Pokémon Snap

Pokémon Snap is a photography video game with rail shooter elements. The Zero-One follows a linear path throughout the level, viewing from a first-person perspective. Up to 60 pictures can be taken per visit. After completing a course, the player selects their best photo of each Pokémon to be rated by Professor Oak and added to the Pokémon Report.

Scoring takes into account various aspects of the pictures, such as the Pokémon's size, its pose, and keeping the Pokémon in frame. Extra points are awarded for capturing a "special" pose or Pokémon, such as a surfing Pikachu, and if there are multiples of the same Pokémon within the frame. Scoring well in the Pokémon Report and photographing a wide variety of Pokémon is required to make progress in the game. Players can also use an "Album Mark" to bookmark their favorite pictures; this adds the pictures to a personal in-game album to view at a later date or show to friends.

Todd Snap (トオル, Tooru), a Pokémon photographer, is summoned by Professor Oak to Pokémon Island, a place with a variety of climatic and geographic regions where Pokémon live relatively undisturbed by humans. Oak needs quality pictures to accompany his scientific findings and knows from past experience that Todd is the right person for the job. Using a motorized, amphibious buggy named the Zero-One, Todd explores the island and takes photographs of the wide variety of Pokémon that inhabit its environments.

Pokémon Snap was developed by HAL Laboratory with assistance from Pax Softnica. It originally started out as a non-Pokémon game called Jack and the Beanstalk. Named after the English fairy tale of the same name, the game was intended for the 64DD, a peripheral for the Nintendo 64. The game was developed at HAL's office on the second floor of the Nintendo Kanda building in Sudachō, Tokyo, by a development team called "Jack and Beans".

This name can be seen in the intro video of Pokémon Snap, as well as in the credits. Jack and the Beanstalk was first revealed in February 1995, a year before the Japanese release of the N64, but the game was not heard from again. No screenshots or videos have been publicly released of it, and little is known about what the game looked or played like. However, it is speculated that some gameplay elements ended up in EarthBound 64, which started development in 1994 but was cancelled in 2000.

Pokémon Snap was fourth on the chart for top-selling games in Japan for the week of its release, March 18 to March 24. For the week ending May 21, 1999, in Japan, it ranked fifth. In the United States, Pokémon Snap sold in excess of 151,000 copies in the first three days of its release. Since its release, it was the most rented game, up to October 22, 1999.

For the month of November, it was featured in the United States' top 10 list of best-selling video games. For the week ending November 27, it ranked as the 10th best-selling video game, while it remained the most-rented video game for the same week. 5 million copies. IGN attributed this success with "well targeted promotions" and the tie in with Blockbuster.