Pokémon Go’s Snapshot feature lets you not only take photos of Pokémon in your collection and in the world, but also discover new ones.
One such creature is Smeargle, which until the arrival of the Snapshot feature has proven to be one of the most elusive creatures in the game, having been conspicuously absent from the Gen 2 lineup for about two years.
Smeargle will appear bombarding your photos, while other creatures and characters can also participate during special events.
The ability to take snapshots in different ways also appears in occasional missions and research tasks, so learning the ins and outs of taking snapshots will help you accomplish everything you need to.
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Snapshot in the wild in Pokémon Go explained
The arrival of the New Pokémon Snap Celebration event in April 2021 brought a new type of challenge: having to take snapshots in the wild.
To do this, you must take a photo of a creature on the capture screen. So tap the Pokémon that has appeared in the wild and, before throwing a ball to catch it, tap the camera icon at the top of the screen.
Now take a photo, accept the image and the quest step will be completed.
To clarify, you cannot take a snapshot of a creature that has been captured; it must have just been discovered in the wild and not yet in your collection.
Note: If you are doing a quest that requires multiple wild creatures of a certain type or number, remember that you can capture this same Pokémon over and over again to complete the entire step. It seems like cheating, but it sure saves time!
Note that creatures that can photobomb, such as Smeargle, do not appear when taking snapshots in the wild. Instead, you should take them somewhere else…
How to get Smeargle and other creatures with photobombs in Pokémon Go
Catching Smeargle, or other limited-time Photobomb Pokémon, focuses on getting a Photobomb from them in the Snapshot feature, and in summary, involves the following steps:
- Open Snapshot mode with any Pokémon in your collection or set it as a friend.
- Take pictures of the Pokémon; You can disable AR+ to make this step easier.
- Exit Snapshot mode, where you review the images you just took
- At this point, Smeargle – or for a limited time Detective Pikachu – may appear in one of your photos.
- If Smeargle appears, it will appear in the wild on the map screen, to be caught like any other Pokémon.
- If Smeargle does not appear, repeat the steps above
That’s basically it: keep using the Snapshot function until Smeargle appears. There’s a little However, there are more nuances, which we will explain now.
How to open the Pokémon Go Snapshot feature and get Smeargle
First, you need to take photos using Pokémon Go’s Snapshot feature. This allows you to place any of your captured Pokémon in the real world using your camera.
There are two ways to access this mode. One is in your item inventory: scroll down to the Chamber, then select it, followed by a Pokémon of your choice. Alternatively, enter your Pokémon box and select the camera icon in the top right corner.
There are two ways to open the Pokémon Go Snapshot feature.
Your camera will then be active and you will be presented with a view in front of your phone with the Pokémon placed on top of it. Place the Pokémon however you want in the world (it doesn’t have to be aligned with anything) and shoot.
If you have AR+ on your phone, turning it off will make Smeargle more likely to appear.
When you’ve had enough, exit the mode with the door icon in the top left corner.
To review your photos and see if Smeargle appeared, press the Exit button in the corner of the screen.
This will present you with the photos you just took. It is at this stage that Smeargle may appear.
If you do, it will appear in the bottom corner, as if it were photographing the scene, and the game will pause to highlight its presence. Now when you exit the mode, Smeargle will appear in the wild. Touch it and then catch it like any other creature.
If Smeargle doesn’t appear, you’ll need to reopen Snapshot mode and try again until it appears.
As far as we know, the Pokémon you use and the number of photos you take have no bearing on when Smeargle will appear, so take as many or as few photos at a time before exiting the mode and scrolling through your snapshots.
How many photos do you need to get Smeargle in Pokémon Go?
Based on first impressions, the number of attempts required to get Smeargle in Pokémon Go varies greatly.
For us, they ranged from 30 photos in 10 appearance attempts for Smeargle, the first attempt for one lucky member of the Eurogamer team, and after hundreds of photos taken, not a single appearance from another.
This also seems to match many other players’ experiences. The key is to just keep trying, and if Smeargle doesn’t appear, take a break and try again later.
Remember that since you can catch more than one Smeargle, there is no rush. If it takes a long time, consider using Snapshot mode casually until Smeargle appears. It will eventually show itself!
The Season of Adventure Abundance is here! The Out to Play event is currently taking place. You can also work on the Timed Investigation: Master Ball mission and compete in Go Battle League. Be sure to compete in Shadow Raids, complete routes, use Daily Adventure Incense for a chance to encounter Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, and Galarian Moltres. This incense can also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.
Other things you should know about photobombing and Smeargle in Pokémon Go
There are also a few other non-essential things you should know about how to get Smeargle in Pokémon Go:
- Smeargle will copy the move set of the creature used in the photo. So if you want it to learn specific moves, choose a specific Pokémon with those moves equipped.
- There are a couple of caveats about learning moves: some can’t be learned (like Ditto’s transformation) and a second charged move won’t carry over (thanks, Sabatori from reddit).
- Once Smeargle appears, he will immediately appear in the wild. If you’re in transit, this might be a concern – we took ours on a train, but we had to quickly tap Smeargle before it disappeared from view, so keep this in mind.
- If you want a different Smeargle, you don’t have to capture the currently active one; you can just photobomb again and the old one will disappear from the map.
- Smeargle will stay in the wild for a full hour, so don’t worry about having to catch him right away (thanks to facemyselfie on reddit for trying this out).
- Yes, it’s possible that Smeargle could appear in a Smeargle photo (Thanks Leon_119 on reddit for confirming!)
- If the Smeargle you caught appears to be buggy and has two moves called Charged Beam, simply restart your app.
- The official Smeargle Pokédex entry reads: “Smeargle marks the boundaries of its territory using bodily fluid that leaks from the tip of its tail. More than 5,000 different marks left by this Pokémon have been found.”
Ash Pikachu previously photographed Snapshots during an event.
- As part of special events, other creatures can replace Smeargle as the Photobomb Pokémon. For example, for April Fool’s Day 2019, we saw Ash Pikachu appear.
- In addition to this, characters can also photograph your snapshots during certain events. The previous April Fools even saw Ash, while on other occasions, Team Go Rocket may make an appearance!
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Source: sef.edu.vn