The world of Photography has a tendency of creeping its way into other forms of media. No surprise, seeing as picture taking is so important to society. But how is photography represented when it steps outside its own arena and into these other mediums? Photographers and photography itself have some pretty nasty stigmas and stereotypes out there. The goal of this article is to be an ongoing perspective examining how photography is portrayed in other forms of media; whether it is movies, books, comics, television, or video games. Does photography receive a just and true depiction, or does it simply get typecast? The first piece in this series is the cult classic game, Pokémon Snap. The game could be written off as simple children’s entertainment, but its main premise is the sophisticated discipline of photography. So what happens if we dissect the game from a photographer’s perspective as opposed to that of a video gamer? Does it do photography and photographers justice?
Released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, Pokémon Snap was a bestselling game all about photography. The premise of the game was solely to take photographs and work harder to improve them. Surely, the title helped in the sales department by containing Pokémon in the gameplay and title name. The Pokémon franchise was around its peak of popularity in 1999. The game was initially being developed without the adorable little Pocket Monsters, but the developers quickly realized the game had nothing to hook kids into buying. What kid wants a game based entirely on shooting pictures with a virtual camera, as opposed to the usual shooting of secret agents and Russian spies with a virtual gun? Add the Pokémon franchise into the mix, and now children (and man-babies alike) have a reason to care. The formula was a smash hit. Pokémon Snap sold 1.5 million copies in 1999 and went on to carry such a following that it was re-released for the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007.
The game can be boiled down to an “on-the-rails” type shooter. The main character, Todd Snap, is transported through one of seven island levels on a monorail track. Though instead of firing a gun, the shooting part in this “shooter game” is done with a camera. He is tasked by Professor Oak to take the best photographs of all the Pokémon in the area, for science. This is essentially a safari of Pokémon. The vehicle does not stop, so it is up to the player to get the pictures of the little fictional animals in their natural habitats in a timely manner. Seeing as the year is 1999, the game is based around 35mm film. Each level ends with either the vehicle reaching the end of the track and being magically teleported back to Professor Oak’s lab, or when Todd runs out of film. The player is given an unusually long roll of film that holds 60 shots, much longer than the standard 24 or 36 exposure rolls. We are to either assume that Todd Snap has some super long rolls loaded from bulk by Professor Oak, or that he shoots an Olympus Pen half-frame camera (half the size of 35mm frames, double the exposures per roll).
The player’s camera is some variant of SLR, but the only lens option seems to be around a fixed 50mm focal length. It is highly unlikely to find any nature photographers who would be caught dead with just one lowly prime lens on their camera. This is the kind of photography that is notorious for huge, compensating-for-something type lenses. Taking just a 50mm out is more akin to the repertoire of a street photographer than a “birder.” Not only is the lens selection heavily limited, but also the camera seems to be stuck in automatic mode. Actually, this should not be considered Auto or Program; it should be called Magic Mode. There is no way of picking shutter speed, aperture, or even the ISO of the film used. Despite this lack of control, every shot has perfect exposure, with everything in focus, and a shutter speed fast enough to freeze even the fastest action. Todd Snap’s camera seems to be stuck at 1/8000 of a second shutter speed at f/16, with a grain-free film speed we can only assume is ISO 400 or lower. Canon and Nikon should look into whatever technology is in Todd’s camera, because somehow it manages to be a 5D Mark II and D700 killer ten years before those cameras existed. Unfortunately, the camera is not without some other shortcomings. It has no continuous shooting mode, so the player must hit the button as quick as they can for some semblance of burst shooting. Thankfully the film advance is automatic. Imagine it you had to press the Z+A buttons to shoot a frame, and then a different button to advance to the next frame?
So manual exposure, or manual anything for that matter, is out of the question. You cannot even turn the camera vertically. That’s right, every single photo you take in Pokémon Snap is horizontal. Somebody at HAL Laboratory, developers of the game, must have failed Photo I class. It would seem that this game is not for the gear worshippers of the photo world. But what about the art snobs out there? Well, the bad news is that the rules of composition in Pokémon Snap can be pretty much thrown out the window. Rule of thirds need not apply here. Most pictures are awarded for having the subject dead-center in the frame. Photos can be taken with a different aesthetic than that, but only Professor Oak knows if he will feel like rating it as highly as the typical “subject right in the center” shot.
Even though the rubric used for critiquing your photos in Pokémon Snap can be a roll of the dice, credit must be given to the developers for making something that worked. The game really does do its best job to judge your photos (something that really is a matter of opinion), giving bonuses for things such as multiple Pokémon in the frame or capturing special moments like two Magmars fighting. The game requires dedication just as real photography. A savvy gamer can finish the seven levels within a few hours. There are only 62 of the (circa 1999) roster of 151 Pokémon present here in the game. The game builds upon reshooting pictures of Pokémon already seen, to get better quality shots worth more points. The player is essentially being taught to build up a stronger body of work through repetition. This is one of the most basic disciplines of photography at work here, something many people overlook. Practice makes perfect in photography and Pokémon Snap alike.
There are means to trying to get better Pokémon photos other than firing the shutter like crazy. Lots of Pokémon need to be enticed with treats thrown by the player to get them closer to the lens. Others must be agitated by thrown “Pester Balls” to do something special for the camera. These methods are not unlike real-life photographers setting up feeders to attract birds into an aesthetically pleasing scenario for the best possible shot.
The best pictures taken by the player are saved in an album on the game to always review and reminisce. When the game was first released in Japan, there was a promotion with the convenience store Lawson where photos from the game could be made into real prints. Since the Wii Virtual Console release in 2007 players are only allowed to share their pictures with friends digitally; quite a sign of the times and how different things were in 1999.
In the end, Pokémon Snap is about having fun taking pictures. Yes, it is very limited and yes it lacks a lot of things people look for in photography. But at its core, Pokémon Snap is about the true essence of photography; take pictures, take more pictures, take better pictures, have fun. There may be no zoom lenses or exposure and focus controls, but who cares? This game is about diving into a mythical world where fictional animals can be witnessed in their natural habitat, and practicing the real-world joy of photography within it. The game built its following for a reason; people had fun taking pictures in a way that is otherwise impossible, and it very well may have turned some people onto the art form. Photography as a technical science is not perfectly represented here, but photography as a practice and a ritual flourishes in Pokémon Snap.