Snatcher (video game)

Science fiction cinema, especially the cyberpunk story and setting from Blade Runner (1982), pictured, were significant inspirations for Snatcher.

Snatcher was created by Hideo Kojima, working for Konami.[2] Heavily influenced by Blade Runner (1982) and other works of cinema, he wanted to develop a game with a similar style.[4] The game was pitched as a "cyberpunk adventure". Kojima found it difficult to explain the meaning of "cyberpunk" to Konami's trademark department over the phone.[5] The game was originally titled Junker, but the name sounded too similar to an existing mahjong game. The title New Order was also considered. Kojima did not like the final name because his previous game, Metal Gear (1987), was also named after an enemy in the game.[5]

Development began between Kojima and character designer Tomiharu Kinoshita, who both treated the project like making a film or anime rather than a game.[6] They expanded to form a small team at Konami, about half the size needed for a typical Famicom game, which allowed them to work closely and quickly.[2] The game is filled with science fiction culture references that skirt copyright laws.[4] Kojima told Kinoshita to style the characters similar to Katsuhiro Otomo's characters in his manga Akira (1982-1990).[2] The team never aimed for the game to have a mature atmosphere, but it naturally progressed in that direction.[7] In addition to fourth wall breaking dialogue in the game, Kojima wanted to print a secret message and heat-activated scent on the floppy disks that could be noticed after warming them up in the disk drive, but Konami did not approve of this idea.[8][9]

The development of the original versions of Snatcher lasted around 18 months.[4] Originally Kojima planned the story in five acts, but was forced to trim them down to two due to memory constraints, ending the story in a cliffhanger.[4] Plans for a sequel that would've contained the third through fifth act and an additional one were scrapped due to the prolonged development of the first installment.[10][11][4][7][12] Development took about two to three times longer than the average game.[7] Difficulties with memory constraints prompted the staff to take a break during development, at which time Kojima began to explore concepts for his later game Policenauts (1994).[13]

Originally Snatcher was going to be a PC-8801 exclusive, but it was also developed for the MSX2 at the request of Konami.[14] The PC-8801 version supports FM and stereo sounds via the Sound Board II expansion card while the MSX2 version came with a special cartridge that provided an expanded soundscape beyond the platform's default capabilities and extra RAM, featuring different music track arrangements.[14] The expansion cartridge raised the price of the MSX2 version beyond that of the PC-8801 version, a reverse from the platform's typically cheaper retail game pricing.[14] The quantity of music and sound was greater than other games at the time, and required a larger than usual sound team.[15] Because neither platform was capable of accurately synthesizing speech, sound effects were used to represent character dialogue.[7]

Snatcher was released for the PC-8801 on November 26, 1988,[16] and the MSX2 on December 13 that year.[17]

Snatcher features mature themes including gore and sex. Some scenes in the PC Engine version, such as the death of the Lisa Nielsen Snatcher (top), were censored when localized for the Sega CD version (bottom).

Players began asking for a home console version soon after release.[7] Because the game was large and required several floppy disks, only CD-ROM systems were considered as opposed to systems that ran ROM cartridges. The PC Engine had the Super CD-ROM² System available so it was chosen to host Snatcher's console port.[7] Fully titled Snatcher CD-ROMantic, this port was the first time that Konami worked with CD technology.[2]

The team added a third act to this version, based on the extended story featured in the 1990 RPG adaptation SD Snatcher,[18] a decision they were criticized internally for as others believed the game was already long enough.[7] Using CD technology enabled them to add recorded speech and high quality background music.[7] Artist Satoshi Yoshioka created the graphics for this version. Kojima wanted the visuals to appear as "cinematic" as possible, so Yoshioka pulled inspiration from Blade Runner, The Terminator (1984), and Alien (1979) to replicate their Hollywood-style special effects. He used a custom drawing application by Konami to create the character graphics, including the facial expressions during conversations. He found Gillian's expressions to be the most difficult to animate due to the complexities of his characterization.[2]

A trial version called the Pilot Disk was released on August 7, 1992. It covers the beginning of the first act and also contains supplemental content such as character introductions, a preview trailer, and select music tracks.[19] The full version was released on October 23, 1992[20] and reportedly sold well for a PC Engine game.[7]

After releasing its first game on the Sega CD, Lethal Enforcers (1992), Konami wanted to bring a more interactive experience to the system for Western players. It considered making a game in full motion video like Night Trap (1992) but thought it may be too difficult, and ultimately decided to localize and port Snatcher. This also gave the Snatcher developers an opportunity to improve upon the PC Engine version which they were still not completely satisfied with.[7] Although the Sega CD could only display 64 colors simultaneously (compared to the PC Engine's 256), the team used software techniques to increase this to 112 and modified some of the palettes to compromise.[7]

Several scenes were censored or otherwise altered for the Sega CD release. The breasts of the deceased Lisa Nielsen Snatcher were covered up, while the sequence in which Katrina Gibson is shown standing naked in a shower was obscured, and Katrina's age was changed from 14 to 18.[7] Some options that allowed Gillian to engage in sexual behaviors were removed or toned down, such as those that allowed him to sniff panties or stare at breasts.[21] Audio in which a robot becomes aroused while watching a pornographic film was cut out entirely. The violence was not altered, except for one scene where a partially dead dog with twitching innards was made completely dead with no twitching.[7] Fearing copyright issues in the United States, the clientele in a bar was changed from Kamen Rider, the Alien, and other characters to Konami characters. Feeling that the third act was too movie-like, Konami added more interactivity through additional forks and choices. Additionally, the player is now graded on how well they solved the mysteries.[7] Dates of events in the game were also moved up five years to still occur in the near future to compensate for the late release.[22]

The game was translated by Scott Hards, with supervision from Jeremy Blaustein and Konami of Japan.[21] The translation took about two to three months.[21] Seven voice actors recorded about two and a half hours of dialogue for 26 different characters.[7] With the large amount of text included in the game, the translation was expensive, and Konami felt it was the most difficult part of the porting process.[7] Kojima was not involved with the Sega CD port and the changes to the game's content and story were made without his input.[21][10]

Snatcher was released in December 1994 in Europe and January 1995 in North America.[23][24] According to Blaustein, it only sold a couple thousand copies in the United States and was ultimately a commercial failure.[21] Its poor sales have been attributed to its late release during the Sega CD's lifespan.[3]

Snatcher was released once again in Japan in 1996, this time for 32-bit game consoles. A PlayStation version was released on January 26,[25] followed by a Sega Saturn version on March 29.[26] That same year, VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine reported that a 64DD port was planned.[27]

When Snatcher arrived to the West on the Sega CD, it received praise for its story, cinematic presentation, and mature themes.[29][39][33][34] It was more cinematic and told a more mature story than gamers were familiar with at the time.[2][14][40][41] Mean Machines Sega felt Snatcher was more substantial than other adventure games, calling it "one of the most involved storyboards and backgrounds of any video game".[34] The game's writing was generally lauded,[23][39][33] but VideoGames and Game Players felt its juvenile humor sometimes conflicted from its otherwise serious tone.[36][29] A reviewer at GameFan called it "one of the longest, most involving games" he had played in a long time. He wrote: "Never before have I played – nay experienced – a game this moving, dramatic, gore-riddled, MA-17, adult". The magazine praised Konami for retaining most of the mature content.[33] The reviewers of Games World magazine praised the game for having a "gripping" and "engrossing" storyline.[37] Computer and Video Games said it was "one of the most compelling role playing games" with an "engrossing" story that is clever, "well put together, atmospheric and sometimes genuinely funny," while comparing it favorably to 1980s science fiction films and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994).[23]

Mean Machines Sega believed Snatcher's presentation was heightened through the use of CD-ROM technology, which supported the digitized voices and high quality graphics.[34] Some critics praised the English voice acting and writing,[29][33][34] though Next Generation thought Konami could have contracted better actors.[24] Dave Perry of Games World said the "Japanese animé graphics coupled with crisp game speech bring to life an RPG adventure with an edge."[37] Other magazines also discussed the graphics in a positive light,[39][34][36] although the graphics were criticized by Computer and Video Games as "dated" and VideoGames as "generic".[23][29] GamePro liked the Japanese anime style graphics and felt that combined with the writing, it drew players into the story.[28] However, its reviewer criticized the music, calling it "old-fashioned for a cyberpunk adventure",[28] while Mean Machines Sega compared it positively to John Carpenter-style incidental themes.[34]

Critics felt the game was slow moving at times, but rewarded patient players.[23][39][28] GamePro wrote that it rewards "patience, persistence, and plodding".[28] Dave Perry of Games World said interaction "is varied and there are enough options to prevent it from being too linear."[37] Ultimate Future Games, however, felt the game was too linear, and leaned too heavily on the illusion of choice when the story could only be advanced by completing tasks in a certain order.[38] Mean Machines Sega felt the puzzles were challenging and the game was considerably longer and more substantial than Rise of the Dragon (1990), another cyberpunk adventure game.[34] Computer and Video Games felt the gun shooting sections were weak and disappointing.[23]

Snatcher has been called one of the best adventure games[42][43] and best cyberpunk games of all time.[44][45] In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the Sega CD version the 69th best console video game of all time on the sole basis of the game's story content, remarking that "not many people have played it, but almost everyone knows of its grisly story line."[46] It has continued to receive praise for its story and presentation.[2][44][40] Waypoint wrote that its narrative and visuals hold up, in contrast to most Sega CD and cyberpunk adventure games.[3] Kotaku called it a "science fiction cornucopia" and liked how the game explored topics of human existence and the fear of machines replacing humans.[2] It felt the game was heavily influenced by science fiction films including Blade Runner, The Terminator, Akira, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).[40] Other publications also picked up on these inspirations, especially that from Blade Runner.[42][47][48] Retro Gamer felt it was ironic how the game was more cinematic than games using full motion video.[47] Destructoid enjoyed the plot, but complained about the interface.[48] AllGame wrote that text-based menu driven games like Snatcher can become tedious, but felt the storyline and graphics made Snatcher worth its time.[42]

Snatcher was remade into a role-playing game called SD Snatcher for the MSX2, released in 1990.[12][40][70] "SD" stands for "super deformed" in Japanese media, another way to reference chibi character designs.[71] The game plays from a top-down perspective, where the player controls Gillian as he ventures through the environment. When the player encounters an enemy on the field, the game shifts to a first-person battle mode. The player must shoot down enemies using one of many different guns. Different parts of an enemy can be targeted and different weapons have varying abilities and ranges.[12] Like the MSX2 version of Snatcher, SD Snatcher consisted of three floppy disks with game data and a sound cartridge equipped the SCC chip.

SD Snatcher was developed by Konami due to the company's desire to create an RPG in an unusual futuristic setting, choosing to adapt the story and setting of Snatcher for such a game. While the original versions of Snatcher released in 1988 ended the story in an inconclusive matter due to the cancellation of the planned sequel, SD Snatcher adds an additional segment that continues the story from where the prior version left off (this added portion served as the basis for the third act added in later console ports of the original Snatcher).[72] Initially Hideo Kojima was not involved with the development of SD Snatcher, as he was busy with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake at the time, but he and his team were brought in during the late stages of development to help complete SD Snatcher smoothly so they could resume development of Solid Snake.[73][11] It was translated by the Dutch-based group Oasis in 1993, making it one of the earliest documented fan translations.[12]

An episodic radio drama prequel, Sdatcher,[lower-alpha 4] was released in 2011 through a collaboration between Kojima and game designer Goichi Suda.[3][75] Suda credited Snatcher, along with works by Yu Suzuki, for igniting his interest in video games.[76] He asked Kojima if he wanted to make a new game together, and the project led to a radio drama.[77] It was announced in 2007.[75] The script was written by Suda,[78] and the music was composed by Akira Yamaoka, who worked for Suda in his Grasshopper Manufacture studio and worked on the Silent Hill series.[53] Original Snatcher artist Satoshi Yoshioka did promotional illustrations.[53] The first act was released in September 2011 with new acts released every other week through November that year.[79] It was distributed for free and later sold on CDs.[80] It was later translated by fans.[81]