New Pokémon Snap walkthrough, story guide, objective list and tips

How does New Pokémon Snap's story work?

The story for New Pokémon Snap mostly follows a linear structure, with the game occasionally offering you the chance to tackle courses in whichever order you please.

You progress through the storyline by either completing a course, increasing your Research Level for a particular course or photographing a specific object or Pokémon in a certain course.

Your next objective will be explained in cutscenes, which usually occur after a Photo Evaluation, and in tips given by characters on the Lental region map where you select which course you wish to visit next.

Once you've unlocked a course, you can visit it whenever you like no matter where you are in the storyline. You can also continue to increase a course's Research Level for a course, meaning, if you want a break from the story, you can simply relax and take photos.

For more information, including an estimate on how it will take you to complete the game, check out our New Pokémon Snap length guide. There are also six new courses to unlock thanks to the New Pokémon Snap update, which was released in August 2021.

New Pokémon Snap walkthrough

Here you find a complete list of all the objectives you need to complete for New Pokémon Snap's storyline arranged in a semi-chronological order, as it does occasionally break linearity.

It's important to note that this section does contain major spoilers for the entire game, so, if you'd prefer to remain surprised, we highly recommended skipping this section.

Thanks to the New Pokémon Snap update in August 2021, there are now six courses which are not part of the overall storyline.

To make navigating this walkthrough easier, we've organised these objectives under the location name they are connected to. This means if the storyline requires you to play through the night version of the Florio Nature Park, for example, then this objective will be under the Florio Nature Park heading.

Again - this section does contain spoilers!

Tutorial

Florio Nature Park

• Park (Day) - Earn 40,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Park (Night) course
• Park (Night) - Play through course to unlock Florio Nature Park Illumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a photo of Illumina Meganium
• Fluffruit and LenTalk Requests will now be unlocked
• Revisit past courses, ideally reach Research Level 2 for Park (Night) by earning 50,000 Expedition Points

Founja Jungle

• Jungle (Day) - Earn 35,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Jungle (Night) course
• Jungle (Night) - Take a picture of a Crystabloom in it's Illumina form
• The Illumina Orb: Blue, for the Florio Island courses, and Illumina Orb: Yellow, for the Belusylva course, will now be unlocked
• Revisit past courses, ideally reaching Research Level 2 for Jungle (Night) by earning 45,000 Expedition Points
• The Melody Player will now be unlocked

You will now unlock both the day courses for Blushing Beach on the Maricopia Island and Sweltering Sans on Voluca Island. These courses can be tackled in any order you please, though this walkthrough heads to Voluca Island first.

Sweltering Sands

• Sands (Day) - Earn 30,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Sands (Night) course
• Sands (Night) - Take a picture of a Crystabloom in it's Illumina form
• The Illumina Orb: Green for the Voluca Island courses will now be unlocked

Blushing Beach

• Beach (Day) - Earn 30,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Maricopia Reef

Maricopia Reef

• Reef (Day) - Earn 35,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock the Lental Seafloor

Lental Seafloor

• Undersea - Earn 35,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2
• Undersea - Take a picture of the Frillish experiencing the Illumina phenomenon
• The Illumina Orb: Pink for the Maricopia Island courses will now be unlocked
• Undersea - Earn 75,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 3
• Undersea - Go through Research Level 3, ensuring you take the alternative route close to the beginning of the course, which will take you down into the depths and unlock the Lental Seafloor Ilumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a photo of School Form Wishiwashi in its Illumina Form
• Ability to take pictures at the Research Camp, which is accessible from the main menu, will now be unlocked
• Revisit past courses, ideally reaching Research Level for Sands (Night) by earning 30,000 Expedition Points

Fireflow Volcano

• Volcano - Earn 30,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Elsewhere Forest

Elsewhere Forest

• Forest - Earn 40,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 to unlock Elsewhere Forest Illumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a photo of Milotic in its Illumina Form
• The ability to go inside the lab while taking pictures at the Research Camp will now be unlocked.

Fireflow Volcano

• Volcano - Take a picture of the Ancient Ruins at the end of the Research Level 2 version of this course to unlock the Fireflow Volcano Illumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a picture of Volcarona in it's Illumina Form
• The Turbo function for the Neo-One, allowing you to move faster if you choose, will now be unlocked

Shiver Snowfields

• Snowfields (Day) - Earn 25,000 Expedition Points to unlock Snowfields (Night)
• Snowfields (Night) - Take a picture of a Crystabloom in its Illumina form
• The Illumina Orbs: Purple for the Durice Island courses will now be unlocked
• Revisit the Snowfields (Night) course and, if you haven't done so already, reach Research Level 2 by earning 45,000 Expedition Points

Outaway Cave

• Cave - Earn 35,000 Expedition Points
• Beach (Night) course at Blushing Beach will now be unlocked, but visiting it is not required for the storyline
• Cave - Take the alternative route on the Research Level 2 version of this course and take a picture of the Ancient Ruins to unlock the Outaway Cave Illumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a picture of Steelix in its Illumina Form

Ruins of Remembrance

• Ruins - Earn 40,000 Expedition Points to reach Research Level 2 and take a photo of the Ancient Ruins at the start of the course
• Ruins - Take a picture of Woobat experiencing the Illumina phenomenon
• The Illumina Orbs: Gold for the Aurus Island courses will now be unlocked
• Ruins - Successfully throw Illumina Orbs at every unlit Crystabloom in the final area of this course to unlock the Ruins of Remembrance Illumina Spot
• Illumina Spot - Take a picture of Xerneas in its Illumina Form

Congratulations - you've completed the storyline for New Pokémon Snap!

You will have also unlocked the ability to see your total course scores, the Reef (Evening) at Maricopia Reef and Burst Mode, which will allow you to take multiple photos with one click.

Other New Pokémon Snap guides

Here you find our guides covering over aspects of New Pokémon Snap:

• Pokémon List: How many Pokémon there are and Pokémon locations explained

Storyline guides:

• Glowing Crystabloom locations in the Lental Seafloor and Ruins courses explained
• How to take a picture of each Illumina Pokémon
• How to unlock the Shiver Snowfields alternative route
• How long is New Pokémon Snap's storyline?
• How to unlock Secret Side Path, Mightywide River and Barren Badlands in the new update

Pokémon locations:

• Snorlax's location: How to take a four star Snorlax photo and complete the Snorlax Dash request explained

Legendary Pokémon:

• All of the Legendary Pokémon locations, including Celebi, Jirachi and Shaymin
• Diancie - location, Gem Royalty, Look My Way and Myth of the Cave
• Ho-Oh - location, A Slice of the Rainbow request and how to take a four star Ho-Oh photo
• Lugia - location, how to wake Lugia up and Seafloor Roar request
• Manaphy - locations, Myth of the Sea request and how to take a four star Manaphy photo
• Mew - locations and Myth of the Jungle Request
• Suicune - location, Wish Upon a Shining Star request and how to take a four star Suicune photo
• Zeraora - location, Illusion of the Badlands and how to take a four star Zeraora photo

Tips and tricks for New Pokémon Snap

Below you'll find some tips and tricks which you might find yourself during your journey across the Lental region in New Pokémon Snap:

• Take a variety of photographs for every Pokémon you encounter. Since photos are rated one of four star categories and each Pokémon can have one picture from each category in their Photodex entry, you'll need to catch a range of Pokémon behaviours to a complete entry. You won't, however, know the star category for your photos until the Photo Evaluation, so make sure you take a collection of pictures.
• Increase a course's Research Level. Every course, be it day or night, has a Research Level and increasing it will allow you to explore a slightly different version of the same course. Here you'll find new Pokémon and old ones in new locations, which can lead to some interesting photo opportunities.
• Pay close attention to your surroundings! Pokémon are hidden everywhere, from inside tree hollows to behind bushes, so you need to pay attention to everything. Sometimes you might only catch a glimpse of a Pokémon which can be brought closer to the Neo-One through the use of Fluffruit.

• Use Illumina Orbs on Crystablooms. These special flowers grow throughout the Lental region and hitting one with an Illumina Orb may cause a Pokémon to perform a unique behaviour or, even, make a new Pokémon to appear. Take the time to hit each one, on every Research Level, to uncover their secrets.
• Throw Illumina Orbs at every Pokémon you encounter. Illumina Orbs can cause a Pokémon to exhibit unusual behaviour, but you'll only know if a Pokémon is affected once you've thrown the orb.
• Use Fluffruit to move Pokémon. You can't physically move Pokémon in New Pokémon Snap, but you can use Fluffruit to direction them to new locations, which may cause an interesting event to occur.
• Judge your throws carefully. It's easy to under or overshoot when throwing Fluffruit or Illumina Orbs, so make sure you judge the distance carefully or else you might miss out on an excellent photo opportunity.

• Don't miss a scan opportunity! Make sure you scan your surroundings whenever you're prompted or else you might miss out on an alternative route through a course or a helpful tip.
• Don't forget to look behind you! Your attention is mostly likely going to be focused on where the Neo-One is going rather than where it's been, but Pokéon will appear behind it and may even have some special behaviours for you to photograph.
• Check the LenTalk Requests for tips! The LenTalk Requests doesn't just contain a variety of challenges for you to complete, but tips on how to capture the weird and wonderful behaviour the Pokémon of the Lental region can exhibit.

• Feel free to end a course whenever you like. Ending a course before reaching it's natural finishing point will not cause you to skip the Photo Evaluation. This means you can play a course through simply to photograph a single Pokémon and still earn Expedition Points.
• Don't just photograph Pokémon. You're also in the Lental region to research the island's history and local fauna, so, if you see a Crystabloom or ancient ruin, make sure you snap a pic. Collecting these pictures will help you fully complete your Photodex.
• If you can't remember your current storyline objective, check the on-screen tips. Especially in the course selection screen, these tips will give you a small reminder on what you're meant to do next.

Good luck in your Pokémon photography quest!