The original Pokémon Snap project was initially planned for Nintendo 64DD before moving to a Nintendo 64 cartridge.
The 64DD was a disk-based Nintendo 64 peripheral designed to provide larger storage and additional features. Pokémon Snap’s development began as a non-Pokémon project called Jack and the Beanstalk, and the team originally planned to use the 64DD format.
The peripheral suffered repeated delays and eventually received only a limited release in Japan. As confidence in the format weakened, Pokémon Snap was changed to run on the standard Nintendo 64. The game was released in Japan in March 1999.
This history explains why Pokémon Snap is sometimes described as a 64DD project even though players ultimately experienced it on cartridge. The final game retained its photography concept but was redesigned around Pokémon, with players riding through courses and photographing creatures for Professor Oak’s evaluations.