Pokémon Snap not originally a Pokémon game

[SmartD]

Pokémon Snap not originally a Pokémon game

I don't know if it's much but:

Bulbapedia

In a recent Iwata Asks column on Wii.com, Satoru Iwata, CEO and president of Nintendo Japan, revealed that Pokémon Snap was not originally a Pokémon game. The photo-taking game was transformed into a Pokémon game due to a lack of motivation, with the Pokémon world fulfilling the empty gap.

Masanobu Yamamoto, Character Supervisor at HAL Laboratories, the developer of Pokémon Snap, revealed that Pokémon saved the game from failure.

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.
Masanobu Yamamoto: That time, adopting the Pokémon world clarified what we should do and the direction we should head, and I came to like Pokémon, so I felt like that had saved us.

I agree, putting Pokemon in the game made it more interesting.

 

[Grei]

That definitely made it more interesting. Otherwise... you'd be taking pictures of... what? Animals? Plants? Objects? That sounds horribly boring.

 

[Canto]

Definitely sounds like it would have been a flop with Pokemon.

 

[cannibaleyes]

The game was kind of boring even with pokemon, in my opinion. The only thing I loved about Pokemon Snap is that you could print out stickers of the photos you took. I love stickers! ^__^

 

[Silver Totodile]

I remember playing the game at a friends house when I was young. I never did have a N64 so I had never even heard of the game.

For a Pokémon fan at the tender age of five the game was exciting stuff. I really liked seeing the pokémon that stayed in the background and to this day I still rememer always screaming with happiness when I spotted Lapras on the beach level.


Anyway I agree that a photography game would be simply dull and boring.

 

[Kenshin Satsuki]

i loved the game =D i found it halious (found out resently) thats its the only time (other than the handheld games) they actuly show jynx on televion!! shes banned from telelvion for "racial things". anyways i loved the game espesialy the fire place =)

 

[Bolt the Cat]

Smart move making that game into a pokemon game. Of course, it still wasn't that great, but at least it didn't completely bomb.

 

[~Water Lucario~]

There is no way it would have been successful without an established franchise. I'm not surprised though seeing as only like 64 Pokemon are even in the game.

 

[jamespearl]

Recently Iwata Asks column Wii.com, Satoru Iwata, CEO of Nintendo of Japan revealed that Pokemon Snap Pokemon game was not originally. Photo-taking the game turned into a Pokémon game due to a lack of motivation, where the world meets Pokémon empty hole.

 

[ForeverFlame]

Well, thank God it was. Pokemon Snap was one of my favorite games as a kid. I still have a bunch of stickers.

These days it's pretty awful, but it could end up amazing if Nintendo made a sequel on the Nintendo 3DS with Augmented Reality.

 

[AzukanAsimbu]

You could print out stickers?! i wish i knew that but i still loved the game

 

[Neferka]

I loved pokemon snap. I remember I wasn't going to get it originally but I couldn't get my hands on a copy of stadium 2 so bought it as a consolation. Never did print any stickers, but trying to 'snap em all' was so much fun. Trying to get the pokemon to evolve and figuring out where they were all hiding was great.
I would love Pokemon Snap 2... More levels + heaps of later generation pokemon = awesome!
Taking pictures in Beyond Good and Evil was fun too.
Ah, good times