A guide to getting Snatcher PCE emulated perfectly

A forum for discusion, suggestions and information on any Snatcher-related material. Music, games, versions, differences and references.

Also the space for feedback regarding the Snatcher Music Arrangements section by MrRudi.
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Post by Artemio »

The original version of Snatcher is the PC 8801 one, closely followed by the MSX port. The PC-Engine version was the first CD based version of Snatcher.
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Post by 8bitsonic »

RzaRecta wrote:I think i'll get around to playing that version too, that's the original version of Snatcher right?
Nope. The original version of Snatcher was released on the NEC PC-8801 in November 1988, followed up a month later by a ghastly MSX2 port that's now the canonical 8-bit version of the game.
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Post by DarkTetsuya »

8bitsonic wrote:
RzaRecta wrote:I think i'll get around to playing that version too, that's the original version of Snatcher right?
Nope. The original version of Snatcher was released on the NEC PC-8801 in November 1988, followed up a month later by a ghastly MSX2 port that's now the canonical 8-bit version of the game.
I played a little bit of the MSX port, what was the problem with it? Though if I had to pick a version, I'd go with the Sega CD one, if only for the fact it's in a language I'm fluent in, LOL. :P (and Lucy Childs' amazing performance as Metal Gear mk. II; part of the reason I picked the avatar I did :P)

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Post by 8bitsonic »

Inhumane loading times. The removal of some graphics from the PC-88 version. A smaller graphic window. Inferior music without the (included) SCC cartridge. Missing developer profiles.
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Post by Kudoutantei »

Am I the only one who can't get this emulator working right? I'm lucky to even get the game started on the thing most of the time because it eventually freezes up then resets my computer. When I get ingame the audio skips sometimes, and after talking to the cheif the game doesn't move, it just stays there in the office with the faces on the screen blinking their eyes(this is the same spot the game freezes for me in Magic Engine as well). I just tried it with a new release of the emu and this time it reset my computer after choosing to enter past the beginning.
After over a year and it seems my chances of playing the pce ver are still low :sad:
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Post by Gnawzguz »

Hell, I'd be happy if I could understand anything this guy's saying. I have no clue in my fucking head how to get this emulation to work -- I've downloaded it and read the 'Read Me' faq but it doesn't get me anywhere.

þþþ 6.0 Installation

To play the game you just need to boot with DISK0. Anyway, you
should like to play it on harddisk. Playing on floppy is just annoying.
There are two ways of installing it on hardisk: manual and automatic.

1) Automatic
- Boot from your harddisk MSX-DOS2.
- Select the drive to install and create the directory. p.e.:
C: [enter]
MD SNATCHER [enter]
- Place DISK0 on the floppy and change to it. p.e.:
A: [enter]
- Use INSTALL.BAT to install it. p.e.:
INSTALL A: C: \SNATCHER [enter]
- Follow the instructions on the screen, when the installer
asks for other disks, do it.
- If everything is ok, you can play typing:
SNATCHER [enter]
- If the game doesn't run or doesn't seem to be working ok,
try the manual method.

2) Manual
- Boot from your harddisk MSX-DOS2.
- Select the drive to install and create the directory. p.e.:
C: [enter]
MD SNATCHER [enter]
CD SNATCHER [enter]
- Copy these files from disk to harddisk. p.e.:
COPY A:DSK2SAV.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:FDSAVE.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:SAV2DSK.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:SNATCHER.COM C: [enter]
COPY SNATCHER.SCR C: [enter]
**DO NOT** copy SNATCHER.000!
- Place DISK1 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.001
- Place DISK2 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.002
- Place DISK3 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.003
- If everything is ok, you can play typing:
SNATCHER [enter]

There it is; can anyone maybe put this into a dialect I can comprehend? By the way -- I'm completely new to this whole thing...
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Post by Artemio »

Gnawzguz, you are posting about the MSX version and regarding the instructions that come with it for booting on a real msx with an hdd. Thsi thread is about the PCE version, originally on Mac. Some are discussing it on PC or intel Macs.
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Post by Kudoutantei »

I'm playing it on the new magic engine at the moment, it seems to actually progress through the game now. Guess I may have been using an older version before...
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Post by Gnawzguz »

Snatcher wrote:Gnawzguz, you are posting about the MSX version and regarding the instructions that come with it for booting on a real msx with an hdd. Thsi thread is about the PCE version, originally on Mac. Some are discussing it on PC or intel Macs.
Fair enough I suppose -- although I had a pretty good idea on what I was posting and what thread it was in. I figured: why not just post a question about the MSX2 version of Snatcher I need help with in this topic instead of creating a new one.

Oh well.
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Post by Artemio »

Gnawzguz wrote: Fair enough I suppose -- although I had a pretty good idea on what I was posting and what thread it was in. I figured: why not just post a question about the MSX2 version of Snatcher I need help with in this topic instead of creating a new one.

Oh well.
I also pointed it out because you are not specifying the platform or OS you are using, what emulator you are running and you didn't specify what game you were trying to run (It could only be figured out by somebidy that knew that readme file). You should at least give the information so that people that could help can help you.
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Post by Gnawzguz »

Snatcher wrote:I also pointed it out because you are not specifying the platform or OS you are using, what emulator you are running and you didn't specify what game you were trying to run (It could only be figured out by somebidy that knew that readme file). You should at least give the information so that people that could help can help you.
I'm new to this 'emulation' deal. I don't know how to get an 'emulator.' I'm running a Windows XP if that helps any, and my intention was to post a link to this site (http://www.caetano.eng.br/snatcher/index.php) which I could've swore I did in the first place. I'm going for the English version of the translated MSX2 version on that page. I've downloaded the file and it came with a 'README.TXT', a 'snatche0.dsk', a 'Snatche1.dsk', a 'Snatche2.dsk', and a 'Snatche3.dsk.'

Here's this:

þþþ 6.0 Installation

To play the game you just need to boot with DISK0. Anyway, you
should like to play it on harddisk. Playing on floppy is just annoying.
There are two ways of installing it on hardisk: manual and automatic.

1) Automatic
- Boot from your harddisk MSX-DOS2.
- Select the drive to install and create the directory. p.e.:
C: [enter]
MD SNATCHER [enter]
- Place DISK0 on the floppy and change to it. p.e.:
A: [enter]
- Use INSTALL.BAT to install it. p.e.:
INSTALL A: C: \SNATCHER [enter]
- Follow the instructions on the screen, when the installer
asks for other disks, do it.
- If everything is ok, you can play typing:
SNATCHER [enter]
- If the game doesn't run or doesn't seem to be working ok,
try the manual method.

2) Manual
- Boot from your harddisk MSX-DOS2.
- Select the drive to install and create the directory. p.e.:
C: [enter]
MD SNATCHER [enter]
CD SNATCHER [enter]
- Copy these files from disk to harddisk. p.e.:
COPY A:DSK2SAV.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:FDSAVE.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:SAV2DSK.COM C: [enter]
COPY A:SNATCHER.COM C: [enter]
COPY SNATCHER.SCR C: [enter]
**DO NOT** copy SNATCHER.000!
- Place DISK1 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.001
- Place DISK2 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.002
- Place DISK3 in the drive and dump it. p.e.:
FDSAVE A: SNATCHER.003
- If everything is ok, you can play typing:
SNATCHER [enter]

_____________________________
----------------------------------

And again -- I have NO CLUE about how to do any of this so if anyone can try to explain this to me the best way they can it'd be appreciated. I just know I want to play the game and apparently this allows it without a system...
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Post by Artemio »

First, you need to get an MSX emulator. This can be accomplished by seraching google for "msx emulator" or getting NLMSX, BRMSX, or any of the emulators at http://www.zophar.net/msx.html

After getting one of them, you need to do specific actions for the emulator ou downoaded. But it is mainly reduced to select from the menu an MSX2+ type of emulation, loading the first rom (that would be the one with a 0) int the virtual drive of the emulator, and booting up the vitrtual machine.

All of that can be accomplished by the menus within the emulator.

For more indepth information, I'd recommend reading the MSX emulator faq http://www.faq.msxnet.org/msxemu.html which I found by typing "how to use an msx emulator" in google. I am not saying you shouldn't ask, just to be specific about questions.
From the mathematical perspective, consciousness might be regarded as a second derivative of sensation.
-- Terrel Miedaner

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Post by Marc »

8bitsonic wrote:I'm playing it as a Snatcher enthusiast who wants to eventually try every version. So far I only have not tried the 32-bit versions.
Good luck. I think you'll need about a year's break between versions, it's that bad. I consider it the Twin Snakes of Snatcher. You just sit there screaming to yourself time and time again, "Why the @#$% did they decide to do that?!" Like the way they have the text box pop under the screen then pop back up after every line... That drives me crazy. It makes the game feel so slow.
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Post by Kaminari »

Osiris wrote:You just sit there screaming to yourself time and time again, "Why the @#$% did they decide to do that?!"
Can't agree more. I played again through the PSX version recently, in order to work out the tracklist of the PSF audio rip by my friend Squaresoft74. I had forgotten just how bad the arranges were in the 32-bit versions. I think that's the single most incomprehensible change they did in those conversions. The music is simply ridiculous.
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