According to HAL Laboratory the N64 title Pokémon Snap originally didn't have Pokémon in it.

In a recent Iwata Asks with Kirby's Epic Yarn developers HAL Laboratory it has come to light that the N64 Pokémon photography simulator Pokémon Snap was originally not a Pokémon game at all.

HAL was working on a photography simulator game but couldn't find a direction to take the game or think of a reason why gamers would play. "We wondered what players would enjoy taking pictures of, and later on we made a somewhat forced switch to taking pictures of Pokémon."

Much like Kirby's Epic Yarn the developers were initially not pleased about being forced to abandon the characters they designed. However, the developers admitted that with both Kirby's Epic Yarn and Pokémon Snap the changes helped to give both the game and the studio some direction.

"That time, adopting the Pokémon world clarified what we should do and the direction we should head, and I came to like Pokémon, so I felt like that had saved us. So this time, while I could understand how everyone at Good-Feel felt, I started thinking about how I could get them to like Kirby."