Pokemon Snap

What's the concept?

Pokemone Snap was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. You play Todd Snap, an intrepid young photographer who is summoned to Pokemon island by Professor Oak. He wants you to take pictures of the pokemon on the island to accompany his research, of course you oblige. The game works similar to rail shooters like House of the Dead, with Todd sitting in a cart of sorts following a set track with pokemon occasionally moving around or across his path, allowing you to photograph them. Points are given for proximity, style, specials and technique and there were 7 different areas to explore, with 63 of the original 151 pokemon available to photograph.

Why was it good?

It was incredibly refreshing to play a game where you didn't just kill things. You got to take your time a little (albeit you were moving constantly so you couldn't take that much), plan your shots and as you moved away the Pokemon would carry on their lives with no bullet holes to show. It was also interesting experimenting with different camera angles and finding the Pokemon images hidden in the environment. It was also reasonably challenging, with some of the faster moving critters proving quite hard to photograph in full.

How can it be revisited?

Well for starters, as great as they were when we were all 13, Pokemon just doesn't really cut it now; so let's go with real nature. Also, with the ability to create large, open, seamless environments, a la Stalker, we can ditch the rails too. Imagine a graphically enhanced version of Deer Hunter but instead of guns you have a camera. You could have squirrels, deer, bears, hawks in forested areas, elephant, buffalo, crocodiles and lions in a plains setting. With the inclusion of dangerous animals you could also possibly add the ability to die to the game; it would certainly bump the difficult up a notch but might not be welcomed by those that like a more gentle gaming experience. An added element could also be having the ability to build food dispensers with hides nearby to photograph from. Include a time lapse feature to combat the sitting still for long periods of time and you're set.

Chances of this happening

Who knows? The Pokemon idea might get rehashed at some point but I'd like to see this in real detail with real animals. There are a couple of photography games out there (mainly bird based) but they're usually in a "casual" style and it's made without the depth and open world nature that would really make a game like this. If any developers like this idea, remember you read it here first :).