Snatcher
スナッチャー1992Snatcher
スナッチャーHunt robot impostors in a future Japanese city as an amnesiac agent.
Snatcher is a cyberpunk adventure set in 2047, when robots called Snatchers kill humans and take their places. You play Gillian Seed, an amnesiac agent. The PC Engine version is a CD remake of the 1988 computer game.
| RELEASED IN JAPAN | 23 October 1992 |
|---|---|
| PILOT DISK | 7 August 1992 |
| ORIGINAL COMPUTER VERSIONS | PC-8801 and MSX2, 1988 |
| DEVELOPER AND PUBLISHER | Konami |
| WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY | Hideo Kojima |
The game runs through a menu, where you examine items, search rooms and talk to people. You move around a semi-open city as the story unfolds. A few action segments have you shoot enemies on a grid.
The CD version adds recorded speech and music.
A biological weapon, Lucifer-Alpha, has killed half the world. You work with the JUNKER agency and a robot navigator, Metal Gear Mk. II. The story ends on a cliffhanger, and the PC Engine version adds a third act, based on the 1990 RPG SD Snatcher.
Kojima planned a five-act story, but memory limits forced the PC-8801 version down to two acts. Players asked for a console version, and only CD systems were considered for it. Konami chose the PC Engine Super CD-ROM², and the team was criticized for adding the third act.
The PC Engine version sold well for a PC Engine game. It gained a cult following in Japan, partly because of its gore. Famicom Tsushin reviewers praised its cinematic quality, and Sega CD, PlayStation and Saturn versions followed later.
It was Konami's first CD project, and it shows how the Super CD-ROM² could carry a cinematic adventure. It also shows Kojima's style at an early stage, before Metal Gear.
- A radio drama prequel, Sdatcher, came out in 2011 with Goichi Suda.
- The Sega CD translation was done by Scott Hards.
- A pilot disk came out in August 1992, two months before the full game.