Pokemon GO celebrates its fifth anniversary this year, and it’s come a long way since it initially launched. As expected, Pokemon GO has added tons of Pokemon to the game and introduced things like battles with Team GO Rocket, raids, and even a buddy system with a Pokemon of player’s choice. There was also an in-game event that celebrated the release of New Pokemon Snap for the Nintendo Switch. It required players to take photos of certain types of Pokemon, much like New Pokemon Snap gameplay.
New Pokemon Snap is a sequel to the original Pokemon Snap that was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 game system. Players explore the Lental region in New Pokemon Snap, encountering all kinds of Pokemon and taking pictures of them in their habitats. Players' pictures are graded based on the rarity of the interaction captured, as Pokemon demonstrate different types of behaviors with each other. Pokemon GO has a camera system that will capture pictures of Pokemon in AR (augmented reality), but it could be beneficial for the game to adopt a few tricks from New Pokemon Snap.
Natural Pokemon Behaviors
Whether players choose to have AR on or not, it would be very interesting for Pokemon GO to demonstrate how Pokemon interact with each other in the wild. As it stands now, Pokemon only appear singularly when players go to catch them and do one of two things. Pokemon will move to make catching them trickier, but they will either move in a direction (upwards, left, or right depending on the type of Pokemon) or move in a way that takes away the radius tracker and hits a Pokeball if it’s coming at them. Adding in new Pokemon moves during a catch attempt would not only give players something new to look at and encounter during a stand-off, but it’s an excellent opportunity for players to capture these behaviors via the camera.
Though it might take a bit longer, it would also be interesting to see more than one Pokemon appear when players cut to the catch or capture screen. Multiple Pokemon already appear on the map, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them in the encounter scene together. Seeing Pokemon interacting with each other would be a fun addition to Pokemon GO that would add an element of realism as well. As real as it can get for fictional pocket monsters, anyways. It would also give players a chance to take pictures of Pokemon naturally interacting with each other, which would be creative and keep players interested in the photography aspect of Pokemon GO.
Integrating a natural behavior aspect to Pokemon GO might be difficult for one reason, though. Most of the time, Pokemon are found in distinct regions and require players to visit different areas to find them. New Pokemon Snap focuses solely on the Lental region, but Pokemon GO has Pokemon from all regions all mixed together. This means that it may break continuity to see some Pokemon interacting with each other that wouldn’t happen outside of Pokemon GO. However, Pokemon GO could exist in a suspension of disbelief, allowing all Pokemon to interact with each other in the wild. Conversely, the game could change to only showcase certain regions (instead of certain monster types), therefore maintaining that only some Pokemon interact with each other in specific regions.
Improved Photography System
Right now, Pokemon GO’s main appeal for photography stems from the ability to see Pokemon in AR. It allows for lots of creative picture taking and showcasing things like Water-type Pokemon near a river or ocean, or Bug-types in a garden. However, these are all singular instances and while they look cool, it can make photography a bit stale. Taking from the New Pokemon Snap photography mechanics could make players want to consistently take pictures in Pokemon GO rather than only taking them to fulfill research tasks.
Adding natural Pokemon behaviors would make photography in Pokemon GO more exciting, even if it’s just additional animations for individual Pokemon. It would give players an opportunity to capture a new behavior, whether it’s in AR or the default screen. If the developer added interactions between Pokemon it would also open up a large chunk of new photography material. Different behaviors between Pokemon would be adorable to capture and give a better glimpse at how Pokemon interact in the wild.
Much like in New Pokemon Snap, Pokemon GO could implement a new photography rating system. Just like the Nintendo Switch game, players could have their photographs judged on how rare the behavior captured is and the quality of the photo itself. If Pokemon GO doesn’t want to add new behavioral interactions between Pokemon to capture, a photo judging system, in general, might still benefit Pokemon GO overall. Maybe photos with photo-bombing Pokemon (like what typically happens on Community Day) could be scored higher than other pictures.
A more in-depth photography system would also add the perfect opportunity for more research tasks and actually have decent pictures as the result. Players could earn stardust and other rewards based on the quality of the picture, eventually earning medals based on how many high-quality photos they’ve taken. It would incentivize players to take and even share, more Pokemon GO pictures than the system currently in place.
At the very least, Pokemon GO would benefit from an upgraded photography system. Players can only take a picture of the screen with the Pokemon on it and may encounter a photo-bombing Pokemon if they’re lucky. A system similar to Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp would go a long way in Pokemon GO. Adding options to zoom in and out or reposition the camera to capture more or less of the background with the Pokemon would immediately lead to better pictures than the ones currently available.
Pokemon GO and New Pokemon Snap are both fun installments in the Pokemon franchise for different reasons. However, the Pokemon GO experience could be made even more fun if Niantic decided to add some of the features introduced in New Pokemon Snap.
Pokemon GO is available now for mobile.