Part 2: 1. "Gilian's fine, Mika. You can call me Gilian."
1. "Gilian's fine, Mika. You can call me Gilian."
Alright, let's start this crazy game. Gilian (sigh) Seed, go!
We've just run into a slightly confusing thing - the date of the Catastrophe. The earliest versions of the game; specifically the MSX and PC-Engine CD versions came out in the late 80s. At this point, Kojima places "The Catastrophe" - which we're about to learn of - at June 6, 1991.
The Sega CD version of Snatcher was released in 1990, so for its release, Kojima back-dated the Catastrophe to June 6, 1996. SD Snatcher was released right after the original Snatcher, so we've still got the 06/06/1991 date.
...Wait, that's it? They're not going to explain more? This game really does presume familiarity with Snatcher.
For those of you who forgot or didn't know, The Catastrophe is an event on June 6 in which an accident at a research facility in Chernoton, Moscow releases a biological weapon named Lucipher Alpha into the atmosphere. It kills 80% of the Eurasian content; half of the world's population. This is the post-apocalyptic backdrop by which the events in Snatcher take place (well, 50 years later, anyway).
This is something else I never really got. Snatchers are the main focus of the game, of course, but the intros always treat them as worse than Lucifer-Alpha. I mean Snatchers are bad and all, but Lucipher-Alpha is a weapon that killed half of the world's population.
This is another date issue. The events of early versions of Snatcher (with the 1991 Catastrophe) typically have Gillian join J.U.N.K.E.R. when it's relatively new, in December 2042.
The latest versions of Snatcher with the '96 Catastrophe (PSX and Saturn versions) give a nod toward their previous incarnartions: J.U.N.K.E.R. is still around since 2042, but Gillian doesn't join until December of 2047. The math doesn't exactly work out, though. Snatchers appeared three years prior to the events of the game, which would put them around 2044.
Oh well. This is extraordinarily nerdy and nitpicky.
If you're wondering what's "canon" and what's not, you can presume the events of the Sega CD version are "official". That has Gillian joining JUNKER in 2047
This is also something that's only mentioned once. Technically anyone who works for JUNKER is a Junker. The guys standing in for Deckard who actually hunt the Snatchers however, are actually called "Runners" which is something I'm sure Konami of America was none too thrilled about. There's inspired by Blade Runner and then there's "inspired by" Blade Runner, you know?
And here we have the Tricycle. The American version of Snatcher calls them Turbocycles, but the Japanese ones call them Tricycles. They're basically three-wheeled hovercars.
American Snatcher has another nod to its origins. When turbocycles are explained to him, Gillian says:
Gillian: A flying tricycle, huh? I just came in on one of those.
Welcome to Junker Headquarters, located at the Konami-Omni Building in the heart of Neo Kobe!
This is the part of MSX emulators I hate. Why are they emulating "loading?" It's on my hard drive! The game comes on 3 720k disks! What's there to load?
As I live and breathe: It's JUNKER's
Yeah, unfortunately, SD Snatcher does not have a Detective's Room, Computer Room, or a Shooting Range, and they added a Medical Room. This is not the only major difference we'll be seeing in this update.
I'll give you the grand tour in a second, but can we do like Regular Snatcher and flirt with Mika?
No, we cannot. This is a little bullshit, SD Snatcher. Just saying. And yeah, I'm using bullshit in an adjectival phrase. What about it?
Head north of the Operator Room to the Boss Room. I hope we don't fight a giant Medusa Head.
Well, anyway, just like in the original, Benson Cunningham is going to tell us about JUNKER operations.
In the original, Cunningham gives you cash because there's seedier parts of the city where you wouldn't be able to use credit. Here, however, he's doing the older RPG trick of giving you some starter cash to buy weapons and items. Seed money, if you will. Ha ha! Get it? Cause... it's...
Welcome to the most confusing part of the whole game from a language standpoint.
Medical items, like Junker's Rush - which restores Gilian's HP - are known as "Junker". So you'll hear a lot about buying "Junker" and using "Junker" which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Presumably, I thought they were just abbreviating Junker's Rush but it also refers to two items called Newtralizer and Jyro which remove status effects.
Basically when you buy or use Junker, it's actually referring to medical items for Junkers.
Well, that sounds easy enough. Hey, a painting!
Yeah, it's a fine Russian piece of a goddamned vase-
Yikes! Sorry, Chief.
Yeah... that sounds great, but I think I'm going to go flirt with Mika some more first.
Alright, fine. We can't awkwardly flirt with Mika. Let's get our equipment in the engineering room.
Okay, cool, it's Harry and... ...who the fuck is that?
Grandpa? Since when do they call Harry Benson "Grandpa?"
Off-course you do!
Harry is the standard RPG weapon merchant of the game. SD Snatcher has no concept of "armor", so most of the equippable stuff you buy in the game will be of the offensive variety. Guns are your main weapon and require ammo. "Options" are auxilliary weapons such as grenades, tire shredders, and landmines.
Harry tries to explain away the RPG concept of XP and levels, but is rendered impotent by fan translation. Don't blame Thevma - he's not a writer!
ALRIGHT! Time to meet our Navigator, Metal Gear-
Okay now what the fuck is this.
Welcome to another major difference - In SD Snatcher, Metal Gear is fucking tiny and has a lamer name: Metal Gear Petit.
...
(Sigh.)
Well, that's enough update for now. Coming up next, let's go over weapons and items and maybe even get our first real assignment!
Differences Between Regular and SD Snatcher Thus Far
- You can't sexually harass Mika in SD Snatcher. I'm not sure I want to continue this thread.
- Junker HQ has a significantly smaller layout.
- There's some new guy in Engineering named Geoff.
- Metal Gear is... ah... different...
Relevant Snatcher Media
Intro:The Catastrophe
Let's Meet Mika!
Chief Benson Cunningham Gives Gillian his job description.