Day 65, Game 65 - Pokemon Snap

Looking back at last night's blog post, I realize it was a train wreck. A complete disaster, if you will. I really don't know what came over me, but I realized while I was writing that it sucked, but reading it again, I think the term "sucked" is being awful grateful.

My thoughts were scattered all over the place - maybe because I was more focused about writing about a movie about games than I was the game about the movie about games. Or, maybe I just suffered from spontaneous writing fatigue. Can't say for sure, but hopefully I can SNAP out of it long enough to get a much better blog up tonight.

I would like to apologize for that disaster last night, to anyone who had to read that garbage. But I would also like to apologize for not taking advantage of an obvious opportunity to play my first Nintendo 64 game on the 64th day of the blog project. DUH. Didn't even cross my mind until today. I think I am already starting to plan in the future that the present day opportunities are slipping right by me. So, to make it up, I decided to play an awesome Nintendo 64 game, and one of my personal favorites ... Pokemon Snap.

Now, I can't say that I ever imagined that this game would be the first 64 game I played for this year long project, but that's the beauty of what I have created. The unknown, the mystery ... and not just from you, the reader, but even for myself. Actually, I was inspired to play this game after I posed a question on twitter. I asked if anyone could guess what franchise my next "Week Of..." series would cover, and Chris (@HolyHeadShot) from EverydayGamers.com guessed a slew of franchises, all of which were good guesses, but wrong.

One of the names he dropped, however, was Pokemon, and while that series hadn't even struck me as a possibility, I checked and we are now entering the 6th generation of Pokemon games with the announced Pokemon X & Y games later this year. And since the 4th generation had two sets of games, Diamond & Pearl and also HeartGold & SoulSilver, it is very possible to do a full week of Pokemon games just using the base, standard games (spin-offs, like Snap, don't count). That's crazy to think, that as long as they have been around, does it really feel like there have been 7 different sets of Pokemon games?

So, with my mind on Pokemon and Pokemon on my mind, I decided to whip out Pokemon Snap and give my photographer skills a test.

Yes, the game is still super-easy and anything but complicated. Yes it is still an awesome collection of the old-school, first generation Pokemon that we all know and love. And yes, I freakin' love this game. I can't remember how long after it came originally did I play it, but I remember going back through over and over again trying to get that PERFECT shot. What a blast to not worry about dying, not worrying about puzzle solving ... just taking pictures of amazing looking Pokemon.

I feel like this game has been the gold standard for games using a camera to take pictures, whether the entire game is based around it (Endless Ocean series for the Wii) or just using it as a tool within the game. And while there are much better looking camera games since Snap, this one still has a special place in my heart. The first generation of Pokemon are so memorable, thanks to the groundbreaking Red & Blue (and eventually Yellow) games, the cartoon series, the trading cards and everything else that capitalized on the Pocket Monsters phenomenon.  This game was really the first time we got to see the Pokemon in full 3D, and it was amazing. Anyone remember finally catching the surfing Pikachu on camera for the first time? Yeahhhhhh....

Anyway, I enjoyed playing this game all over again. It's a game I like to go back to every now and then, just because. And seriously, if there was EVER a game that was way before its time, this is it. Tell me this game wouldn't be absolutely perfect for the new Wii U system? Seriously, just take this game, HD it up, add some more features, throw it on a Wii U disk and I guarantee this struggling system will start flying off the shelves. I GUARANTEE IT.

Of course Nintendo won't do it, though. They apparently don't like money. Or making good decisions. Or doing the obvious actions to obtain success. They insist on doing it the hard way. More power to them, but there is a legion of Pokemon fans, old school and newer adapters of the series, that would kill for an awesome Wii U Pokemon game. Just saying, Nintendo ... just saying.

So there you have it. My first Nintendo 64 game. And that "My Week Of..." I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that starts Monday. Be ready for another epic week packed full of one game franchise.

Also, on a final note, I am tossing the idea around of taking on suggestions for games to play, and if possible, taking the recommendations and turning them into a blog post. Maybe one a week, maybe one or two a month, I'm not sure yet. And I wouldn't ask for really hard to get, obscure suggestions either, but just something to be more interactive with the readers and keep things even more fresh around here.

I'm hoping things like that would prevent posts like my Wreck-It Ralph blog to ever happen. But sometimes, the tsunami just can't be stopped.

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