[1][2] The earliest game in the genre is Nessie, published for the Commodore 64 in 1984[3] and in 1985 for Atari 8-bit computers,[4] in which the goal is to take a photo of the Loch Ness Monster.
[4][6] The accompanying article describes the concept: The game was inspired by a TV documentary on Loch Ness which recounted the hundreds of attempts to photograph the monster.
In Gekibo: Gekisha Boy, released in 1992 for the PC Engine,[2] the player controls a reticle representing a camera viewfinder moving over the screen.
[2] It inspired other safari and scuba diving photography games such as Endless Ocean (2007), Afrika (2008), Beyond Blue (2020) and a sequel New Pokémon Snap (2021).
[7] Pictures from Pokémon Snap could be copied from the cartridge and printed at branches of Blockbuster Video,[8] while players of Firewatch could have the photographs on their in-game camera "developed" and delivered to their home.
[2] Phasmophobia and the Outlast series are other survival horror games that give players cameras but no weapons – the aim is to record the monsters and escape without being killed.