Welcome to Pokémon Snap

 So...

I haven't been in a good place mentally for a few months. My mental health went from standard passable to I can barely function as a human being over the span of a month. 

Thankfully, I have loving and supporting people in my life to help me out. I also have a doctor who listened to my concerns and took them seriously. 

Needless to say, I'm getting better, but it's a slow process. 

This weekend, my friend came over and brought her Nintendo Switch. She brought an array of games that were meant to be soothing and relaxing. I picked Pokémon Snap.

Pokémon Snap is a nostalgic game. Though I didn't have a Nintendo 64 growing up, plenty of my friends did. We'd spend hours going head to head in Mario Cart and Smash Bros or trading off playing Mario 64, Golden Eye, and Pokémon Snap. I remember you could go to the local Blockbuster and print out your Pokémon Snap pictures (I was, sadly, never able to).

Pokémon Snap stands out as one of the best games on the Nintendo 64 (definitely in my top 5). It was only in my 20s that I ended up with a copy and a Nintendo 64 of my own. It's a relaxing game where you take pictures of Pokémon. There's some plot and secrets you need to unlock in order to "beat" the game, but for the most part, the objective is to throw "apples" (that's not what they're called, but it's what they look like), play the flute, throw smoke balls, and take pictures. You get points for how "awesome" your pictures are - it's some kind of internal algorithm that can drive you batty if you think too hard about it.

Some of my favorite moments in the original Pokémon Snap include creating a zombie army of charmanders, knocking down metapods to block your path in the river course to extend your time, bopping a bulbasaur on the head with a smoke ball only for it to turn into a ditto, and, of course, surfing pikachu. 

The only downside is that Professor Oak in the game is a total jerk if you don't get the best picture. He won't even finish rating the photo if there's one thing off with it. It's quite infuriating after spending hours trying to get pikachu to pose just right on the surfboard only for the little guy to not be dead center in the frame. Can't have that.

This brings me to the new Pokémon Snap.

It's amazing.

When we first logged on, new places had shown up on the map - so more updates and unlockable items are still coming. Some courses have both a day and night mode or multiple tracks you can take to see different pokémon. Each new unlocked level for a course shows the pokémon doing different things and hanging out in different places. In Level 1 of a course, Koffing might be hiding in one corner of the screen, but by Level 2 he's flying around blowing noxious gas all over the place. New pokémon show up all the time. We even managed to unlock a new season in one course without knowing that that was a possibility.

There's a lot of play back opportunity for this latest Pokémon Snap. Now instead of only taking one photo per pokémon, you need to find four photos based on a star system. You get more stars based on the position and actions of the pokémon you get pictures of. There are also optional requested photos Professor Mirror (the new Oak - don't know why they got rid of the tree names) and his assistants ask for. 

Todd is all grown up. He was the protagonist of the original game. Now, you can create your own avatar to navigate and take pictures. It still takes a little getting used to the controls, but once you do, it's fun to catch pokémon at their craziest!

The picture reviewing mechanic in this game is fantastic!

Gone is Professor Oak's grumpy grumblings about not getting the pokémon in just the right location. Instead we have the overwhelmingly positive Professor Mirror and his young assistants Rita and Phil. Rite, Phil, and Todd all pop up occasionally to tell you how awesome your photography skills are. Professor Mirror is equally positive and encouraging while judging your photos.

Playing this game is a huge kick to the dopamine. It's positive, relaxing, and soothing. I don't stress about not getting a perfect shot and am delightfully surprised by new unlockable places and items. I think my favorite was when I accidently discovered that you could get the season spring in the elsewhere forest level. It was so pretty!

This game is one of the best I've played in a long time. My only question is why Nintendo and the Pokémon creators took so long to make a second game (it's been over two decades!). If you have the Nintendo Switch, I can't recommend this game enough.

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I have.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to Real Life & Go

Last week, I wrote about how awesome Pokemon Go is. And you know what? I still think this game is pretty awesome. I think Nintendo did something brilliant. People are outside (even in the 90 degree heat we have going on where I am), people are socializing, and people are happy.

Well, not everyone is happy, but you can't make everyone happy.

I think Nintendo was also smart to release the game while millions of American school children were out for summer vacation. This way we're not getting dozens of angry reports about the game disrupting learning time along with the safe driving PSAs and other media hysterics surrounding this game.

Yes, there are problems with Pokemon Go (like not currently being able to trade with other trainers, get that patch up Nintendo). Nothing is prefect. If anything, this game has managed to show some of humanities annoying bad habits (like not taking responsibility for poor decision making skills).

Real life is full of distractions. Pokemon Go is probably one of the better ones (at least it requires people to get exercise). It's important to balance them out with other obligations like work and school. There are many days when I wish my life could be one big fun destruction. I wouldn't have to worry about any responsibilities. I could greet the day and do anything I wanted to (even just stay in bed all day).

But life doesn't work that way.

I've always heard that there are only two guarantees a in life: death and taxes. I'd like to add one more (or make an addendum to the taxes bit). Responsibilities are also a guarantee in life. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people will argue with me on it. Many people love to point out how irresponsible one generation is or how kids these days don't have the same responsibilities their parents did. But I'd argue back that paying taxes (even the sales kind) is a responsibility.

As much as I'd love to go look for a legendary Pokemon, I still have to pay my bills. Not to mention, make sure that I have plenty of food, a clean house, and go to work. Distractions are great for stress relief, making me happy when I'm upset, and encourage trying new things. They aren't so great when I forget about my responsibilities or cause a serious health concern or injury.

Pokemon Go isn't the first game to cause a media frenzy like this (I seem to recall a lot of attention surrounding World of War Craft many many years ago) and it probably won't be the last (still waiting for a real live Duel Disk to play Duel Monsters with).

Just keep in mind a few things when playing Pokemon Go:

1) Stay in well lit, public areas - I don't care if that Pikachu is down a dark ally with tons of obstacles, don't go for it.

2) Stay off private property - the parody videos are funny, but seriously going to prison because of Pokemon Go doesn't.

3) Pay attention to your surroundings - the game even tells you to do this.

4) The game can't make you do anything - if it looks like the game is leading you into a dangerous situation, don't continue.

5) It's okay to take a break - especially if you don't have an unlimited data plan.

And of course have fun.

I am amazed by the reaction to this game (though maybe I shouldn't be surprised anymore). There's been a lot of good things to come from this game and I hope it continues. After all Pokemon has been around for over 20 years and will likely be around for many more.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me. Until next week.