Phil: the New Pokémon Snap Rival Who Keeps Helping You

Nobody offered him the job of disciple: he simply took it. Phil admires Todd Snap's photos so much that he has appointed himself his student, and he defends that title against anyone who gets close to the photographer. The player in New Pokémon Snap therefore becomes his rival from the very first handshake — a rival he will nonetheless never stop lending a hand to.

Contents

• A Self-Appointed Disciple
• Todd's Badge, Lent on One Condition
• The Lental Briefings, Seen by the Team's Most Impatient Member
• A Rival Who Spends His Time Dropping Hints
• The Case of the Feature Still in Development
• What He Thinks He Sees, and What the Photo Corrects
• Phil at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Self-Appointed Disciple

You can spot Phil from a distance by his spiky mop of hair. He works on Pokémon photography as part of the research team led by Professor Mirror, in a game from the branch of the series where the only thing you capture is pictures — see our overview of Pokémon spin-offs.

His calling comes from one specific man. Phil chose Todd as his mentor, not the other way around: he admires the photographer, his shots inspire him, and he draws the conclusion that suits him best by introducing himself as the most gifted student Todd has ever trained.

His first meeting with the player, as it happens, quickly goes sour. Seeing a stranger show Todd their photos makes him instantly jealous, and he makes it known by raising his voice. Impatient, bursting with energy, sometimes a little aggressive, he openly has his sights set on becoming the world's best Pokémon photographer.

Todd's Badge, Lent on One Condition

Phil's place on the expedition isn't his own doing. Todd first considers joining the explorations in person to support Professor Mirror's work, then changes his mind and offers to send Phil in his place; the scientist has no objection.

Todd attaches a loan and a deadline to the arrangement: his badge goes with Phil, but it has to be returned when he gets back. Phil immediately negotiates the right to keep it if he brings back impressive enough photos, then asks the question he forgot to ask before agreeing — what exactly they're going to look for.

Todd's verdict on his student fits in two words: too enthusiastic. So Phil joins a trio of explorers made up of himself, the player and Rita, about whom he remarks in passing that she acts like a big sister even though she's practically their age.

The Lental Briefings, Seen by the Team's Most Impatient Member

The professor's first briefing lays out the map: Florio Island, where the base is located, and the other islands of Lental that the explorations will expand to. Rita brings up Captain Vince's tale of adventure, and Phil cuts her off — the stories can wait, he wants to leave right now.

The missions then follow one another at the same pace: photographing the crystablooms in the jungle at night, exploring a volcano, reaching a forest hidden above a sea of clouds, venturing underground on Durice Island, reaching an island entirely covered in snow. A teleportation site spotted in the open sea even forces the professor to modify the NEO-ONE so it can dive, news Phil takes in two stages: panic first, relief second.

The data they bring back serves a concrete purpose. The professor uses it to make orbs, each of which works only with the energy specific to a single island, opening up a new area every time. Phil, for his part, mostly remembers that the Illumina Pokémon always show themselves to the player and never to him; the professor has to promise him his turn will come.

The end of the expedition slips away from him too: it's the player who is sent to photograph the Pokémon painted at the center of the mural, and Phil has to settle for demanding great pictures. When Rita then suggests that Xerneas gathered the other Illumina Pokémon to raise a barrier against the meteorite, he adopts the theory on the spot, no questions asked.

A Rival Who Spends His Time Dropping Hints

The rivalry he proclaims is really a game mechanic. Phil tells the player what he glimpsed but failed to photograph, and each of his frustrations points to a scene worth watching for: a Pokémon that leaped over his head, a battle he was too absorbed in to think of pressing the shutter, an animal that ran off too fast.

Some of his tips are outright instructions. He explains, for example, that you need to throw several Illumina Orbs at a big Wishiwashi, then take the shot when the patterns on its body light up. The rest of the time he makes bets — who will photograph a Bunnelby first, who will bring back the best picture of a Bounsweet.

His way of acknowledging a good shot is always the same: a sincere compliment, followed by a correction. He even goes as far as looking through the player's Photodex and admitting it's good, before adding that his own is still better. Then he ends up asking, point-blank, how they do it.

He also applauds the tools the adults add around him. Burst mode, added to the research camera by the professor at Todd's request, increases the chances of catching the right moment; course scores, meanwhile, rate how thorough an exploration was by rewarding both the quality of the photos and the number of species photographed.

📸 The Pokémon he can't manage to photograph fit on a shelf: check out the Pokémon figures.

The Case of the Feature Still in Development

Phil's best moment is an act of disobedience. He takes the player aside, announces he has a secret, and lets the rumor slip: the professor is developing a feature that shrinks the NEO-ONE and its pilot down to a tiny size. His suggestion follows immediately — let's try it right now.

Rita catches them in the middle of their conspiracy. He starts by denying everything, she threatens to call the professor, and he caves in two seconds. So the instructions finally come out: you run a scan at a specific spot in Florio Nature Park, and the shrinking kicks in on its own.

The professor finds out and scolds the three of them for trying out an unfinished feature without his approval. The punishment ends in permission, on condition that its use stays limited to Florio Nature Park. During the miniature exploration, Phil stands guard outside, warning that the test version doesn't go any further and that normal size returns at the exit.

What He Thinks He Sees, and What the Photo Corrects

Phil observes quickly and jumps to conclusions even faster, which makes him an excellent unreliable witness. He swears he saw a Bulbasaur skimming across the water at full speed; the photo shows it was riding on a Lotad, and he falls back on the only point he has left, the speed.

Same story with a Magikarp he saw floating in midair without jumping, whose picture reveals that a Psyduck was holding it up with psychic powers. When Rita says she saw a Slugma climbing a lavafall, he calls her a liar — then the photo proves him wrong and he admits he owes her an apology.

Finally, the game puts him through a series of scares he doesn't handle well. A Cutiefly that refuses to leave the top of his head sends him running; a noise upstairs in the lab terrifies him until he finds Meowth, after which he insists he was never scared; an especially huge Koffing makes him drop his research camera, so he has no proof to show.

Phil at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Phil in New Pokémon Snap?
  He's the young photographer in Professor Mirror's research group, alongside the player and Rita. He explores the Lental islands with them and has set himself the goal of becoming the world's best Pokémon photographer.
• What's the connection between Phil and Todd Snap?
  Phil appointed himself Todd's disciple out of admiration for his photos. It's Todd who gets him his spot on the expedition, by offering to send him in his place and lending him his badge on condition that he return it when he gets back.
• Is Phil the player's opponent or ally?
  Both at once. He calls himself a rival and keeps launching photo contests, but he spends most of his time reporting what he glimpsed without managing to photograph it, which amounts to telling the player what to look for and where.
• How do you shrink down in New Pokémon Snap?
  Phil is the one who spills the beans: you have to run a scan at a specific spot in Florio Nature Park to trigger the shrinking. Professor Mirror, who hadn't given his approval, ends up authorizing the feature while restricting it to that area.
• Does Phil appear outside the games?
  Briefly. He can be seen with Rita on a terrace in Milyfa Town, busy photographing the scenery visible from the town.

In short

Phil is built on a useful contradiction: he claims to be a competitor and behaves like an informant. Every scene he failed to capture becomes a lead, every challenge he issues points to a rare behavior, and his observational mistakes serve as puzzles to be solved one shutter click at a time. He's the only rival in the series worth listening to all the way to the end.