Pokémon Snap is the latest adventure starring Pikachu and friends for the Nintendo Switch launching April 30. The video game is basically what happens if you went on safari, only instead of finding lions and giraffes, you're seeking out Pokémon like Torterra and Swannas. You play as a research assistant, working for Professor Mirror to explore islands in the fictional Lentai region. Some of the Pokémon and their environments carry a special glow, and it's up to you and the professor to learn why it's happening. Typically, Pokémon games feature the player as a trainer who seeks out elusive Pokémon, captures them, then trains them for battle against other creatures.

Can nostalgia carry "New Pokémon Snap" players to the finish line? The repetitive nature of the game makes the mid-game a slog, even if photography and Pokémon are one's passion. After each map, the player is sent back to the main menu, and given the choice to visit yet another map. At one point I unlocked so many maps, and was so excited for the new rush of content. Soon, I had powered through all these maps and was left to grind them over and over again before the next region could open up.

"The world in which wild Pokémon live is rendered to the best of the Nintendo Switch's hardware capabilities, and the aim of the game is to investigate that world. Once you've taken a photo, you can edit and share it online with people around the world," Haruki Suzaki, "New Pokémon Snap" director at Bandai Namco Studios, wrote in an email to The Washington Post.

Announced during a Wednesday morning livestream, The Pokémon Company revealed "New Pokémon Snap" for the Nintendo Switch. Like the first game, instead of catching Pokémon, you take pictures of them. This spin brings a unique way to interact with the Pokémon world, and one that became a hit after the original's release. As a player, you can explore different locales like jungles and beaches.

People love to take pictures in video games. As the game worlds we explore have become more beautiful, players have become more interested in photographing them and sharing the results. It is almost standard for open-world games in particular to include photo modes, which allow players to mimic real-world photographers by adjusting the framing, brightness and exposure. Selfie modes, meanwhile, let you add filters and change characters' facial expressions, from Link in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. There is even an augmented-reality photo mode in Pokémon Go, which lets players take posed photos of digital Pokémon in the real world. Some games take it a step further, incorporating photography as an interaction within the game.