Acknowledging Regrets: Pokemon Snap

Last I left you all, I had been going on about how there was a copy of Pokemon Snap in the glass case at Value Village for $20.  I had lamented about its cost and swore that I’d never buy it for that price.  I (for some unknown reason) thought it was a game where you could upload Pokemon from an earlier game and take photos of them in 3D.  Um, what?  I know, right?  After learning about what the game is actually about, I have been trying to think of where I got that notion from because there is not a game like that that exists as far as I know (please correct me if I’m wrong.)  I’ve given my head a shake and have since watched several reviews of Pokemon Snap.  I have to say that I’m a little enamoured with the game’s premise.

I don’t know that I’d call myself a huge Pokemon fan because I didn’t grow up on the Pokemon bandwagon with everyone else.  In fact, I didn’t have a Game Boy until the early 2000s but I sometimes managed to catch the cartoon on television.  I bought my first Pokemon game last year and have been casually collecting the main series games ever since while trying to figure out which titles are remakes and which are original releases (to me, it’s almost as confusing to me as the Final Fantasy game naming fiasco.)  I don’t have the nostalgia factor tied in with my enjoyment of the series, but as a new(ish) player, I adore many aspects of the main series’ titles.  Off the beaten path is Pokemon Snap, a game that’s so unique that it hardly appears to be a game at all to some.  Taking photos of Pokemon on a rail system might seem too contrived for many gamers, but there’s just something about getting that perfect shot of a Pokemon I barely know the name of that’ll garner the approval of that Professor that draws me in and keeps me there.

The long story short is that I did buy it the game.  I had a 10% off coupon, so I saved most of my taxes on the purchase *grumble grumble*.  Here’s a shot of the cartridge I purchased, and the weird vandalism that someone unleashed upon poor Pikachu:

I am not at all artistically inclined, but I’m sure I can manage to muster up two black circles to replace his eyes.  Poor little guy.  I don’t know why anyone would do that to Pikachu of all characters!

Any time I leave a game behind and have regrets this badly, it’s something I need to deal with.  Am I ever happy I picked this one up!  I played through quite a bit of the game last night and it’s taking everything I have to not run upstairs, turn on the game and take a photo of my in-game photo of two Vulpixes smiling with their heads together while chasing an apple.  I figure I’ll spare you for now.  Maybe I’ll post it to Twitter the next time I’m over that way.

As a brief aside, I wanted to mention that I finally won an eBay auction for a game I’ve been wanting for a long while.  I can’t really remember the last time I wasn’t sniped in the final moments of an auction.  I won’t spoil what I’ve ordered, but I will say that I’ve managed to save some cash on a game that was far too expensive at the most recent swap.  It shipped well after most post offices close and might get stuck in the mail if Canada Post goes on strike, but please keep your fingers crossed for it to make it here in a timely fashion!

In the meantime, it’s time for me to sneak off to bed.  Thanks for reading, as always!

-GG