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NEC PC-Engine/SuperGrafx => PC Engine/SuperGrafx Discussion => Topic started by: soop on April 20, 2011, 01:26:31 AM
Title: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: soop on April 20, 2011, 01:26:31 AM
^Topic. Everyone harps on about how amazing it is. My friend has it on the Mega CD too, reckons it's the best version 'cos you get to use a light gun at one point.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 20, 2011, 01:31:47 AM
sure you can play it. everybody can play it. getting just one bit from the story? no.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: soop on April 20, 2011, 02:46:28 AM
sure you can play it. everybody can play it. getting just one bit from the story? no.
Poop.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SignOfZeta on April 20, 2011, 05:59:52 AM
Well, its mainly just a digital comic made of text and CD audio. If you can't understand that then you can't understand what's going on.
You won't have much trouble actually beating the game though, so just use a FAQ or better yet, just keep in mind that everything in this game can be pretty accurately guessed at since its a huge rip-off of Blade Runner with a little bit of Bubblegum Crisis (which in itself was a huge rip-off of Blade Runner) thrown in.
Also, the gun parts aren't all that.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 20, 2011, 01:41:31 PM
I played through Snatcher back in the day with zero Japanese knowledge. I actually learned a lot while playing the game. I did get stuck at a couple spots that required text input, but I was lucky enough to get a Japanese exchange student to help me with at least one of them.
When the Sega-CD version came out, I was surprised how accurately I'd followed the story. :)
Digital comic adventure games (, JRPGs, etc) can be a lot of fun for gaijins. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, you have to find out for yourself if they're enjoyable for you.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Arkhan on April 20, 2011, 02:46:20 PM
Theyre neat, but kind of disappointing as you play them if you cant read wtfs going on so much.
Youre left guessing, and its more work than fun because youre making sure you know wtfs going on, sort of, while trying to navigate it.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Raizen1984 on April 21, 2011, 05:41:44 AM
Snatcher isn't really a digital comic. It has way more in common with those point-and-click adventure games on PC from the 80's and early 90's. The only difference is that it's entirely text-based (if you want to move forward, you literally type in: "move forward"). The PC-Engine/Sega CD version streamlined it for consoles so that you just select from a series of pre-selected options to do certain tasks. In that way, it has a little more in common with a DC, but you're still exploring and adventuring rather than just reading a digital graphic novel.
Playing the Japanese version without any knowledge of Japanese serves no purpose, other than to admire the artwork. If you're just going to follow a walkthrough step-by-step, you're missing half the experience of these types of games, which is exploration and discovery. This is why I don't understand people who play these types of games when they don't understand the language. Feeling your way around blindly until you randomly come across a solution just seems like a chore.
If you can, get the Sega CD version. It's pricey, but you'll actually understand it and enjoy it to it's fullest.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 21, 2011, 06:29:27 AM
Snatcher isn't really a digital comic. It has way more in common with those point-and-click adventure games on PC from the 80's and early 90's. The only difference is that it's entirely text-based (if you want to move forward, you literally type in: "move forward"). The PC-Engine/Sega CD version streamlined it for consoles so that you just select from a series of pre-selected options to do certain tasks. In that way, it has a little more in common with a DC, but you're still exploring and adventuring rather than just reading a digital graphic novel.
It's the same deal with many PCE "digital comic" games.
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Playing the Japanese version without any knowledge of Japanese serves no purpose, other than to admire the artwork. If you're just going to follow a walkthrough step-by-step, you're missing half the experience of these types of games, which is exploration and discovery. This is why I don't understand people who play these types of games when they don't understand the language. Feeling your way around blindly until you randomly come across a solution just seems like a chore.
Every game "experience" isn't equal and a game like Snatcher is still very cool without understanding everything completely. It's funny that you specifically mentioned "exploration and discovery", because that is what you get more of when playing Japanese Digital Comic/Adventure/RPG/etc type games. It can be a chore if you're not into this type of game, but most people find this type of game a chore even when it is in their own language.
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If you can, get the Sega CD version. It's pricey, but you'll actually understand it and enjoy it to it's fullest.
You can enjoy the Sega-CD game to it's fullest, but it's not the same game. Especially when people put such an emphasis on the "real" story/experience, which was altered quite a bit from the PCE version and the voice acting is terrible. Especially when you hear how critical so many Turbo/PCE fans are of Sega-CD Lords of Thunder. If that game isn't the same, then the console Snatchers are radically different.
Since Snatcher and Cobra II are available in english, unlike so many other PCE "misc" games, I recommend downloading an iso of the Sega-CD versions and trying them first. Many people will give up on them in english, but some will enjoy them enough to play the PCE versions afterward.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Raizen1984 on April 21, 2011, 08:42:58 AM
Quote from: Black Tiger
It's the same deal with many PCE "digital comic" games.
Well, for me, a digital comic is exactly that; the equivalency of reading a manga on your TV. No interactivity beyond occasionally hitting a button to make the text scroll, which is just another way of "turning the page" essentially. Stuff like Yuna or Bubblegum Crisis. Come on, you know what I meant.
I guess a more appropriate term for Snatcher would be "Graphic Adventure".
Quote
Every game "experience" isn't equal and a game like Snatcher is still very cool without understanding everything completely. It's funny that you specifically mentioned "exploration and discovery", because that is what you get more of when playing Japanese Digital Comic/Adventure/RPG/etc type games. It can be a chore if you're not into this type of game, but most people find this type of game a chore even when it is in their own language.
See, I just completely disagree with this.
For example, I own the Saturn version of Policenauts. Despite the art, music, and story all being great, I can't play it for more than an hour, because I just get completely bored with it. And it's not for a lack of appreciation for the genre. I played through Junker HQ's translation of the PS1 version and enjoyed every minute of it. It's just that, clicking through text screens I can't read, to get to cutscenes I can't understand, to get to an action/battle sequence that has no context, is extremely unfulfilling for me. I'm not interested in having to make "educated guesses" about the plot. There are plenty of Adventure and RPG games I love, but playing them in a different language is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
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You can enjoy the Sega-CD game to it's fullest, but it's not the same game. Especially when people put such an emphasis on the "real" story/experience, which was altered quite a bit from the PCE version and the voice acting is terrible. Especially when you hear how critical so many Turbo/PCE fans are of Sega-CD Lords of Thunder. If that game isn't the same, then the console Snatchers are radically different.
Really? I know there were some graphical alterations, mostly to make the Snatchers look less like the Terminator, but nothing that significantly alters the experience. All I know is, I played through the Sega CD version of Snatcher and enjoyed the experience very much. Maybe the OP's lack of familiarity with the PC-Engine version will be beneficial in this case? :)
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 21, 2011, 01:46:18 PM
I have to kinda agree with the digital comic and stuff. A digital comic really is like a manga to read on a TV like bakuretsu hunter e.g. Snatcher and such kind games are more like a digital-adventure, or yes a graphic adventure. I think even japanese call it like that way.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SignOfZeta on April 21, 2011, 04:57:07 PM
I think some people who don't speak Japanese just get completely flummoxed by text heavy Japanese stuff simply because... not so much that they can't understand it, but that there is text there that they can't read.
Anyone who has played some video games, read some sci fi, and watched some anime isn't going to have difficulty in figuring out what's going on in a game like Snatcher or Yuna (which, btw, are pretty f*cking similar games) unless they are just f*cking retarded. Sure you won't get as much out of it, but if you are patient you will get a lot out of it. People are way too obsessed with "I CAN'T READ THAT!!!" instead of, "Hey, what is that?" There are also a lot of people who are just outright xenophobes who can't stand the site of "foreign" text being anywhere in their presence.
When I first started "reading" manga (1986 or so) there were no translations in English. When I first started playing import RPGs it was during the early-mid-90s when you'd get maybe 1.5 English RPGs a year. It was that or nothing. I guess I'm just patient.
The main thing you have to keep in mind here is that we aren't talking about The Usual Suspects: The Video Game. We're talking about ultra derivative genre pieces that have about as many surprises in them as an episode of Dragon Ball Z that you've already seen three times. The stories I make up in my head as I'm playing the game are probably better than the shit that's actually there. How do I know? Because I've played games before! Good writers don't work for video game companies!
I've been a huge fan of the Super Robot Wars series since the early days and when I learned they were translated the OG games into English I was pretty pleased. Finally I could stop skipping all that text! But it didn't turn out that way. Once I could read the terribly terrible storyline it just became a chore. Its AWFUL. I couldn't finish either of the GBA games in their US releases (mainly because of the story, but I would have suffered if they were real SRWs and not OG games) but I've finished many of them (before and since) in straight Japanese. In fact, these games taught me a lot of Japanese.
Now, SRW is a lot more of a game than a Digital Comic, but the point is the same. The story isn't original, with the exception of a few plot points it isn't any good, and you can guess most of it. As for gameplay...you HAVE played Snatcher, haven't you? If you can or can't read "East", "West", "Open Door", etc you still have to try every one of those f*cking options to actually finish the game. You can guess in a language you don't understand, or one that you do. Its not that much of a difference, which is why the game takes roughly the same time to beat for gaijin as it does for Japanese.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 21, 2011, 08:08:49 PM
I remember a certain point in the 90's when I was playing a lot of Japanese games and watching a lot of subbed and un-subbed anime. It seemed like I understood about 3/4 of the dialogue of the average anime, because it was all a bunch of simple words and repetitive cliches. In particular I remember coming to this realization while watching an un-subbed episode of Record of Lodoss War. It almost seemed as though it was dubbed with Japanese-lite gaijins in mind.
If you can or can't read "East", "West", "Open Door", etc you still have to try every one of those f*cking options to actually finish the game. You can guess in a language you don't understand, or one that you do. Its not that much of a difference, which is why the game takes roughly the same time to beat for gaijin as it does for Japanese.
For Snatcher-style games and RPGs, it takes very little trial and error to figure out most of the commands and make notes. I made what amounted to a strategy guide for Kabukiden back in the day that was good enough for a few friends to play through the game with. I drew out all the spell/technique symbols (kanji/katakana), based on the blurry game graphics, without even really understanding katakana at that point. I figured everything out and played the game all the time and it was much more fun than any English RPGs at the time (and I played them all). I still have most of my notes and hand-drawn English manual.
The thing is, I made a similar amount of notes for games like Phantasy Star, Ultima IV, Shining In The Darkness and even documented everything I could to make reference charts and such for Zelda (and some other) style games.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 21, 2011, 08:38:26 PM
I remember a certain point in the 90's when I was playing a lot of Japanese games and watching a lot of subbed and un-subbed anime. It seemed like I understood about 3/4 of the dialogue of the average anime, because it was all a bunch of simple words and repetitive cliches. In particular I remember coming to this realization while watching an un-subbed episode of Record of Lodoss War. It almost seemed as though it was dubbed with Japanese-lite gaijins in mind.
Strange, I never had that feeling back then. And even now, while I can almost perfectly communicate with real Japanese peeps and read any mangas without big issues, I think I still failing to understand most of that crap in animes..lol.
But I guess, it just very depends of which animes you are watching.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SignOfZeta on April 21, 2011, 09:00:18 PM
What you aren't getting isn't the subtle detail in the language, but rather the billion layers of self referential genre in-breading.
Why are there so many Moai in video games? What's with the giant tear drop meaning "embarrassed". WTF is the obsession with cloning, mind control, and amnesia? There is nothing in a dictionary that will explain these things, only thousands of hours of ota crap, and for most of that you really don't even need the language.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 21, 2011, 09:21:38 PM
I agree on every point. But still there is so much more to get. F.e. imagine watching Dragonball (the old ones, not Z), w/o understanding a word or w/ understanding every word. The latter is so much more fun, mainly due to the sheer infinite jokes almost everywhere.
Same with the mangas, when I was young I have read all DBs, Ranma, Dr. Slump etc. mangas in French Language (since at that time only those were available in a language I could halfway understand). Now rereading the same mangas 15+ years later, but in its original language, it is so much more fun. Mainly due to the reason that I get the real jokes and not some altered translation shit or guessing 97% from the pictures alone.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Keranu on April 21, 2011, 09:24:56 PM
You can do what my brother did and hook up the Sega CD and PCE SCD versions of Snatcher to one TV and jump back-and-forth between video signals. :P
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 21, 2011, 09:33:43 PM
NO WAY :P
I hope he had a switch-box :idea:
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SaturdayMorningRobots on April 22, 2011, 04:30:55 AM
Hmmm is the Sega CD english snatcher that different from the J PCE version? (I've only ever played the Sega CD version and consider it one of Kojima's best games) If so I may have to pick it up and bash my way through.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 22, 2011, 04:40:46 AM
the PCE has better colors and shows more nudity and here and there also more violence. but the latter is about on par with the MCD version. anyway, the pce is more of an original than the mcd, since it came earlier. I also like its subtitle "CD-ROMantic". that has some real class.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SamIAm on April 22, 2011, 04:42:10 AM
The Sega CD version has far superior music. It's the same music, but it's programmed much better. This is important.
PCE-CD
Sega CD
and that's not even the most drastic one.
Also, bear in mind that the US version is the only one released for Sega CD. Curiously, there is no JP Mega CD release.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 22, 2011, 07:19:52 AM
Hmmm is the Sega CD english snatcher that different from the J PCE version? (I've only ever played the Sega CD version and consider it one of Kojima's best games) If so I may have to pick it up and bash my way through.
One thing is that Kojima's artistc vision was for you to sexually harass and grope a 14 year old girl, not someone remotely of legal age. :wink:
Sega CD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fbX01saLqc&feature=player_detailpage#t=4s
and that's not even the most drastic one.
It's only far superior in the same sense that some people feel that PC Engine sound doesn't even compare to Mega Drive sound. That PCE video is emulated and doesn't sound the same as the real thing and the Sega-CD video also doesn't sound real. It's actually not the same music either, some tracks sound radically different, some sound slightly different composition wise. Several of the Sega-CD tracks sound straight up broken to me, like bad fan midis. Most don't sound as good overall on Sega-CD. I don't think that Konami put much effort into catering the music for the sound hardware the way they did with the PCE version.
Try listening to this video from 6:03 onward-
And now listen to this- http://superpcenginegrafx.net/misc/sp3.mp3
I don't think that even people who ignore composition and only focus on types of sounds being similar to what they believe is best (I'm not saying that SamIAm is like this :P) would say that the Sega-CD is far superior.
Also notice that half the melody is missing in the Sega-CD version, which makes a big difference in a song like this.
Quote
Also, bear in mind that the US version is the only one released for Sega CD. Curiously, there is no JP Mega CD release.
The Mega-CD "bombed" in Japan and I don't think that Konami ever supported it. If the Genesis wasn't the success it was, I don't think we would have ever seen any Konami games for Sega platforms in any region during that generation. Hudson didn't put out any of it's Sega-CD games in Japan either.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SamIAm on April 22, 2011, 07:48:40 AM
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It's only far superior in the same sense that some people feel that PC Engine sound doesn't even compare to Mega Drive sound. That PCE video is emulated and doesn't sound the same as the real thing and the Sega-CD video also doesn't sound real. It's actually not the same music either, some tracks sound radically different, some sound slightly different composition wise. Several of the Sega-CD tracks sound straight up broken to me, like bad fan midis. Most don't sound as good overall on Sega-CD. I don't think that Konami put much effort into catering the music for the sound hardware the way they did with the PCE version.
They're quite close enough to the real thing, of which I've heard both, for someone to judge which they prefer. Of course, it's all subjective, and to each their own. Also, I certainly wouldn't claim that the MD's sound capabilities were much better than the PCE's. That's actually why I personally feel that far more time and effort was put into the MD version. To some, the MD version may sound overproduced, but to me, the PCE one sounds like they rushed to make it work and left it in too simple a state.
How many instruments can you count in each version of the track I posted? I count two melodic instruments and two different drum beats in the PCE version, compared to three melodic instruments and 3 drum beats in the MD version. The stereo and reverb effects are much better in the MD one, too. You don't have to prefer it, but I know which one I'd hate to be stuck having to program if I were pressed for time. [edit: with the volume up, I hear more instruments in both. Point still stands, though.]
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The Mega-CD "bombed" in Japan and I don't think that Konami ever supported it. If the Genesis wasn't the success it was, I don't think we would have ever seen any Konami games for Sega platforms in any region during that generation. Hudson didn't put out any of it's Sega-CD games in Japan either.
Yeah, it's just interesting to think that after making the US Sega CD version and the Japan PCE version, they could have combined the assets and cranked out a Japanese MD version in a week. I guess it just shows how quickly the Mega CD market dried up once the Saturn came out.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SignOfZeta on April 22, 2011, 07:53:59 AM
I'm not sure there ever was a Mega CD market in Japan. Even with %90 of the work done they probably still would have lost money on it.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SamIAm on April 22, 2011, 07:56:25 AM
Sure there was. There are a ton of Japan only Mega CD games, you know. I'd bet Game Arts didn't have their eyes on the US/EU markets when they made Lunar, either.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SignOfZeta on April 22, 2011, 07:56:59 AM
Same with the mangas, when I was young I have read all DBs, Ranma, Dr. Slump etc. mangas in French Language (since at that time only those were available in a language I could halfway understand). Now rereading the same mangas 15+ years later, but in its original language, it is so much more fun. Mainly due to the reason that I get the real jokes and not some altered translation shit or guessing 97% from the pictures alone.
Yeah, but when I was a kid Dragon Ball wasn't available in any language I could read a word of (OK, maybe I could read, literally, a word or two in Spanish but that's not much help). It was a choice between stumbling and guessing my way through a book or not experiencing it at all.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Tatsujin on April 22, 2011, 09:11:12 AM
Sure there was. There are a ton of Japan only Mega CD games, you know. I'd bet Game Arts didn't have their eyes on the US/EU markets when they made Lunar, either.
A Ton? I would call the PCEs CD library a ton, and limit the MCDs to few kilos compared.
I don't say that there wasn't a market at all. At least there were some CD games, and few of 'em were actually fun.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 22, 2011, 10:40:59 AM
I think that Game Arts likely lost money or maybe broke even on the Mega-CD Lunars and probably remade them for Saturn to try to make some money off of them.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: ccovell on April 22, 2011, 01:12:02 PM
As far as Snatcher's non-redbook soundtrack goes, PC-88 > Sega CD > MSX > PCE CD.
Even the similar WSG chip on the MSX SCC pak shows its superiority to the PCE, sadly. :(
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SamIAm on April 22, 2011, 07:12:22 PM
Not to split hairs or anything, but this website (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/tiki-index.php?page=SegaBase+Sega+CD&bl=y) says that Lunar on the Mega CD was a big hit that sold 100,000 copies in Japan. That would be about 1 in 4 Mega CD owners, if Wikipedia's source is correct. Apparently, it directly increased sales of the system, too. Of course, you're still probably right about the wanting-to-make-more-money-off-it aspect, but I don't think Lunar was exactly a failure for them.
Also, of the Sega CD's 220 games, 57 are Japan-only. Maybe "ton" is a poor choice of words, but that's still a substantial chunk.
I play my Duo much more than my Sega CD, but I'll come right out and admit that I'm kind of a Sega guy. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Black Tiger on April 22, 2011, 09:17:18 PM
Not to split hairs or anything, but this website (http://www.eidolons-inn.net/tiki-index.php?page=SegaBase+Sega+CD&bl=y) says that Lunar on the Mega CD was a big hit that sold 100,000 copies in Japan. That would be about 1 in 4 Mega CD owners, if Wikipedia's source is correct. Apparently, it directly increased sales of the system, too. Of course, you're still probably right about the wanting-to-make-more-money-off-it aspect, but I don't think Lunar was exactly a failure for them.
Also, of the Sega CD's 220 games, 57 are Japan-only. Maybe "ton" is a poor choice of words, but that's still a substantial chunk.
I play my Duo much more than my Sega CD, but I'll come right out and admit that I'm kind of a Sega guy. :mrgreen:
Lunar SS sold very well considering the popularity of the Mega-CD, but it was an overly ambitious project that seemed to get shoved out the door after they'd spent too much time on it. Looking at Lunar EB was just as ambitious but was fully realized and polished with lots of full quality animation. It must've been a very expensive production for the format.
As for the number of games for Sega-CD and Mega-CD, I think that both are well beyond the threshold of having sizable quality libraries for us game fans. The Mega-CD just happened to lag behind the Mega Drive, Famicom, PC Engine and Super Famicom in sales. So it's understandable why Konami didn't put out Snatcher in Japan. However, I just remembered that they did publish Lethal Enforcers for Mega-CD. :P Maybe its sales convinced Konami not to release any more Mega-CD games.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Arkhan on April 23, 2011, 08:49:24 AM
One thing is that Kojima's artistc vision was for you to sexually harass and grope a 14 year old girl, not someone remotely of legal age. :wink:
14 is of legal age in Japan.
What I meant, was that it isn't here, but that the character was meant to be 14. All kinds of crazy things may be technically legal in other countries that are at the very least not considered moral in North America.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Arkhan on April 23, 2011, 09:21:20 AM
One thing is that Kojima's artistc vision was for you to sexually harass and grope a 14 year old girl, not someone remotely of legal age. :wink:
14 is of legal age in Japan.
What I meant, was that it isn't here, but that the character was meant to be 14. All kinds of crazy things may be technically legal in other countries that are at the very least not considered moral in North America.
Its not technically legal in other countries. it IS legal in other countries.
and I don't think Kojima really gave two shits about NA's morals when he made the masterpiece known as Snatcher.
:)
Our morals here are backwards and idiotic half the time anyways.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SaturdayMorningRobots on April 24, 2011, 05:09:04 PM
I still think the sega CD's overall presentation is better. (particularly the sound) and I did know about the shower shenanigans before. Also The Sega CD had the lightgun parts. AFAIK the PCE never had a light gun right? but I think I will go ahead and add the PCE version of Snatcher to my library, especially since I don't think I'll find a CDX for a decent price anytime soon, much less a copy of Snatcher... Unless my A-hole friend who's Sega CD is broken stops sitting on his (A broken Sega CD... imagine that! :p).
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: CDJ on May 03, 2011, 10:24:16 AM
Sega CD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fbX01saLqc&feature=player_detailpage#t=4s
and that's not even the most drastic one.
Also, bear in mind that the US version is the only one released for Sega CD. Curiously, there is no JP Mega CD release.
I agree that (most) of the MCD chiptunes sound better. However, that only applies to the identical songs. Thing is, you're wrong saying it's the same music. While the PC Engine version used chiptune and Redbook Audio renditions of all the music from the original PC-8801/MSX2 versions, the MCD version replaced about half the soundtrack, even some of the CD Audio tracks, and well, the actual compositions of the new tracks are not up to those of the PC88/MSX2/PCE versions.
In that sense, I'd actually say the original PC-8801 version has the best soundtrack, it has all the original tunes you'll also hear in the PCE version and they definitly sound better than the PCE chiptunes. Only the few CD Audio tracks are where the PCE version has the advantage.
PC-8801
Same track in the PCE version
You won't hear that song in the MCD version.
Oh and in the same PCE video a little bit later...
Compare this song, to...
...the one played in the same scene in the MCD version.
Not cool!
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: SamIAm on May 03, 2011, 12:08:28 PM
Interesting. I never played that far into the PCE-CD version, but it seems it does have its own advantages. Maybe someday I'll try and fire up the PC-88 version and check it out, too. Thanks for the info!
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: CDJ on May 03, 2011, 01:22:36 PM
Oh and I almost forgot:
As I said I do agree that the MCD versions of identical compositions are superior to their PCE counterparts, but there are a few exceptions.
This is one of those in my opinion.
PCE
MCD
I really don't like the tinny sounds the MCD version uses here.
I also never really cared for the extra stuff the localization team added to the ending. It's easily the worst dialogue in the game.
PCE
MCD
(Also, again an entirely different song in both versions and Gillian and Jamie were completly redrawn and look really silly in the MCD version.)
But don't get me wrong, all in all the MCD version is still great and if the topic creator hasn't done it already, I really suggest playing the english version first and after that play the PCE version for comparisons sake if you don't speak japanese. The game drives on it's story and I disagree with some comments made in this thread that you can follow most of the plot just through the visuals, especially the whole revelation during the showdown part which goes for about 20 minutes with nothing but non-interactive voiced dialogue.
And you could always do a lot worse than the MCD version.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: Arkhan on May 05, 2011, 10:52:01 AM
Hey dont forget the MSX one! Its got a kickass soundtrack
Whole game is Konami SCC glory. Commence eargasm.
Title: Re: Can I play Snatcher with no knowledge of Japanese?
Post by: CDJ on May 06, 2011, 01:47:43 AM
Well, most of the music does sound better than the PCE songs, not counting CDDA, but it's still not as good as the PC88 version and it's a sloppy conversion with horrible loading times.