New Pokemon Snaphas released to much praise and excitement. After 22 years, the Nintendo 64 cult classic spin-off finally has a continuation courtesy of Bandai Namco. Fans are already eagerly digging into the game, discovering the many different Pokemon, areas, and secretsNew Pokemon Snaphas hidden within its Lental region. It’s successful in its endeavors by doing the single thingPokemon Snapfans have been asking for: beingPokemon Snap, but more.
However, as older fans dive deeper and deeper intoNew Pokemon Snap, they can’t help but recall what has been left behind. A few mechanics from the old game have been sacrificed in favor of new ones, such as Pester Balls being replaced by Lumina Orbs, and some of the iconic lines from the original have been set aside to make way for smoother photo evaluation, editing,and even online sharing. However, one absent mechanic that wowed many aPokemonplayer back in the day was evolution. Pokemon evolving into stronger forms is a core aspect of the franchise, and the originalPokemon Snaptook great pains to preserve this feature and show how it might happen in the wild.
RELATED:New Pokemon Snap’s Primary Legendary Makes Sense, But It Still Feels Odd
The Importance of Pokemon Evolution
In a normalPokemongame, a Pokemon evolves through training in combat. Once they reached certain level thresholds, certain Pokemon evolved into a new, stronger form. This mechanic has been built up throughout thePokemonseries in a variety of different ways. Right from the get-go, some Pokemon could only evolve through trading and via special items. Later on in the series, there were Pokemon who could only evolve by levelling up in certain areas, by gaining a certain amount of affection for their trainer, by levelling up while holding a certain item, or even by levelling up while one’s handheld was upside down. Special mention goes tothe creepy Ghost/Bug Shedinja, which was a bizarre derivative evolution from Nincada and Ninjask that required a spare slot in the player’s team.
That wasn’t all, either. Come Generation 6, coveringPokemon XandYandPokemon Omega RubyandSoul Sapphire,Mega Evolutions became the talk of the town. These special evolutions were accessible as temporary power-ups mid-battle, and could be accessed after the player had found Mega Stones that corresponded to certain Pokemon. Mega Pokemon were made to look like an extra evolutionary stage for their particular species, and a couple Pokemon even had access to two of them. Mega Evolution was present in Generation 7 as well, which encompassedPokemon Let’s GoandPokken Tournament DXin addition to the mainline games, though the feature was not in focus by this point.
RELATED:10 Biggest New Video Game Releases of April 2021
Evolution In Pokemon Snap
Evolution inPokemon Snapis an interesting case, especially considering that players are only taking pictures of Pokemon and notpicking a starter and going out to fightwith it.Snapis a photography game focused on showing what Pokemon look like while in their natural habitats, a 3D slice of daily life in thePokemonworld that the mainline games don’t normally provide. Pokemon are seen playing, fighting, eating, sleeping, and otherwise moving around and living in environments largely untouched by humans. The few monuments to human presence are all seemingly abandoned, and the reasons for their presence are unclear and unexplored. As a part of this, players get a special look at how wild Pokemon evolve without the help of trainers.
There are about 8 instances of on-screen evolution in the oldPokemon Snap, and plenty of other evolved Pokemon appear alongside their previous forms. All of these special Pokemon were rewards for the player exploring the environment and solving some sort of puzzle. Most were fairly simple affairs of pestering Pokemon,hitting them into pools or magma or water, or leading them with food. However, some, like Muk and Starmie, involved a lot of environmental awareness and dexterity. Also, even though most of these Pokemon were rare, the rewards for most of them were the same as photographing any other Pokemon. Only some of the more grandiose evolutions like Charizard, Victreebel, and Gyarados had obvious special poses that were worth a ton of points. Still, with the originalSnaponly drawing 63 Pokemon from the first generation, new species were a precious resource that no player would pass up.
Why Remove It
It is rather surprising, after all this to-do over the years, that evolution is not present in any form inNew Pokemon Snap. Pokemon are simply presented as they are in nature, with each evolutionary stage being individually implemented where it would most make sense. Considering how few evolutions there were in the first game, one could make the argument that while it was very impressive at the time, Pokemon evolutions have become a regular sight. There are plenty of other visually impressive things,like a host of Legendaries, inNew Snapfor players to take pictures of.
Besides that, this may be an effort by Nintendo to walk back some of the implications of how certain wild Pokemon evolved that the firstSnappresented. There’s still fighting and slapstick in the new game, but a Fire-type Pokemon being doused in flames or magma doesn’t spontaneously cause them to evolve.
Regardless,New Pokemon Snap’s new rating system may be better without evolutions. Pokemon pictures are divided into four tiers based on the pose the Pokemon was in when photographed. Each of these tiers is graded separately, so players are encouraged to gradually collect good shots for all four. There are multiple poses per rating for a lot of different Pokemon, so experimentation and exploration is still encouraged even without an entirely new Pokemon species being part of the rewards.
Pester Balls and Pokemon food have been replaced with the much less disruptive Flufffruit and Illumina Orbs, leading players to more passive observation andattempts to get the perfect photoinstead of actively causing Pokemon to evolve. Finally, levelling up areas leads to successive alternate versions where time has passed and Pokemon have moved around. It’s more sensible to imply evolutions occurring based on time than anything the player does.
New Pokemon Snapis available now on Nintendo Switch.
MORE:Pokemon Stadium Should Be the Next Nintendo 64 Revival on Switch
