Pokémon Snap Could Make An Excellent Open-World Game
Pokémon Snap has the potential to make a rather excellent open-world game.
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Nintendo blew the minds of ’90s kids the world over this morning with the announcement of New Pokémon Snap. While a rather boring title, it has been 21 years since the original Snap titled released on the N64 back in the infancy of the Pokémon brand. Many people have been clamoring for a sequel for nearly as long and Nintendo has seemingly slept on that potential out of pure stubbornness.
Not anymore! At long last, players will be able to pick up their cameras and capture photos of Pokémon in the wild, having fun eating fruit and playing around with each other. It’s the kind of spin-off you wish you could see more often as the Pokémon brand is just ripe with opportunities.
Now, far be it from me to say that New Snap needs to be open-world. I completely understand why Nintendo is sticking so rigidly to the original formula with this sequel. It wants to recapture the spirit that the N64 game had while appeasing fans that aren’t looking for something radically different. Hear me out, though: I think Pokémon Snap could make an excellent open-world game.
I know the term “open-world” can be groan-inducing (it’s almost as bad as “indie roguelike”), but this is a spin-off where the idea could fit really well. The original Pokémon Snap is comparable to that of an on-rails shooter. You’re set on a strict path and you attempt to take photos of very specific Pokémon as they do very specific things. The nature of this design lets you practice time and time again to get the “perfect” shot, which you can then print on a sticker at your local Blockbuster.
That last part isn’t me being facetious -there really was a promotion with the video rental chain in the late 90s-, but that’s neither here nor there. I understand the design of the original was very intentional. I just feel like spotting Pokémon in the wild while not being tethered to a track could make for an actual incentive to explore a massive game map.
The biggest reason most open-world games feel like busywork is that their maps don’t properly feed into their core gameplay loop. In most of the triple-A industry, developers are working towards making things more “realistic” and “bigger” without stopping to consider how that affects gameplay. Why does Grand Theft Auto V need three fully-sized cities, for instance?
With an open-world Pokémon Snap, it would be on you to manage when you’re searching for creatures out in the wild by adhering to a day/night cycle. Certain areas could house different types and finding the perfect spot in the world would be up to you as if you were a real photographer. It would feel a little less gamey, but it would also carry a sense of improvisation that the current style lacks.
The larger, freer map would also just be a joy to explore without the typical trappings of the mainline Pokémon series. Game Freak has done so little over the past 25 years to change what works in the core franchise. Even the spin-offs aren’t all that different, sticking to a general formula of “combat and more combat.” Snap is one of the few games to not pit the critters against one another and it would be amazing to have a slightly less on-rails experience when trying to take photos.
That doesn’t mean I’m dissatisfied with New Pokémon Snap’s announcement. Apart from the goofy name, I think this has the chance to fully harness the potential that the N64 original couldn’t capitalize on. With storage space being much larger than the 32 MB of the N64 cartridges, we may even see more than 63 Pokémon in the wild! Wouldn’t that just be dandy?
For once, however, I think Pokémon Snap is a series where an open-world could actually enhance the experience. Maybe the eventual third entry can deliver that…in 2040.
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