It coincides with the 35th anniversary of the film’s release in Japan.snatcherThe well-known Hideo Kojima, who spearheaded the development of the project for Konami before the success of the ‘Metal Gear’ brand exploded, attended the commemoration of the premiere for the PC-8801 and MSX2 by revealing some anecdotes. development. Although he remembers that this job helped him reach his current position, he explains on his social networks that the project was also very painful for the iconic figure of the video game industry.
A multiplatform premiere (or almost)
Released in Japan in 1988 for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2, ‘Snatcher’ was further developed for the PC-Engine in 1992 and was even ported to the PlayStation and SEGA Saturn four years later. The company’s initial plans apparently had both versions planned to be released on the same date, but a series of delays caused in part by the few days off Kojima took after completing development of the first ‘Metal Gear’ meant they would begin shipping almost a month apart.
Classified as a graphic adventure, the work is set fifty years after a chemical weapon killed 80% of the Eurasian population. Meanwhile, a race of artificial lifeforms known as “snatchers” begin committing murders on the artificial island of “Neo Kobe City” to replace their human appearances with something resembling “Invasion of the Ultrabodies” crossed with “Blade Runner”. The player then takes on the role of Gillian Seed, an amnesiac employee of the Junker organization whose goal is to track down the source of these “snatchers” and uncover their connection to our character.
Distributed with photocopies
The video game project, which was originally to be called “Junker”, was distributed to the participants via photocopy, as their equipment did not include a word processor. “I was in my mid-twenties at the time, so I was pretty determined. Konami was a gaming company entering the arcade market, so they had never created a working adventure game before,” Kojima explains before diving into the details. “Anyway, we needed to develop an adventure game system. Also, since we were a division of MSX, no one was developing a working adventure game for the PC88.” “They didn’t have the tools, knowledge or sales channels, so we had to start from scratch.” By the way: The originally proposed name was canceled due to registration problems.
Then the pressures began to take effect. “Every day was very tiring, technically and physically. “Not only did we have to plan, organize, write scripts, storyboards, design, coordinate and create user manuals, but we also had to write our own language (while creating).” This accumulation of burden affected his health. “At the end of the project, I had a stomach ulcer like Gibson. But it was the experience that brought me here and made me who I am today.”
Banished to a drawer
It’s worth noting that ‘Snatcher’ is part of a series of franchises that the Japanese entertainment house has set aside in recent years. In this sense, we can also look at ‘Castlevania’, one of its most profitable franchises, which has not seen an episode aired for a decade. On the other hand, ‘Metal Gear Solid’, which was seen as the mainstay of Hideo Kojima’s work until he left the company, is currently working on the review of ‘Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’, but there is nothing about a new episode in The Guardian. horizon. He currently manages ‘Bomberman’, ‘eFootball’ and ‘Yu-Gi-Oh!’ It deals with franchises such as. on several fronts, both on consoles and smartphones.