Once you’ve handed Professor Oak the photo of Mew, Pokémon Snap isn’t done with you. The credits roll, but you then get your Report, your album and your seven courses back, with something new: Challenge mode. This page takes stock of what’s left to do after the Rainbow Cloud: aiming for the complete Report, with no gaps among the 63 species and the six landscapes, and taking on the target scores Oak sets up on each course.
What changes after Mew
According to Poképédia, once the photo of Mew has been brought back, Professor Oak tells Todd that the Pokémon Academy has announced the record for the highest photography score. He then sets a score to beat for each course on the island, which unlocks an extra game mode. On each course, you must beat the displayed score by taking several photos of the highest possible quality. Oak’s remarks at the end of the game also depend on the state of your Report: depending on whether it is complete or not, the professor praises your work more or less.
Challenge mode
Challenge replays the seven courses, Rainbow Cloud included. The principle differs from the normal game: you no longer try to complete a Report, but to push a total up. According to the RetroAchievements guide, two factors count: the value of each photo, and the number of different species you photographed during the run, landscapes included. The resulting strategy is easy to state: photograph as many distinct species as possible on the course, each in its best pose.
Aiming for the complete Report
The complete Report gathers one photo for each of the island’s 63 species, as well as the six Pokémon landscapes. A species that has been “seen” is not a species that has been “well photographed”: the Report shows, for each Pokémon, the score of its best photo, and it can always be improved. Here are the species that take the most work, with the page where you can find the method.
| Species | Why it takes longer | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Dugtrio | You have to photograph the chain of Diglett all the way through | Tunnel |
| Magneton | Three Magnemite to bring together with an Apple | Tunnel |
| Zapdos | Egg to hatch with Pikachu, the Apple and the Flute | Tunnel |
| Charizard | Charmeleon to drop into the lava | Volcano |
| Slowbro | Slowpoke to lead to a sign of Shellder | River |
| Muk | Three Pester Balls, spaced out, on the right Grimer | Cave |
| Articuno | Jynx to wake up near the frozen egg | Cave |
| Gyarados | Magikarp to take through several stages | Valley |
| Starmie | Staryu to lure toward the whirlpool | Valley |
| Dragonite | Several Pester Balls in the whirlpool | Valley |
| Mew | Six item hits then a quick photo | Rainbow Cloud |
Poses to complete
The six Pokémon landscapes are already in your Report, since they are what opened the Rainbow Cloud for you. The work left therefore concerns the species and the quality of the shots. Replay each course with all four items, aiming first for the special poses: they weigh the most in the score. They are all listed, course by course, on the special photos page. To find out how the score is calculated, see Professor Oak’s scoring.
What to do with your best photos?
Once your Report is finally filled in, the star photos take their place in the gallery: four shots of your choice, which you can show your friends. Back then, owners of the Japanese, American or Australian version could also have them printed as stickers: read the story of the Pokémon Snap Station kiosks. Today, the Wii Virtual Console and the Wii U one offered other ways of sharing your photos, but they are no longer available for purchase, as explained on the page about ways to play it today.
Replayability limits
Gamekult’s review published in 2000 noted that, apart from the events you trigger yourself, each visit to a course presents exactly the same scenes, which limits the urge to come back often. Specialists nonetheless note that an element of chance remains: the appearance of certain Pokémon, such as Cloyster on the River, depends on a random draw that you can influence by throwing Apples into the water, and some placements vary on the Volcano. That is what makes the game rich for those who play it at a high level.
