Hideo Kojima discusses the game that gave him an ulcer

Hideo Kojima recently gave some insight into the extremely hard work that went into creating one of his earliest titles. In honor of the game’s 35^th anniversary, the famous video game director posted on X about his recollections of developing the cyberpunk adventure game Snatcher – a tough experience that made him into who he is today.

Originally released on the PC-88 computer in 1988, Snatcher is a graphic adventure game heavily inspired by Blade Runner and the anime Akira. Main character Gillian Seed works for Junker, an organization tasked with hunting down rogue androids called Snatchers. Slightly different versions of the game were released in Japan on various systems; including the MSX2 in 1988, and PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn in 1996. The Sega CD version (1994) was only released in the USA and Europe, and featured voice acting in English.

Neo Kobe City in Snatcher Sega CD Version — Screenshots are from the 1994 Sega CD version

In his recent X posts, Kojima explained that the PC-88 and MSX2 versions were being made in tandem and that this was his first experience working on two different platform releases at the same time. Kojima also mentions that he was working in Kobe, which probably influenced Snatcher’s futuristic Neo Kobe setting.

「SNATCHER」のPC-88版が出て今日で35年？！当時は、25歳か？！あの時は2機種同時開発がまだ未経験だったので、MSX2版が少し遅れてしまった。朝に三ノ宮のパソコンショップへ発売日の様子を見に行ってから、会社に戻ってMSX2版の開発を続けた。パソコンなので、CMも街灯ポスターとかもなく、静かな発売… pic.twitter.com/uR6ydrqQOq
— 小島秀夫 (@Kojima_Hideo) November 26, 2023

Post translation: It’s 35 years since Snatcher released on the PC-88?! And I was 25?! At the time, I had no experience developing two different platform releases at the same time, so the MSX2 version was slightly delayed. On the morning of the release day (for the PC-88 version), I went to a computer shop in Sannomiya (in Kobe) to see how things were going and then returned to the company to continue working on the MSX2 version. It was a quiet release as it was a PC game – no TV commercial or posters.

Talking about the difficulties with the PC-88 version, Kojima explains how his team was a division that made games for the MSX, so they had no experience with PC-88. Adding to this, Konami had never made an adventure game before, so they had to develop their own system and programming language from scratch. His small team were responsible for all aspects of the game. Kojima added that these stressful conditions resulted in him developing a stomach ulcer, ‘like Gibson’ – a character whose body you find near the beginning of Snatcher.

当時は20代なので、がむしゃら。コナミは、アーケードゲームから熾ったアクションゲーム系会社だったので、アドベンチャーゲームは、社内では誰も作った事はなかった。だからアドベンチャーゲームのシステムから開発する必要があった。さらにMSXの部署だったので、PC88の開発用ツールもノウハウも、は… https://t.co/51Qxd7Fg5t
— 小島秀夫 (@Kojima_Hideo) November 26, 2023

Post translation: I was in my 20s, so I was very eager. Konami was an action game company that had cut its teeth on arcade games, so no one in the company had ever made an adventure game. So, my team had to develop an adventure game system. On top that, we were the MSX division, so we had no PC-88 development tools, no know-how, nor sales channels, so we had to start from nothing. Technically, politically and physically, every day was grueling. Not only did we have to do the planning, configuration, scriptwriting, storyboards, game design, adjustments and the game manual, but we also had write our own simple language (while creating the language itself). This simple language was not just for inserting text but to also control everything from flag management to pictures, animation and sound (we called special programs for events). This was the beginning of what we now call a Level Editor. Towards the end of the project, I developed a stomach ulcer like Gibson. But it was this experience that made me who I am today.

Junker HQ receptionist Mika talks to the player in Snatcher. Screenshot text: "That's Jean's desk. Jean Jack Gibson. He's our ace runner."

After the 1988 release of Snatcher, Kojima went on to make a slew of innovative titles at Konami such as the Metal Gear Solid series (1998-2015), the Zone of the Enders games (2001-2003), and the killing-vampires-with-real-sunlight series Boktai (GBA, 2003-2006). He now heads the independent Kojima Productions, having released the highly acclaimed Death Stranding (2019), with a sequel in the works. Without his early experiences on Snatcher, these later games might never have been made.