Pokémon Snap Needs to Learn From Umurangi Generation
A new Pokémon Snap came out recently and it has been an absolute joy to me. On-the-rails games always have a special place in my heart. The original captured my seven-year-old imagination. I remember seeing a dead-eyed Bulbasaur in a cave, whipping an apple at them, and then being amazed when the Bulbasaur transformed into Ditto. The New Pokémon Snap is built on these moments of capturing Pokémon within their environment. Every Pokémon has four different actions you can snap photo of. Sometimes the actions are unclear and I just wing it. When it works, it gives me the feeling of being a nature photographer. However, I will take a stellar aesthetically pleasing shot, and Professor Mirror will inform me that the picture is absolute garbage. Here lies the main problem in Pokémon Snap.
The scoring system has caused a few headaches in my playthrough. Ugly photos will score over 4,000 points whereas visually interesting photos are given the worst possible rating: bronze stars. My main issue is usually a Pokémon is not centered or large enough in the photo. Size is the biggest factor. The game practically demands you make the Pokémon fill the frame. I am not a professional photographer, but recalling my visual media classes, you do not want the subject in the middle of the frame. The eye focuses on dead space around the subject. I apply the rule of thirds but Professor Mirror shoots it down, photo composition be damned. The system leaves a lot to be desired. I take interesting photos for myself while taking incredibly boring ones for scoring. It is not satisfying at all. The next Pokémon Snap needs to do away with this system. It stifles creativity from the player and does not reward experimentation. Pokémon Snap needs to learn from Umurangi Generation.
Umurangi Generation takes a different approach. Every level has objectives that are required to complete to advance to the next one. Sometimes you need to find a butterfly or take a photo with 10 solar panels. It doesn’t matter if the subjects are big, centered or taken at the right angle. Getting the subject in the photo is all that matters. This frees the player to take the photos that they find visually interesting while giving them an objective to achieve.
Umurangi Generation trusts the player to forge their own aesthetics. Pokémon Snap does not trust the player enough to have a personal style. Both games give the option to edit photos. Umurangi lets me do it right after you snap a photo. However, Pokémon Snap gives me the option to do it after I finish the course, get my photos rated, save the photos in a personal album, and then edit it from the album menu. I lose the inspiration between taking the photo and editing. Which is a shame because editing in Pokémon Snap can be one of the most rewarding aspects to the game.
When Pokémon Snap gets out of my way, the game is truly brilliant. Seeing Pokémon in their natural environment is wonderful. Watching a Bidoof swim in the water with a stick in its mouth fills my soul with happiness. In 25 years when Pokémon Snap 3 comes out, I really hope that they take some inspiration from other photo games besides the Snap series. The potential is there.
P.S. You may notice the quality of different between the Pokémon Snap Photos vs the Umurangi Generation Photos. I thought about correcting it but it feels appt that Pokémon has the inferior method of uploaded the photos.
