Pokemon Snap is not a title that comes to mind when most people think of "speedrunning." But that doesn't mean the game hasn't been optimized, despite the player being placed on a track with few movement options. With the announcement of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:New Pokemon Snap, it's time to take a look at some of the techniques used to speed up t🐎he monorail photography and see which of them - if any - will see further use.
The current world record for completion of Pokemon Snap Any% sits at , set in April of 2019 by Canadian runner Quo. Let's look at a couple of the methods the community used to get to cut the game down to that time and compare them to what we think will still be possible in New Pokemon Snap.
Lag Manipulation
One of the most important ways to save time throughout a speedrun of the N64 version of Snap is the lag manipulation. Because rendering a lot of 3D objects on the screen at one time causes lag, speedrunners would point the camera up at the sky when they were not actively taking a picture, thus reducing the lag. This was a common tactic in a lot of older video games that has seen moderately less u💞se as time goes on and gaming consoles get stronger.
However, that doesn't mean it's never used anymore: very similar lag reduction strategies are used in speedruns of Fire Emblem: Three Houses during monastery segments of the game. To increase the opening speed of gates and doors that act as loading-time buffers, runners angle their camera at the floor while they run. The Switch might be more robust than the N64 was, but it's still a partially handheld console, and that does limit it sometimes. It remains to be seen if New Pokemon Snap will see significant use of this method or if being on a rail means it will run smoother (for speedrunning puꦑrposes) than oth🔯er games on the Switch.
How Many Pictures?
Another important way to cut down on time in Pokemon Snap is to exit levels as quickly as possible after achieving a set condition: you must earn a certain number of points in order to unlock both the Apple and the Pester Ball items in the game (as well as new levels). Speedrunners look for the intersection of quickest pictures to take and most valuable pictures to take, then try to find the best tradeoff: the fewest pictu🌞res that can be taken earliest in the level to get the point total they need. Once they take their optimal pictures, they exit the level instead of completing it. If they got the right amount of points, the game progression continues.
This mechanic is likely to return, as there's no reason for New Pokemon Snap to take away the ability to leave mid-level while keeping their points. The photograph rating system is also integral to the original's gameplay, so there's probably still some point-value progression motive. It could be thrown off if they changed the clear condition for unlocking new levels, though. If, for example, New Pokemon Snap required pictures of a specific Pokémon ra💮ther than a certain point goal in order to unlock a new item/area, runners could be forced to remain in levels for a🏅 longer period of time. They might even set the clear condition to "complete the level," which would tank this strategy and potentially stifle further speedrunning tech.
Language Settings
Finally, it remains to be seen if speedrunning New Pokemon Snap with the language set to Japanese will result in significant timesaves. Many games have faster menu times when played in Japanese asꦅ the language can fit much more in a single textbox, saving precious frames that add up across every single instance of dialog. Despite that, in some games that time difference can be minimal and occasionally insignificant. For now it's likely that if the game has a decent chunk of dialog between levels, it will be faster with the language set to Japanese, just like the original.
Whether all the old speed tech makes a triumphant return in New Pokemon Snap or not, if there's any way to make it go fast, speedrunners will find it. When the game releases, we'll be keeping our eyes on the leaderboard for🔴 any new innovations in a new generation of on-rail-"shooter" speed tech.