Gameplay takes place primarily through a menu-based interface through which the player can choose to examine items, search rooms, speak to characters, explore a semi-open world, and perform other actions.

Development on the PC versions took more than twice as long as the average game of the time, even after Kojima was asked to trim more than half his initial story.

Looking to provide a more interactive experience to gamers in the West, Konami developed a Sega CD English version of Snatcher specifically for North America and Europe in 1994.

Although it was a commercial failure, the Sega CD version received mostly positive reviews for its cinematic presentation and mature themes uncommon in games at the time.

Snatcher has been retrospectively acclaimed as both one of the best adventure and cyberpunk games of all time, and identified as a foundation for the themes Kojima explored later in the Metal Gear series.

The game was a significant inspiration on Goichi Suda, who worked with Kojima to produce a radio drama prequel, Sdatcher.

[1][2][3] The player controls Gillian Seed as he investigates and hunts "Snatchers", dangerous humanoid robots disguised as humans roaming Neo Kobe City.

In Neo Kobe City, a metropolis on an artificial island in eastern Asia, humanoid robots dubbed "Snatchers" have been recently discovered killing humans, donning their skin as a disguise, and replacing them in society.

The player takes on the role of Gillian Seed (Yusaku Yara/Jeff Lupetin), an amnesiac who can only remember that his past, along with that of his estranged wife Jamie (Kikuko Inoue/Susan Mele), is somehow related to Snatchers.

After arriving at the JUNKER headquarters, Gillian Seed meets Mika Slayton (Miina Tominaga/Kimberly Harne) and Chief Benson Cunningham (Gorō Naya/Ray Van Steen), and receives a robot navigator named "Metal Gear Mk.

Having learned of a larger Snatcher factory in Moscow, Gillian prepares to embark on a mission there, hoping to destroy the menace and rekindle his marriage with Jamie.

[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.

[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).

[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.

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.

It covers the beginning of the first act and also contains supplemental content such as character introductions, a preview trailer, and select music tracks.

[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.

[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] 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.

[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.

[27] However, its reviewer criticized the music, calling it "old-fashioned for a cyberpunk adventure",[27] while Mean Machines Sega compared it positively to John Carpenter-style incidental themes.

[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).

[48] Game Informer wrote that Snatcher foreshadowed Kojima's use of science fiction to explore philosophy, sex, and the human condition in Metal Gear Solid.

[3][51][52] It has been an influence on other science fiction works, including Project Itoh's novel Genocidal Organ,[53] and the 2015 adventure game 2064: Read Only Memories.

[3][51][50] According to him, such a project has never been feasible from a business perspective,[55] and in 2011, said that a sequel would need to sell over half a million copies to make sense financially.

[3][58] Some believed it would play well on a Nintendo DS or 3DS, following the footsteps of successful graphic adventures on those platforms like Hotel Dusk and Phoenix Wright.

A demo of an early part of the game was made for the Virtual Boy in 2015, complete with stereoscopic 3D effects and PCM music.

[12] An episodic radio drama prequel, Sdatcher,[d] was released in 2011 through a collaboration between Kojima and game designer Goichi Suda.