merged into one. Jack and the Beanstalk's characters and setting were then replaced with a Pokémon setting, to give players a clearer motivation and goal for taking pictures.[25]

Pokémon Snap would be announced for the Nintendo 64DD at Space World '97 in November 1997, with a release planned to coincide with the movie Mewtwo Strikes Back the next year - but this announcement was made without informing the development team beforehand. However, the game would not meet this deadline, and in 1998 would change format to a Nintendo 64 cartridge for three reasons: Nintendo could not find a suitable time to release Snap for the 64DD; Snap would not be compatible with Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions, so it had to be released before them; and Snap being on the 64DD would make it the odd one out among existing Pokémon releases on the Nintendo 64.

The development team aimed to have several Pokémon appear on screen at once - but to achieve this, they would have to use low-poly models - this meant that they could not use the same Pokémon models and animations as Pokémon Stadium, which was being developed at around the same time. The team's animations would not use the Pokémon animated series as reference material - instead, team member Benimaru Itoh would act as a reference model, posing and acting as various different Pokémon, and other team members would serve as models when Itoh was unavailable.

Voice acting for Professor Oak and Todd Snap was added to the game last-minute, with the lines obtained during a recording session for Pokémon the Series.

The idea of printing pictures was tested through various methods, one of which was suggested by Satoru Iwata using a combination of a Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, a Game Boy, a Game Boy Camera, and a Game Boy Printer, but the resulting photos would only be grayscale and much lower resolution. HAL Laboratory's hardware technician Masayoshi Tanimura then printed the photos as stickers with a video printer, and these stickers were well-received by Nintendo's business partners. The concept of players printing out photos from Snap would later be realized with the Pokémon Snap Sticker Stations.[26]

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Snap

Gallery

Virtual Console icons

• Wii U Virtual Console icon (English)
• Wii U Virtual Console icon (Japanese)

Reception

The game received good reviews in the media, scoring a 7.8 on IGN, an 8.0 on GameSpot, and a 77 on Metacritic. The game has a strong fan following, even a number of years later, giving it a status similar to that of a cult classic.

Trivia

• This is the only game to show Slowpoke's Evolution happening true to the Pokédex. Using Pokémon food, Slowpoke can be lured to the River where it will dip its tail in the water. When Shellder chomps down on Slowpoke's tail, Slowpoke will evolve into Slowbro.
• Although the game features voice acting from the animated series, certain Pokémon that were given new voices for the dub still have their original Japanese voice acting in the game. These include Metapod, Diglett, Dugtrio, Magnemite, Magneton, Geodude, Graveler, Psyduck, and Porygon.
• This was the first Pokémon game released for the Virtual Console service, the only Pokémon game from the Nintendo 64 to be released for the Wii U's Virtual Console service and the first Pokémon game released for the Nintendo Classics service.
• Ekans was intended to be included in the game, but was ultimately cut.[27]
• A song called Fantasic Horror was cut from the game. The song was meant for a Ghost-type level, but possibly because there were only three Ghost-type Pokémon in Generation I, said level was cut. Additionally, there was a boss song exclusive to the level that also did not end up in the final game.[27]
• Although the game was not released in mainland China, software copyright filings by iQue in December 2003 translated the game's title as Pokémon - Photo Studio (Chinese: 神奇宝贝-写真馆 Shénqí Bǎobèi - Xiězhēnguǎn).

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	寶可夢隨樂拍 Pokémon Chèuihlohkpaak
	Mandarin	寶可夢隨樂拍 / 宝可梦随乐拍 Bǎokěmèng Suílèpāi
French		Pokémon Snap
German		Pokémon Snap
Italian		Pokémon Snap
Korean		포켓몬 스냅 Pokémon Snap
Spanish		Pokémon Snap

References

1. ↑ Pokémon.co.jp - Pokémon Snap (N64)
2. ↑ Pokémon.co.jp - Pokémon Snap (VC)
3. ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Japan)
4. ↑ Pokémon Stadium review - IGN (archived))
5. ↑ 最新版ポケモン年表～1999年～
6. ↑ Nintendo Pressroom (requires login)
7. ↑ [1]
8. ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (North America)
9. ↑ Hyper 072
10. ↑ N64 Gamer - Issue 17 (1999-07) (Next Publishing)
11. ↑ Nintendo Australia (archive)
12. ↑ Nintendo Australia - News (archive)
13. ↑ Nintendo Australia & New Zealand Twitter
14. ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Australia)
15. ↑ Nintendo Official Magazine (UK) 96 September 2000
16. ↑ PEGI
17. ↑ Nintendo Europe Twitter
18. ↑ Pokémon Snap (Switch) announcement (Europe)
19. ↑ Pokemon Snap -- and Print - IGN
20. ↑ 1999 Pokemon Snap Photo Contests - pokumon.com
21. ↑ The Pokemon Snap Station - Sixty Formula - YouTube (Dead link - private video)
22. ↑ VIDEO GAME KIOSKS - Extreme Game Collecting! - MetalJesusRocks - YouTube
23. ↑ [2] (archived)
24. ↑ "New N64 Game Facts Discovered" - Did You Know Gaming - YouTube. Translation of an interview from The 64 Dream's May 1999 issue, and Shigesato Itoi's website 1101.com. (6:36 - 16:05 in the video).
25. ↑ Iwata Asks - Satoru Iwata: "Originally, Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64 system wasn't a Pokémon game, but rather a normal game in which you took photos, but the motivation for playing the game wasn't clear. We wondered what players would enjoy taking pictures of, and later on we made a somewhat forced switch to taking pictures of Pokémon"
26. ↑ The 64Dream, Issue #32 (May 1999), p. 85.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Pokémon Snap - The Cutting Room Floor

Related articles

Pokémon Snap Characters Todd Snap • Professor Oak Locations Pokémon Island (Beach • Tunnel • Volcano • River • Cave • Valley • Rainbow Cloud) Pokémon Pokémon Report (Pokémon Island Pokémon) Equipment ZERO-ONE • Pokémon food • Pester Ball • Poké Flute Misc. Pokémon Album • Pokémon sign

Spin-off series
Pikachu		Hey You, Pikachu! • Channel • Dash
TCG	Game Boy	Trading Card Game • Trading Card Game 2: The Invasion of Team GR!
	Play It!	Play It! • Play It! Version 2
	Clients	Card Game Online • Trading Card Game Online • Trading Card Game Live
	Misc.	Say Tap? • Card Game: How to Play DS • Card Game Entry BattleCard Game Gacha • TCG Card Dex • Digital Raid Battle AssistantTrading Card Game Pocket
Smash Bros.		Super Smash Bros. • Melee • Brawl • for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U • Ultimate
Snap		Snap • New Snap
Picross		Picross NP Vol. 1 • Picross (GBC) (canceled) • Picross (3DS)
Pinball		Pinball • Pinball: RS
Puzzle		Puzzle League • Puzzle Challenge
Trozei		Trozei! • Battle Trozei
Mystery Dungeon		Red Rescue Team & Blue Rescue TeamExplorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness • Explorers of SkyBlazing, Stormy & Light Adventure SquadGates to Infinity • Super Mystery Dungeon • Rescue Team DX
Ranger		Ranger • Shadows of Almia • Guardian Signs
Puck		Battrio • Tretta (Tretta Lab) • Ga-Olé • Mezastar • Frienda
Rumble		Rumble • Rumble Blast • Rumble U • Rumble World • Rumble Rush
PokéPark		PokéPark Wii • PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond
Detective Pikachu		Detective Pikachu • Detective Pikachu ReturnsPlayground: Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Pokémon games Core series • Side series • Spin-off series • Standalone spin-offs • DLC • Pokémon mini • Betas • Demos

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.