New Pokemon Snap is a pretty chill little game. Instead of hunting Pokemon for battles, we’re going on safari in search of that perfect picture. Progression is normally easy — you need to take a picture of a glowing flower, play through a route a few times, or reach Research Level 2. That’ll get you through about 95% of the game. But there’s one particular part that’s way harder than the rest.
And that’s completing the Maricopia Islands region. This is the one area of the game that requires finding a secret path. Each Island is home to an Illumina Pokemon, and before you can unlock the final portion of the game, you’ll need to gather info (i.e. snap pictures of) each of the four Illumina Spots. Most players are going to struggle finding this one, and you’ll quickly understand why if you haven’t reached this point in the game. All the normal methods don’t work here. You need to get a Pokemon to help you make a new path.
More New Pokemon Snap guides:
How To Get 1, 2, 3 & 4 Star Photos | Beginner’s Guide | How To Unlock All Locations | Completion Guide | Florio Nature Park (Day) | All Requests | Florio Nature Park (Night) | All Requests | How To Unlock All Optional Routes | Where To Find All Legendary & Mythical Pokemon | How To Enter All Areas Of Elsewhere Forest | All Illumina Orb Locations
How To Unlock The Lental Seafloor Illumina Spot
To unlock the Lental Seafloor Illumina Spot, you’ll have to discover a secret path in the Lental Seafloor route. Until you find the secret optional path, there’s no way to progress in the Maricopia Islands region. And it isn’t entirely obvious or easy.
- Unlock Research Level 2 in the Lental Seafloor.
- On Research Level 2, a Clawitzer will spawn at the start of the level. It’s to the front-left of your starting position.
- Throw an Illumina Orb at the Clawitzer, and it will move further into the level — to a rocky passage on your left, before reaching the seaweed.
- Throw a second Illumina Orb at the Clawitzer, and it will fire at the rocky passage, blasting open a hidden optional path.
Quickly use a [Scan] and scan the [?] at the rocky passage to unlock the optional path. You don’t have much time, so do it quickly! Following this path will lead you deep underwater to a hidden ruin. Snap pictures of these ruins while you’re here — after completing the level, you’ll finally unlock the Illumina Spot!
Reaching all four Illumina Spots is required to unlock the next island. This is the hardest part to complete in the entire game — the rest should be smooth sailing!