Snatcher
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| Snatcher | |
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 The North American Sega CD cover art, illustrated by Yuji Kaida, featured a realistic depiction of the main characters, Gillian Seed and Metal Gear. |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Designer(s) | Hideo Kojima |
| Release date(s) | NEC PC-8801: November 26, 1988MSX2: December 13, 1988PC-Engine Super CD-ROM²: October 23, 1992Sega Mega-CD:  December 15, 1994 December 15, 1994Sony PlayStation: February 12, 1996Sega Saturn: March 29, 1996 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure (digital comic) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen ELSPA: 18+ |
| Platform(s) | NEC PC-8801, MSX 2, PC-Engine, Sega CD, Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| Media | 5¼-inch DD floppy disk x5 (PC-88) Sound Cartridge + 3½-inch DD floppy disk x 3 (MSX) CD-ROM (PCE, SCD, PS, SS) |
| Input | Keyboard, Joypad, Light gun |
Snatcher (スナッチャー Sunatchā?) is a cyberpunk-themed adventure game written and directed by Hideo Kojima. It was developed and published by Konami. Originally released in Japan for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2 in 1988, it was remade for the PC-Engine in 1992 and ported to the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996. It was released for the Sega CD in North America and its counterpart, the Mega CD in Europe, in 1994, in what is the game's first and only official English version. Snatcher has gained a small cult following due to its mature storytelling, adult themes and (in later versions) voice acting. It was heavily influenced by various sci-fi and noir films, most notably Blade Runner (main character + city views) , The Terminator (the snatchers) and Dune (Random, freemen) .
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[edit] Plot overview
On June 6, 1991 (1996 in the English version), a chemical weapon known as Lucipher-Alpha under development in Chernoton, Russia, is released into the atmosphere, resulting in the death of 80% of the Eurasian population. The contaminated area becomes uninhabitable for a decade, when Lucipher-Alpha mutates into a non-lethal form. This tragic event later becomes known as the "Catastrophe".
Fifty years later, a breed of artificial life-forms or bioroids known as "snatchers", began appearing in the artificial island of Neo Kobe City, killing their victims and taking their place in society. Nobody knows exactly what they are or where they come from. As Gillian Seed, an amnesiac working for an Anti-Snatcher task force called JUNKER, the player's goal is to track down the source of the snatchers and discover Gillian's mysterious connections with them.
[edit] Versions
There were six different versions of Snatcher made since the game's debut in 1988: five which were released in Japan and one English version in North America and Europe. The Japanese versions were very faithful to each other, with most of the changes being superficial enhancement to the game's graphics and music. The main differences between the early versions for the PC-88 and MSX and the subsequent versions is the addition of "Act 3" to the story and the use of voiceovers for key scenes in the game.
The Sega CD version is essentially a localized port of the PC-Engine version, with several liberties taken with the game's plot. However, it also adds its own set of improvements to the game.
[edit] PC-8801 & MSX 2
The first version of the game for the NEC PC-8801 computer is also the most obscure. This version lacked the spoken voiceovers of the later versions. Instead, all the dialogue was displayed in text, with each character having a unique sounding bleep when they spoke. The game ended prematurely at Act 2. Although Kojima wrote the entire script when the game was made, the developers were pressured to finish the game earlier due to time constraints. As a result, the game concludes with a much darker ending than what was originally intended and with various loose ends. Kojima therefore has said that this version is not "complete". This version made beautiful use of the PC-88's internal FM chip for its music, which was considered to be one of the most powerful PC sound chips of its time.
The MSX version of Snatcher was released a month after the PC-88 version and is virtually identical. The game came packaged with a proprietary sound cartridge that allowed for enhanced music and sound effects (played along with the MSX's internal sound hardware) to match those of the PC-88 version. However the MSX version also suffered from long loading times (as a result of bad coding due to the rushed release) and the size of the visual window was a bit shorter than the PC-88 version. A Brazilian fan named Daniel Jorge Caetano used the existing English translation by Takamichi Suzukawa, and released Snatcher in Brazilian Portuguese and English, nearly rewriting most of the (badly-written) machine code, and also allowing it to run on hard-disks. This has been said to solve the loading time problem; however, the loading problems involve the game's graphic decompression routines, so running it from a hard disk will not improve speed. The only way to do so is to speed up the game in an emulator (more specifically, the virtual Z80 CPU).
[edit] PC-Engine
Dubbed Snatcher CD-ROMantic (スナッチャー シーディロマンティック?), the PC-Engine version was the first CD-ROM version of the game (as well as Konami's first CD-ROM game) and is considered by some to be Snatcher's "director's cut", since it was the last version of the game designed by Kojima himself. Japanese voiceovers (performed by popular seiyuu) were added to several key scenes in the game and Act 3 was added, giving the game a much bigger sense of closure.
In addition, some of the game's pre-existing scenes and dialogue were altered, a few minor scenes were added and the opening theme was changed from Twilight of Neo Kobe City to One Night in Neo Kobe City.
Prior to the release of the full game, Konami issued a Pilot Disk edition of the game featuring a demo of the game, a trailer, a glossary with character and item descriptions and an interview with a video game critic.
[edit] Sega CD and Mega-CD
The first and only official English version made, the Sega (Mega) CD version was made specifically for a western audience in North America and Europe and was never released in Japan. The game is mostly identical to the PC-Engine version in terms of graphics and contents. The game's script was translated by Scott T. Hards and localized by Jeremy Blaustein (who later translated Metal Gear Solid). Changes were made to the storyline (the date of the Catastrophe was moved five years ahead to keep the story fresh for English-speaking players unaware of the previous Japanese releases and several keywords were changed) and some of the graphics were altered as well. The character Katrina Gibson was also made to look a little older (she is 18 in the Sega CD version and 14 in the PC-Engine one), mostly so that Gillian doesn't come off as a pedophile, especially with one certain scene where he catches her naked in his shower. You can also snatch her underwear (temporarily) in the PC Engine version. Overall, the game is only lightly censored, the most prominent change being some nudity: in the Japanese version, players actually saw Katrina naked when Gillian "caught" her; in the U.S. version, we hear her scream off-screen, then she sprays Gillian in the face with hot water. Another scene in Plato's cavern was censored; Gillian can find a porno video in the market, and when he watches it, moaning can be heard and Metal Gear flips out. This was in the PC Engine version but not in the Sega CD version. Also, in one scene where Gillian kills a female snatcher is censored; in the Japanese version, her dress rips when she lands, exposing her breasts. This doesn't occur in the U.S. version; her dress stays put. One other mildly censored scene was when Katrina's dog Alice was disembowled and hurled through the window of her house; in the PC Engine version, she bleeds out onto the carpet and is twitching. In the Sega CD version, the graphic was made static.
It has been speculated that entering "KONAMI" at the "Enter Name" prompt in the JORDAN computer will completely uncensor the game, as JORDAN emits a chime and does not specify that the name could not be found. However, it has been ascertained that this code does nothing.
This version also includes two exclusive scenes (including an extended ending sequence) recorded specifically for the English version which serves to cover some of the loose ends left by the Japanese version. It is also the only version to include light gun support.
Despite this, the game did not enjoy the same success outside Japan and was considered a commercial failure, selling only a few thousand units in North America according to an interview with Blaustein. The failure is mainly attributed to a lack of promotion from Konami's part and Sega's waning support of the Sega CD add-on in favor of the then recently-released 32X and the forthcoming Saturn. Despite this, the game became the most sought after title for the platform since its release, usually scoring up to hundreds of dollars on eBay.
[edit] PlayStation & Saturn
Released as a forerunner to the PlayStation release of Policenauts, this version of Snatcher was essentially a port of the PC-Engine version, but also included a few minor elements from the Sega-CD version. The game's graphics were upgraded to full 32-bit color. However, some of the game's most violent contents were toned-down or completely censored (for example; the disembodied head of a corpse in Act 1 is omitted from view after a brief second, and the sliced open belly of Katrina's dog Alice is omitted from view by showing her from the back instead). Not many fans appreciate the redrawn artwork and remixed music and prefer the older versions as a result.
A Saturn version was released that was nearly identical to the PlayStation version, but with slightly less censorship (no mosaic when a rotting corpse is shown).
[edit] SD Snatcher
Super Deform Snatcher (すーぱーでふぉるめ・スナッチャー?), or SD Snatcher for short, is an RPG for the MSX2 that adapts the storyline of the original Snatcher. The title refers to the super deformed (Japanese caricature) style used in the game. Like the MSX version of the original Snatcher, the game came with its own sound cartridge. It was released April 27, 1990.
The storyline only vaguely follows that of the original version for gameplay purposes and adds several new supporting characters in addition to the existing cast. SD Snatcher actually continues the story after the events of the Act 2 and takes the game to a slightly different conclusion than the later CD-ROM versions. The characters of Dr. Petrovich and Elijah Modnar made their first appearances in this version.
[edit] Trivia
- The city of Chernoton where the "Catastrophe" occurs is the original target of the nuclear warhead in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid.
- Some of the characters were modeled after characters from other fictional works:
- Gillian Seed was modeled after Rick Deckard, Harrison Ford's character in Blade Runner.
- Random Hajile was modeled after Sting's portrayal of Feyd-Rautha in the original film version of Dune.
- Jaime Seed was modeled after the likeness of Lindsay Wagner. Her first name comes from Wagner's character, Jaime Sommers of the Bionic Woman.
- The Snatchers are largely based on the T-800 Terminator series, with an added twist from the Boomer robots in the anime series Bubblegum Crisis: their mouth projectiles.
- Plato's Cavern in the Japanese version was originally called Joy Division as tribute to Hideo Kojima's favorite band.
- The bar Outer Heaven got its name from the fortress nation Solid Snake infiltrates in the first Metal Gear.
- In the Sega CD version, entering Ridley Scott's name into Jordan results in a "Classified" response. There is also reference made to a film director named "Ridley Scotty"
- Also in the Sega CD version, Hollywood special effects/makeup artist Rick Baker is similarly paid tribute to with the masks found at the black market designed by "Rick Bakery".
- In the Sega CD, PlayStation and Saturn versions, several Konami characters make a cameo in the Outer Heaven bar. In the PC88, MSX2 and PC Engine versions, there are several characters from many science fiction movies (C-3PO, Yoda, Masked Rider, Alien, etc.).
- Gillian is followed by Metal Gear Mk. II, a robot modeled after the nuclear tanks of the same name in the equally eponymous series. Metal Gear Mk. II will also appear in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which is controlled by Otacon and assists Solid Snake.
- "JUNKER" is a code to unlock Cunningham as a playable character in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the Sony PSP.
- In the PC MMORPG City of Heroes, the NPC Detective Junkers is named after the JUNKER task force, one of many law enforcement-theme police officer names.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Snatcher at MobyGames
- Hardcore Gaming 101 - Article on the game and regional differences with photos.
- Junker HQ Collector's site focusing on Snatcher and other Hideo Kojima games. Features detailed information on each version.
- The Kremlin A Snatcher fan site that features a lot of media from screenshots to music samples as well as other information about the game.
- The Policenauts Paradise and Snatcher Shrine - Fan page with lots of information.
- SD-Snatcher.net The ultimate fanpage on SD-Snatcher.
- NeoKobe A forum based on Snatcher.
