New Pokémon Snap brings the popular spinoff back after more than 20 years on hiatus, but just how long does it take to finish this brand new Nintendo Switch exclusive? Now that our New Pokémon Snap review is live, we can talk a bit about how long it took to complete. Here are the story completion times in two separate playthroughs.
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Rebekah Valentine, Reporter
Playing with a relative balance between revisiting courses to try for more interesting shots while also progressing the story, I finished New Pokémon Snap's campaign in about 15 hours. Had I not been reviewing the game, I probably would have taken a bit more time than that, as the continually rising Research Levels had me constantly curious what was changing on each course, but with a deadline looming I had to make sure I finished the game proper before I got too in the weeds. Having rolled the credits, there are still tons of Photodex slots I need to fill, and several Pokémon that only appear in the post-game that I'm still looking for, so I anticipate I'll get several more hours out of New Pokémon Snap before I'm ready to put it away.
Casey Defreitas, Guides Editor
I would usually take my time with a game like New Pokémon Snap, but since I was working on the
walkthrough and guides content, I tried to “beat the game” pretty quickly. It took me about 12 hours to reach the credits, and that includes about two hours of repeating courses I didn’t need, since I didn’t know how to progress at a certain point! There was still so much I hadn’t done. I had only reached
Research Level 3 for two courses, which is needed to unlock quite a few Pokémon. I was missing about
40 Pokémon out of 214 from my Pokemon List (Photodex). That’s not to mention all the
4-Star behaviors I hadn’t captured or even seen. There’s still a lot of life left in New Pokemon Snap after the credits, especially when considering all the
Legendary Pokemon that become available, and the competitive task the Online Rankings offer. I’ve also spent an hour just editing a few photos to upload online, even though that’s entirely unnecessary for my job. Oops.
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In New Pokémon Snap you take on the role of an adventurous photographer out to capture the amazing world of Pokémon. With so many new Pokémon having been released since the original game — which only covers the first 151 Pokémon — there are many more monsters to discover.
Ultimately, there are 24 courses in New Pokémon Snap, with six of them being Illumina Spots. In the tradition of Pokémon Snap, you'll probably be returning to those courses more than once in order to get the best possible photo. Nevertheless, it's possible to finish New Pokémon Snap very quickly if you decide to rush it. Two playthroughs have already been reported over at
HowLongtoBeat, with both reportedly taking around 9 hours. Newcomers include Scorbunny, Bouffalant, and Torterra, all of whom hail from different regions throughout the world of Pokémon.
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Ultimately,
we really enjoyed New Pokémon Snap, calling it a "successful modern reinvention" of all the original's best ideas. It has some really neat moments,
like the first time a Wailord pops up on screen. Our pal
Todd Snap is back too! Its release on Switch is a pleasant surprise given that the series was last seen on Nintendo 64 way back in 1999. Many fans had given up hope that a sequel would ever be produced.
But now it's here, and it's bigger and better than ever. Enjoy, and make sure to let us know how long it takes you to finish your own playthrough of New Pokémon Snap.
