Snatcher

Recently, I’ve been enjoying quite a few retro gaming videos on YouTube, and it’s helped to rekindle my desire to play older games, especially as I’m quite constricted currently in terms of my choice of gaming platforms.

Running Arch Linux on my old ThinkPad T440p has actually been an excellent choice for retro gaming, as I can easily set up Retroarch and make use of its multitude of options to emulate one game I’ve always wanted to play, but have no chance of ever physically owning or being able to play it even if I did own it. That game, is Snatcher from Konami and the incredible Hideo Kojima.

It also helps that Snatcher is heavily influenced by Blade Runner and the cyberpunk genre. If I haven’t mentioned it yet, Blade Runner is by far my favourite film ever. And even for its time, it was well written and dealt with mature themes when such things weren’t all that common in games. There’s a good reason why it’s seen as one of the best adventure and cyberpunk games ever made. If you’re a fan of Kojima’s later games such as Metal Gear Solid or Death Stranding, then you know to expect a game that will constantly surprise and intrigue you, despite its age.

I’m currently playing the Mega CD version of Snatcher, which was the only version officially released in the West. Seeing that South Africa has never had the best of access to the world of gaming, trying to find a physical copy has been all but impossible, and from what I’ve seen, the few copies floating around online are priced way higher than I could ever justify.

So, thank goodness for Arch Linux and Retroarch. Without them, I’d never have had the chance to experience Snatcher and in all likelihood a multitude of gaming greats.

I’m publishing this as part of 100 Days To Offload. You can join in yourself by visiting https://100daystooffload.com.

• Gaming