Rita: the assistant who teaches you to photograph Lental

She won't hear the word "vacation." When Professor Mirror introduces Rita as a friend's daughter who's come to spend the summer in Lental, she corrects him on the spot: she's his assistant. The game then hands her the entire tutorial, the questions the player never gets the chance to ask, and the final explanation the scientist can't come up with.

Contents

• A Self-Proclaimed Assistant at the Lental Lab
• She's the One Who Teaches You to Play
• The Questions the Player Never Gets to Ask
• Rita's Theory About the Mural
• The Requests She Gives the Player
• Rita the Photographer, in the Game and on the Big Screen
• Rita at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

A Self-Proclaimed Assistant at the Lental Lab

Rita arrives for the summer at the Laboratory of Ecology and Natural Sciences in Lental, on Florio Island. Her father is a friend of Professor Mirror's, and she only joins the research team on a temporary basis, for the length of the holidays — and that guest status is exactly what she pushes back on from her very first scene. New Pokémon Snap is one of the spin-offs in the series that set battling aside.

The title is anything but honorary. She takes everything off the professor's hands, from data readings to coffee, and eventually points out that he's been relying on her a lot lately — a remark she makes without ever turning down the next task.

Two long mauve braids make her recognizable at a glance. She loves Pokémon without the slightest reservation and is especially knowledgeable about Goodra, a species her hairstyle happens to make her resemble.

With Phil and with the player, she naturally takes on a big-sister role, even though she's practically the same age as them. Curious and attentive to others, she's the member of the trio who looks out for everyone and worries about the Pokémon they come across while exploring.

📸 The Pokémon she finds "just too cute" have their own section: check out our Pokémon plushies.

She's the One Who Teaches You to Play

Professor Mirror hands the player the research camera, the device he developed for his studies, which also serves as a communicator and an ID card. Rita is the one who asks to explain how it works, and she has one of her own.

She then walks you through the full tutorial: moving the viewfinder, gyro controls, zoom, and the frame that marks the main subject. Along the way, she gives the tip that determines the professor's score — the whole subject, in close-up, right in the center of the shot.

The scanner gets covered too. After the scan and its results, she shares the detail that changes how you play: the camera gives off sounds and radio waves that make certain Pokémon react. The professor hadn't planned on that effect, but she uses it as a technique anyway.

Next comes Fluffruit, a fruit from Lental that's much lighter and fluffier than a regular apple, hence its name. She raves about how sweet it is, lets the player practice aiming, and warns that some wary Pokémon won't want any.

The Melody Player deserves a note of its own. Todd Snap leaves the explanation to her because she's read the instruction manual, and she immediately admits she's never tried it herself: she's teaching a tool she's discovering at the same time as the player. The NEO-ONE's turbo is the exception: that one, she's just tried out when she explains how to use it.

The Questions the Player Never Gets to Ask

The game's investigation centers on the Illumina phenomenon and the glowing Pokémon described in the region's legends. Rita starts out dismissing them as made-up stories, a position she abandons at the very first encounter.

Her narrative role lies in that gap. She asks for details when the professor stays vague and says frankly when his answer isn't enough for her — she admits she doesn't understand rather than pretending to, which gets the player a clearer explanation.

She also plays the skeptic when it comes to the sources. The professor relies on the accounts of Captain Vince, an adventurer from a hundred years ago; she objects that the photos in his book are blurry and that the document is a century old, while assuring the professor that this takes nothing away from the value of his research.

The first sighting, a Meganium glowing with Illumina light as it bursts out of a field of flowers, sets off a barrage of questions from her that the professor has to rein in. She's the one who recalls the legend: glowing Pokémon are said to have saved Lental from a cataclysm.

The professor then fits the NEO-ONE with a communication tool, LenTalk, which lets you report a find and send a photo from the field. From then on, Rita becomes a voice that follows your run live, even talking you through the move: throw a Fluffruit, aim with an Illumina Orb, and take the shot when the patterns light up.

Rita's Theory About the Mural

Deep in Outaway Cave, the expedition uncovers a damaged mural about two thousand years old, dating back to when the Tellur Meteorite fell. It shows six Illumina Pokémon where the professor expected five, which pokes a hole in his theory — and delights him, much to Rita's surprise.

The sixth, at the center of the mural, turns out to be Xerneas in its Illumina form, reached behind a door in the Ruins of Remembrance. Rita is the one who then puts forward the explanation: Xerneas supposedly gathered the others and, together, they raised a kind of barrier against the meteorite.

She goes on to the ruins themselves: if the Pokémon protected the region, the structures would have been built by the ancestors to lend them a hand. The professor objects that Xerneas should have woken up at some point in two thousand years; she replies that stopping a meteorite calls for a very long rest.

The story's last question falls to her as well. The professor wonders why the Illumina Pokémon chose to show themselves to the player; Rita gives the answer the scientist can't find — the player loves Pokémon, they can sense it, and they return the feeling.

The Requests She Gives the Player

A good share of the game's requests come from her, and the pattern is almost always the same. She's seen something amazing but didn't manage to photograph it, so she asks the player to go back in her place.

Her list of sightings says a lot about how she looks at things: a Dodrio that seems to be flying, a Torterra mid-yawn, a Pidgeot catching a Magikarp, a Drifblim whose head swells right before your eyes. Odd behavior interests her as much as adorable Pokémon do.

Some requests mostly serve her rivalry with Phil. She swears she saw a Cacnea fly and asks for a photo because he refuses to believe her; a Heliolisk running across water gives her a second chance to put him in his place.

The debriefing matters as much as the photo. She congratulates you, worries when a Pokémon seems to be in bad shape, is relieved when it was simply fine, and sometimes draws a naturalist's conclusion from the picture. Coming back from a request is a conversation, not a box to tick.

Rita the Photographer, in the Game and on the Big Screen

She's not just the assistant of a researcher surrounded by photographers: she's one too, in her own way. She has her own research camera, uses it to exchange messages, and happily shows off a shot when she's pleased with it.

Faced with the pictures the player brings back, she owns up to the gap without any bitterness. She says these photos make her want to give it her all and hopes to take ones just as beautiful someday, which puts her on the side of beginners rather than experts.

Outside the game, she makes a brief jump to the big screen. Rita and Phil appear for a single scene in Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, busy photographing Milyfa Town.

The nod works both ways, since the landscapes hanging in the lab are her own photos and they show settings from that very movie. The game and the film echo each other through her pictures.

Rita at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Rita in New Pokémon Snap?
  Professor Mirror's assistant at the Laboratory of Ecology and Natural Sciences in Lental. The daughter of a friend of the professor, she came to spend her summer vacation on Florio Island and joined the research team.
• What does Rita do during the game?
  She handles the tutorials: taking photos with the research camera, the scanner, Fluffruit, the Melody Player and the NEO-ONE's turbo. She then keeps in touch over the comms during explorations and gives the player plenty of observation requests.
• Does Rita believe in Illumina Pokémon?
  Not at first: she thinks they're made-up stories. Meeting an Illumina Meganium changes her mind, and she's the one who later suggests that these Pokémon raised a barrier against the Tellur Meteorite.
• Why does Rita look like Goodra?
  Because of her two long mauve braids. The game itself draws the comparison between her hairstyle and this species, which she also happens to know particularly well.
• Does Rita appear anywhere outside the game?
  Yes, very briefly on the big screen. She and Phil show up in Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, photographing Milyfa Town.

In short

Rita doesn't bring back a single one of the decisive photos, and yet she's the one who explains, the one who asks and the one who draws the conclusion. The game gives her the tutorial because she asks for it, the investigation because she asks the player's questions, and the final answer because Professor Mirror's science falls short. An assistant on vacation who ended up playing the narrator.