New Pokémon Snap houses 10 Legendary and Mythical Pokémon from across the franchise and while you may encounter a couple over your course of the story, many are quite well hidden - especially Suicune who's a little devil. Some Pokémon may not appear until you reach a Research Level of 3 so it's best to attempt these discoveries in the post-game.

Shaymin

Our first Mythical is thankfully a fairly easy one to seek out, visit the Florio Nature Park at Night and make your way through the course until you reach the flower field at the very end. On your right, you should see Crystabloom which can be hit with an Illumina Orb - but there's actually two Crystabloom's in close proximity. Seek out the one hiding in the blades of flowers and you should trick Mythical Pokémon Shaymin! They're a quick little devil so nab a picture while you can.
After this encounter Shaymin will also appear at the very beginning of Florio Nature Park Day along with Pichu, Grookey and Scorbunny.

Placeholder
Placeholder

Mew

One of the most recognizable Mythicals is hiding in New Pokémon Snap...and they're not hiding particularly well. Enter Founja Jungle Night and as soon as the level starts immediately turn around. You should see two Morelull looking right back at you. If you play them a song a mysterious pink orb will fly out of the trees and begin to circle around you - hitting the orb with a flufffruit will reveal the mischievous Mew, be sure to take their picture while the pink bubble is off.

Image135

Mew will try the same trick at two other points throughout the level so be sure to be to have your Fluffruit at the ready. Eventually, when you fly over the trees above the Ancient Ruins you'll be able to play your flute, triggering Mew in another pose. Mew isn't done with you yet though, mere seconds later the Mythical will stop you in your tracks with a complete lack of regard for personal space.
After this encounter, you'll briefly be able to see Mew at the start of the daytime variant too.

Image136

Celebi

Celebi is one of the most outgoing Mythicals in New Pokémon Snap and doesn't exactly hide from the camera. However if you managed to miss them simply revisit the Elsewhere Forest and take a linear path through the mystical maze without making any turns. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the final area where a Celebi will immediately greet you by soaring through the sky.

Celebi can appear a few more times, as the NEO-ONE makes its way under the upcoming tree you'll see a pile of Fluffruit, simply throw another one near them and Celebi will come down to enjoy a little snack.

Image137

Lugia

Encountering Lugia is a far more complex affair. Make your way to the Lental Seafloor and take the path to the left (the one you destroyed in the story by throwing an orb at Clawitzer). There's a little way to go but eventually the NEO-ONE will start to decline to the bottom of the ocean, there's a Crystabloom near a Lumineon if you need a better indication of where you should be. If you circle around this area you'll encounter the Pokémon Lanturn - simply throw an Illumina Orb on it and it'll start to swim down, be quick though otherwise, you'll miss your window. While Lanturn swims down a bunch of other Pokémon will begin swimming up, including a Wailord. As Wailord passed by you'll notice the Lanturn has been grabbed by two Frillish, all you need to do now is throw another Illumina Orb on the Lanturn and it will be freed.

Image138
Image139

To thank you for your rescue the Lanturn will guide you to a mysterious den, be sure to scan when prompted and take a new route to the right. As you enter the den keep your eyes peeled on the right for a sleeping Lugia.

Image141

Ho-Oh

Unlike other Legendary Pokémon Snap who abide by strict scripts it seems Ho-Oh actually appears at random. You'll find them in the sky of Fireflow Volcano, while they may appear at numerous points we've a great spot just after the opening of the stage. If you allow the NEO-ONE to drift to the portion of the stage featuring a Tyrantrum and several Archeops, swing the camera around until you spot a Charmander next to a Crystabloom. We attempted this four times and half of those attempts featured Ho-Oh soaring through the sky. Your mileage may vary but this doesn't seem particularly tricky to trigger.

Image130
Image131

Suicune

Suicune is the most complex encounter in New Pokémon Snap requiring many steps to trigger. First, you need to visit the Shiver Snowfields during the Day, although this isn't where you'll encounter Suicune. As the stage begins you'll spot a Sandslash immediately on your left - this Pokémon is a tad camera shy and will hide upon being snapped. Sandslash will reemerge on a snowy cliff to the left of the stage, simply take their picture once more and they'll again hide. Finally, Sandslash appears in front of a snow wall right before the slope which Swinub is attempting to climb. Sandslash will dig a hole through the bottom of the wall providing an alternate path for you to scan and follow.

Image142
Image143

Unfortunately, once you've opened this path there's not a great deal you can do. You can nab yourself a Crabominable but the secret to Suicune now lies in the nighttime variant of Shiver Snowfields, so finish up your progress in the Day and make your way over to the next stage.

Now that Sandslash has kindly built us a way forward we can utilise their burrow even during the Night and unlike the day version there's no snowstorm obscuring our vision. As soon as you enter the hidden area you'll spot a Crabominable swinging at a tree, they'll make their way over to the left and attempt hitting a tree right next to an Abomasnow. If you chuck an Illumina orb at Crabominable they'll get a rush of power and hit the tree much harder than before, causing a pile of snow to fall on and anger Abomasnow.

Image144

After Abomasnow's rage a Froslass will emerge from the winds, simply take their picture and they'll guide you to yet another secret area. Allow the NEO-ONE to travel through the caves until it emerges outside. Sailing on the ocean you should see an Avalugg with a Jynx resting on top of it - simply throw Illumina Orbs at Jinx and their sparkles will attract the attention of Suicune who gallops over the ocean. It required the help of a lot of other Pokémon, but you found them!

Image145

Image146

Diancie

Diancie is hiding in the Outway Cave towards the end of the level. When the NEO-ONE declines be sure to take the alternate path straight ahead towards the room full of crystals - the choice for an alternate path should appear when playing on Level 3. As soon as you enter the crystal-filled room you should see two Carbinks standing right next to a Marwile. Or you need to do is hit each of these Pokémon with an Ilummina orb and directly to their right Diancie will come floating out to say hello.

Triggering Diancie will open up a new alternate path to your left where you can nab Jolteon - neat!

Image147
Image148

Manaphy

Upon reaching the credits in New Pokémon Snap you'll unlock the Reef at night which is hiding a Mythical Pokémon. What you want to do is make your way to the very end of the level until you're given an alternate path near a pool of Lapras. Manaphy enjoys the songs of Lapras and we found throwing an Illumina Orb at each of them and finally playing the NEO-ONE's flute caused Manaphy to appear between the two Lapras in the middle.

Image149

Jirachi

Jirachi is hiding in the Ruins of Remembrance and...we say hiding, they appear right at the start with the family of Eldegoss floating through the sky. Jirachi appears to only trigger once you've finished the game but it won't take you long at all to find them. For better photo opportunities you'll find Jirachi once more in the cave before the end of the level, lighting up all the Illumina Pokémon statues will cause them to find their way to the glowing pedestal.

Image150
Image151

Xerneas

And finally, there's Xerneas and we would be impressed if you managed to finish the game without finding them given they're the focus of the final level in the game. Xerneas is in the Illumina Spot in the Ruins of Rememberance and if you revisit on Level 2 you'll be able to nab even more poses.

Image152

Did this guide help you? Let us know down below!