With New Pokémon Snap on the horizon, we can be sure many of you are itching to share the various photos you take around the new Lental region, but things weren't always so simple in the olden days.
The original Pokémon Snap had quite a marketing campaign when it launched in 1999; in collaboration with Blockbuster Video, Nintendo introduced 'Pokémon Snap Stations' in participating Blockbuster stores around the world, allowing players to print their favourite shots from the Nintendo 64 game. All you had to do was bring your cartridge to a Blockbuster store, purchase a Pokémon gift card, insert your cartridge into the Snap Station and finally all of your digital snaps could be printed into the real world. This would surely have made you the most popular kid at school.
So how do you replicate that on Virtual Console? Are your pictures doomed to be trapped within the game forever? Not quite; when the game hit the Wii's services in 2007 it was met with a brand new feature not found in any other Virtual Console title. If you were playing on a Classic Controller all you had to do was press the Minus Button while highlighting a picture in your album and suddenly the message "Your photo was posted to the Wii Message Board" would appear.
The feature is similar to those found in titles such as Mario Kart Wii and Super Mario Galaxy, and should you hunt for it you'll find a message waiting for you on the Wii menu with a screenshot of your very own picture from Pokémon Snap. If it were 2014 you could even send this image to a friend (R.I.P Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection).
The Wii U release didn't feature an equivalent feature, but thankfully on a system level you could upload any screenshot to Miiverse for the world to Yeah (R.I.P Miiverse).
Did you ever make use of a Pokémon Snap Station and are there any other special Virtual Console features you admire? Let us know down below!
Comments (11)
Ah, back in the days of blockblister
A little off-topic, but, my local Blockbuster and VideoEzy (which were across the street from one another) went bust around 10 years ago. VideoEzy tried to hold out as long as they could by relocating to a much smaller space only a few shops down, but they eventually kicked the bucket too (Blockbuster was long gone by this time).
I never rented though (can't stand the idea of using tatty old discs/cartridges that have been poked and prodded by God only knows how many people), and they had their share of rare gems, though I couldn't afford every title that I wanted at the time, and the cost was a touch too high for overnight (or three night) rentals.
There was also an independent video store (called Millenium) that mostly sold second-hand DVDs/Blu-rays/CDs, mostly in great condition, and some were even new, but they too went bust some years ago. I recall buying Battles of Prince of Persia on DS from them for about $20, and it looked unused (though it wasn't sealed). My little brother bought most of his DVDs from them back in the day as they were so cheap.
People don't appreciate just how ridiculously spoiled they are with streaming platforms. Never has such a wealth of content been so cheap (though this can build up to subscription TV-like costs if one were to subscribe to multiple services).
I admit that I spent most of my time at these establishments merely browsing and admiring the rare stuff though. Even though I couldn't really afford to at the time, I wish I had bought the odd GameCube game to play via Wii while they were still available.
When Hey you Pikachu 2 is coming?
I had a Jigglypuff gift card to use the machine at Blockbuster, but I never used it. Just kept it as a souvenir.
I used one of those Snap Stations when they were around. I should still have those stickers I printed stored somewhere. I never got around to using them or sticking them to anything
Just got smacked with nostalgia thinking about the Blockbuster kiosk. Then smacked again realizing that it's been long enough now that I'm nostalgic for Wii Home menu.
I've suffered some sort of mental whiplash
Don't think this was ever a thing over here but I would've loved it. In this day and age though you could probably do much better at home.
Wii message board killed Blockbuster
Loved it. Can’t wait for the new Pokémon snap
Neat trick! One thing I've always wanted on the 3DS virtual console was to play Gameboy games in color but you only had the option of playing in black & white or green.
I remember working in Blockbuster when this came out.
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