Snatcher — Blurt

Snatcher can best be described an a cyberpunk themed graphical adventure game. In addition to its cyberpunk theme, what made it unique for the time was its mature themes and in-depth story.

Snatcher was written and designed by Hideo Kojima for Konami and first released in 1988 for the PC-8801 and MSX2 in Japan. Snatcher was enhanced and released for the TurboGrafx-CD and later in 1994 again for the Sega CD. The Sega CD version would be the only English language version of the game and the only version released in North America.

The story is set in a not too distant future in which android-like beings called Snatchers are snatching victims and taking their place in disguise. You play the role of an officer in a special police force created to fight these Snatchers. The story and visual style was influenced by movies such as Blade Runner, Terminator and Akira.

The Sega CD is arguably the best version however it has been censored slightly from the Japanese TurboGrafx-CD version. Given that is has a heavy reliance on text and the Sega CD version is the only English language version, this is really the only reasonable option for a North American audience anyway. Unfortunately, it is also a very expensive option if you want an original copy. However, emulation is an option as well. For whatever reason, there has never been a more modern re-release of this game in North America so the Sega CD version is your only option. However, for cyberpunk and/or graphic adventure fans, this game is well worth trying.