SD Snatcher Part #26 - 25. "This old man is Madnar?"

Part 26: 25. "This old man is Madnar?"

25. "This old man is Madnar?"

Syd Garden is full of useless statements and red herring NPCs. This is yet another not-the-balloon-panda we're looking for.

If you're a big Snatcher fan, you probably already know where this is going. Either way, I'm going to leave that where it is for now.

So after talking to everyone, the first thing to do is to go back to the teacups. Why?

Because here's our Snatcher friend! We need to find him again.

code:

give it up SyD/SeeD

It's hide and seek, SD Snatcher style. Unfortunately, you have to find all his hideouts in order. The next one is a trash can.

The next one is really tough to find, and here's some dialogue that has nothing to do with it.

Actually, you're supposed to go back to the Godzilla cutouts. When you put your face in-

code:

grow up sYd

-the Snatcher pops out and runs off!

Well, off to explore.

Yep, if you look at a big overhead map, the layout of North Syd Garden is built around a recreation of Moscow's Ina River. Allegedly, you can also see this river if you use R1 during the HALO jump to "look down" in Metal Gear Solid 3. I never actually confirmed it, though.

Anyway, if you find him at the last spot - near the UFOs, you'll get a videophone call from Randam that's even more confusing.

Randam's father? Why would this newly introduced character want to talk to Gilian? Well, it's new to everyone that Randam knew of his father, but you can probably figure out from Snatcher's ending where this is all going.

Go back to the east gate.

Metal: He probably rode his motorcycle here, Gilian.
Gilian: ...Oh, hush.

"I've just been wasting time at the amusement park. Hey, you see a Snatcher with a balloon anywhere?"

Fortunately, this hospital is a short trip to the north of Syd Garden.

We coulda had a cool driving mini-game or something but nooooo - this game only allows whack-a-mole and endless random encounters.

Petrovich Madnar is also the creator of the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear D from the series.

Wholly appropriate response.

Wait, who's saying this?

Ugh. I guess I get the idea. Thanks for nothing, OASIS.

Now, strangely - even though Gilian presumably has no idea who Randam's father is, he asks to be alone to view the memory card.

And now, it's time for a cutscene.

Gilian: So he knew me?
Metal: Gilian, shhhh. It just started.

(I liked the way I wrote the responses better.)

(Haha. Never mind.)

We're not going to meet Elijah for a bit, so I do have to say that I'm interested in how SD Snatcher paces these final reveals. The original doesn't give you much time to think and it's just cutscene after cutscene.

I don't like this at all. In the original, when Gilian finally meets Jamie, she implies that maybe he was the one who caused the Catastrophe. It's kind of a cool shock, even if it's short-lived and incorrect.

Gilian: Wait, I'm sorry. Did you just say Grapje?
Metal: Shhhh.
Gilian: Well, it sounded weird is all...

That is some really heavy stuff. Fortunately, Metal has the proper response.

OASIS really knows how to get into the soul of a character.

Here goes nothing!

I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN

Motherfucker. I gotta navigate that damn mirror maze don't I.

code:

its easy without biological vision

...What? Who?

Aw, who cares. Here's Randam.

Yeah, don't mourn or anything, good son.

...Yeah. What?

And it's back on the bike!

Gilian: That makes a lot of sense. (Or it's just an excuse.)

And with that, Randam heads back into Syd Garden. That leaves only one place left. The Magical House.

I thought we were gonna split- oh, whatever.

The mirror maze. This is a really fucking insidious thing that game developers do at times - it's a maze where you can't see the walls. Kojima also did this in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (in the swamp), so as much as you might like him now, there was a time in his career where he thought this was a good idea.

Gilian "meeting" his reflection like this indicates a wall to his north.

Gilian being occluded like this means a wall to his south. Don't ask about his lower torso to the north. I haven't really figured that out.

Besides the invisible walls, there's pits and reflections of pits to avoid. Falling down them takes you to a lowe level you have to come back up through.

Oh yeah? This invisiwall mirror maze? Don't worry. It's only about three floors.

...Fuck.

Welcome to Level 2 of the maze. Note you can fall down here via pit, but the proper way through are these ridiculous stairs. Hey look! There's a panda trapped in this nightmare, too!