What's more canon, Snatcher or SD Snatcher and SDatcher?

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Jexis Lexington
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What's more canon, Snatcher or SD Snatcher and SDatcher?

Post by Jexis Lexington »

So, I recently just finished the Project Melancholia translation of SD Snatcher, and I gotta say, I'm really wondering if it's actually more canon than the main Snatcher we know.
Spoiler:
First off, the story is really quite different in SD Snatcher. It's paced differently and the biggest change is the villain--turns out Elijah Madnar was actually usurped by the Snatchers who saw his human doubt, and then the Snatchers decided that simply controlling the world with Snatchers in VIP positions wouldn't be enough to create peace and eradicate doubt, and that all humanity would have to be destroyed instead. The Snatchers then want to become 'true human beings' (I think that's how it's phrased at one point in SD Snatcher) and inherit the earth as they see themselves with holy perfection and no doubt or fear.
So, with that big change, that leads me to consider SDatcher--
Spoiler:
In SDatcher, we follow Gibson as he discovers the Snatcher threat and finds out that his wife Alice has been Snatched and is now looked upon as a Christ-like figure by the Snatchers. There's a point in SDatcher where I think Cris asserts that despite being a bioroid, he's alive and not just a mechanic tool, as well as Alice saying that even though she's not a bioroid, she's still perfectly capable of love. Never is it hinted at that Madnar is controlling all the Snatchers and that their goal is world domination via subterfuge--Alice (or another Snatcher, can't quite recall at the moment), actually states that bioroids, as living creatures, have the same right to spread and reproduce as others, even if it's by Snatching. The Snatchers have so much more agency and motivation than they do in the original, which was basically 'because Madnar told us to'. It's quite heavily implied that the Snatchers intend to eventually take over the planet and become the new dominant species, which is what their goal is in SD Snatcher too.
Not only is this plot arguably much more in-depth than the original, I would argue it's better, and much less Metal Gear-y.
Spoiler:
And by less Metal Gear-y, I mean the plot changes from Madnar basically becoming The <B>Patriots</B> via Snatching VIPs to the Snatchers being fully-fledged and developed creatures and villains. There's much less emphasis on political control of things like nukes and war, and the Cold War is referenced less, while the focus is changed to the religious-esque ascension of the Snatchers as dominant species. Now, I know the original Snatcher and SD Snatcher were made way before Metal Gear had <B>Patriots</B> stuff going on and when Metal Gear was basically 'nukes and war' themed, but by changing the villains in SD Snatcher, Snatcher goes from a 'nukes and war and politics' theme to a totally different one, which I would hope would be something Kojima would do instead of recycling that theme, and which I feel might be more evidence towards his real intentions for the plot of Snatcher.
So, the plots of SDatcher and SD Snatcher fall in line with each other much more than they do with the original Snatcher, and considering that we basically only have three major works relating to Snatcher--the original, SD Snatcher, and SDatcher, that's two-thirds of all major Snatcher media that are in continuity with each other, versus the original which now stands alone. Not to mention that SDatcher was made years after Snatcher came out (in 2007, I believe), which means that when Kojima revisited Snatcher and had time to make what he wanted, this was the plot and theme he chose.

This leads me to conclude that SD Snatcher and SDatcher are the real Snatcher canon. Considering how the original Snatcher now not only stands alone but that its endings are different between certain versions, being truncated in one and thus ending up much darker, I can't help but feel like something got in the way of Snatcher being executed how Kojima wanted. Snatcher's original plot is honestly much simpler and posits less complex questions, never even touching much on whether Snatchers are sapient and what they feel and are motivated by.
Spoiler:
This is actually another thing that bothers me too and makes me think SDatcher and SD Snatcher are more canon--the original Snatcher (unlike SDatcher and SD Snatcher) completely skips over the exciting chance to explore those ideas, passing up the golden opportunity to do so with Randam. He basically gets no time to react to the revelation that he's a bioroid and neither do the other characters, and even then his reaction is basically just 'eh, okay, whatever, that changes nothing'. The awful pacing of Snatcher with the infodump at the end and totally ignoring how awesome Randam could be is just another piece of evidence making me think Snatcher was rushed or there was some meddling done with it.
With all this, I would say that the original Snatcher shouldn't be considered canon. It's just that that's what most people know, and so it's accepted. Of course, I'm thinking there's a good chance I'm preaching to the choir here about these kinda things. This is all new to me but it could be common knowledge here; I wouldn't know, haha. Like, for instance, does everyone know that Random's name is a mistranslation? The only place I can find it being "Random" is in the English Sega CD version. In the collectible cards it's printed as "Randam" and in both translations of SD Snatcher it's "Randam", not to mention that in Metal Gear Petrovich's name is also "Madnar" and not "Modnar".

But uh yeah, that's my take on all this stuff, at least. Anyone disagree or have comments?
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Re: What's more canon, Snatcher or SD Snatcher and SDatcher?

Post by Artemio »

I recently finished the Melancholia translation as well.

I'd like to make some quick points first, S(u)DAtcher is SUDA 51's work, so although it is official it might be considered a spin off.

SD Snatcher is a reinterpretation in game mechanics and setting, with several core differences and additions. We must say that several of its plot points were later added in Snatcher for the PCE, which must (may) be considered a director's cut after the original. It is a revision by Kojima himself.

The Sega CD version is a reimplementation and adaptation of the PCE version, by related parties but not supervised or directed by Kojima.

So I'd say the canonical version from this point of view, is the PCE version, and SDatcher a (great) spin off
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Re: What's more canon, Snatcher or SD Snatcher and SDatcher?

Post by TechNoir »

A long post about Snatcher and SDatcher canons co-existing here was supposed to be here, but I disregarded a lot of details in SDatcher and this post was blown to smithereens.
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