Who created Snatcher and when was it first released?
Snatcher was written and designed by Hideo Kojima for Konami, and it was first released in 1988 for the PC-8801 and MSX2 computers in Japan.
Questions about Snatcher (video game)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Snatcher about?
Snatcher follows Gillian Seed, an amnesiac who joins the anti-Snatcher agency JUNKER to hunt humanoid robots that have been killing people and replacing them in society. The game is set in Neo Kobe City, a quarantined metropolis on an artificial island in eastern Asia, fifty years after a biological weapon called Lucifer-Alpha devastated the world's population.
Why was the Sega CD version of Snatcher censored?
Konami altered several scenes for the 1994-95 Sega CD release aimed at Western audiences, covering nudity, changing a character's age from 14 to 18, and cutting or softening some sexual content. It also swapped bar characters resembling Kamen Rider and the Alien for Konami's own characters to avoid US copyright issues.
How well did Snatcher sell?
Snatcher sold poorly on its original Japanese release and remained a commercial failure when localized for the Sega CD, reportedly selling only a couple thousand copies in the United States according to translator Jeremy Blaustein. Despite the poor sales, the game built a lasting cult following in Japan and the West.
Is Snatcher available on modern platforms?
Snatcher has not received an official modern rerelease. Its most recent official release was in 1996 on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in Japan, aside from an inclusion in the Japanese-only PC Engine Mini in 2020.
How did Snatcher influence Hideo Kojima's later work?
Critics have identified Snatcher as a foundation for themes Kojima later explored in the Metal Gear series, including his use of science fiction to examine philosophy, sex, and the human condition in Metal Gear Solid. Game Informer specifically credited Snatcher with foreshadowing that direction in Kojima's career.