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“ | How is the investigation proceeding, Seed? | „ |
~ Cunningham!Snatcher, every time you enter his office (or when the clones are fought at Snatcher HQ in SD Snatcher). |
“ | Seed! Go ahead and shoot! But it'd better be a pretty good shot, or this kid goes home in a bag! | „ |
~ Benson Cunningham revealing his true colors |
The Snatcher imposter of Benson Cunningham, also known as Chief Cunningham or just The Chief, is a major antagonist from the Konami Video Game Snatcher. As part of Elijah Madnar's (or Master Snatcher's) operations in Neo Kobe, this Snatcher unit was assigned to replace the real Benson Cunningham, the boss of the JUNKER Organization that was set up by the Japanese Government to combat the Snatcher menace.
He serves as the player character Gillian Seed's boss in JUNKER, with nobody in the organization aware that the real Chief Cunningham having been snatched. Up until the player starts to get close to the truth, Chief Cunningham will usually provide the player with helpful pointers if they get stuck in the game.
Eventually, the prospect of a Snatcher having infiltrated JUNKER starts to become too apparent with its staff. While Gillian Seed pursues his own path, the JUNKER mechanic Harry Benson has a hunch on the chief's treachery. Eventually, Gillian finds the body of the original chief, while Harry confronts the boss. Harry ends up mortally wounded, which causes Gillian to hunt down the Cunningham!Snatcher with interest. Eventually, Gillian is successful in destroying the Cunningham!Snatcher who, before completely shutting down, taunts Gillian of worse things to come regarding Snatchers.
The Cunningham!Snatcher serves as the final boss of the 1988 home computer releases of Snatcher, that lack the final Act III where its revealed that Elijah Madnar is the true mastermind of the incidents. In the expanded Snatcher releases (I.E PC-Engine CD and Sega CD etc.), he merely serves as the climax boss of Act II. In the 1990 MSX2 RPG remake of SD Snatcher, he appears as a late-game boss, who is then replicated to serve as a common enemy in the final dungeon.
He was voiced by late Goro Naya in Japanese and Ray Van Steen in the 1994 English Sega CD release.
Biography[]
The real Benson Cunningham[]
According to "Jordan" (Gaudy in Japan) host computer of JUNKER HQ, the real Benson Cunningham was born in 2001 (or 1996 in Japanese version) and is 46 years old during the events of the game. He is 180cm tall, weights 75kg with blood group B+.
In his 20s he was a member of Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND, and served as its tactical instructor. He also participated in 2033 Wellington Olympics in Judo. Before being hired as the head of the JUNKER, he had his own anti-Snatcher force, named FOXHOUND, after his old special forces team. After serving as head of the Neo Kobe Metropolitan Police's Anti-Snatcher Special Team, he is appointed Chief of the JUNKER Bureau.
The real Cunningham is successfully "snatched", and his body is hidden in the Queen Hospital morgue, until it is later found by Gillian Seed and Randam Hajile in Act II. According to Metal Gear Mk.II's analysis on the real Benson's decomposing body in the morgue, he was snatched roughly a month before Gillian joined JUNKER.
Gillian joins JUNKER[]
“ | Thanks for coming, Seed. I'm Benson Cunningham - the chief of JUNKER operations. [...] I've heard all about your special training in the military, Seed. I hope you'll put it in good use on your new assignment here! | „ |
~ Cunningham!Snatcher welcoming Gillian to JUNKER |
Before Gillian Seed joins JUNKER, it can be inferred from information that's unveiled during Gillian's investigation, that Cunningham!Snatcher drives JUNKER operations to dire straits - with nobody suspecting him. It can be assumed that he may have helped in sabotaging any acquired "junked" Snatcher bodies - with neither JUNKER nor Government agencies getting anything useful out of them.
After extensive special forces training and with "Snatcher" being the only clue to his lost memory, Gillian Seed accepts his assignment to JUNKER. Arriving to JUNKER Headquarters in the Konami Omni Building, Gillian meets the receptionist Mika Slayton, who after short back-and-forth, head to Chief's office.
Chief Cunningham warmly welcomes Gillian to JUNKER, commending his special forces training. He then asks Gillian about his amnesia, to which Gillian tells that he still doesn't remember a thing before he was rescued from Moscow three years ago.
Gillian and Cunningham go over the Junker's obligations - like who they are, what's their duty, their authority etc. After Cunningham deems that Gillian has inquired enough about the role of a Junker, he passes Gillian his JUNKER ID Card (effectively his "badge"), as well as physical currency for informants. He then instructs Gillian to go to Harry Benson, to the engineers' room for additional equipment.
Gillian and Mika head to engineers' room, where Harry gives Gillian his equipment, including a navigator named Metal Gear Mk. II. After getting familiar with his gear, Metal Gear gets an emergency call, where Jean-Jack Gibson - the only other remaining Junker - tells that he has corner a probable male Snatcher at abandoned factory.
Act I investigation[]
Gillian and Metal head to the abandoned factory, but arrive all too late to save Gibson, whose head has been twisted off his body. Gillian and Metal secure clues from dead Gibson and his destroyed robot navigator. They determine that Snatchers attacked Gibson, but are unable to catch them. Soon, it turns out that Gibson's robot navigator was converted into a bomb, with Gillian and Metal making out of the factory before the bomb explodes. Because it appears that the factory was a trap to kill both Gillian and Gibson, Cunningham!Snatcher may have been involved.
Upon returning to JUNKER HQ, Gillian is directed to Cunningham. Understanding Cunningham offers his condolences over the rough first assignment and commends Gillian for pulling through regardless. Cunningham regrets about losing Gibson and then orders Gillian, now the only active field Junker, to take over Gibson's investigations.
Eventually, Gillian finds the Snatchers who killed Gibson. He is successful in "junking" the one of the Snatchers, Lisa Nielsen, and is saved by Randam Hajile when the second Snatcher, Freddy Nielsen, almost kills him. Randam blows Freddy's head off and tells Gillian that there is a skin maintance clinic for Snatchers - which would later lead Gillian to find the truth about the Chief.
Act II investigation[]
At the start of Act II, Cunningham goes over the details of Act I. Cunningham tells that Randam, a registered bounty hunter, provided false information regarding his background and nobody knows who he truly is. Cunningham then brings up the hospital that Gibson identified and deems that Snatchers' entire operation may collapse if that hospital is found.
Gillian proceeds with his investigation, ending up first on a fool's errand when the clues mislead him to a Veterinary. Afterwards, Mika calls, telling that Katrina has something to give to Gillian, but is scared, because Gibsons' dog, Alice is barking at something.
After having gone to Gibsons' house, where Gibson's study is wrecked and the dog Alice is killed, Gillian and Metal start searching her across the city. Eventually, they find that Katrina at Gillian's appartment, where she gives a list of the hospitals Gibson suspected of being the skin treatment facilities.
Using few of Gibson's clues, they determine that Queens Hospital (just "Queen" in Japanese), that is run by the shady Chin Shu Oh, must be the Snatchers' main hospital.
Gillian and Metal arrive at Queens Hospital, but find it deserted. They investigate further and find some kind of dark office. They proceed to search it thoroughly and find a piece of paper with Chinese characters on it. Metal is able to determine that its reffering to a hospital patient, but the patient's name is coded in rare Chinese letters. Gillian starts to wonder why that paper is the only one they found, and starts feeling that somebody knew they were coming to Queens.
The duo figures to call Napoleon about the rare Chinese, but his phone number is changed to some Outer Heaven advert. With everything now pointing to Outer Heaven, Gillian and Metal go there. They are able to determine that the doorman in the wolfman mask is Napoleon and get him to lead them in. There Napoleon is able to decipher that the paper from Queens has outdated symbols that Chinese used for chemical element names. Using the chemical names Napoleon reads out, Gillian decodes the message reffering the patient to be a "Benson". Which they realize might refer to one of the two people in JUNKER -- either the engineer Harry Benson or the boss Benson Cunningham.
Finding out who "Benson" is[]
Realizing the ramifications of the paper, Gillian orders Metal to stop transmitting data to JUNKER HQ and they leave Outer Heaven. At JUNKER HQ, they run into Mika, who is oblivious to what is going on. Gillian asks where Harry and Cunningham are, but she tells that both of them are away.
Gillian and Metal search both the Engineers Room, where Harry usually is, and the Chief's Office, where Cunningham usually is. At the Engineers Room, they find Outer Heaven matchbox (like one from the hospital) and the message "face to face" in Harry's handwriting. At Chief's office, using the "face to face" clue, they find a picture of Red Square behind the vase painting.
Gillian and Metal deem that the clues they gathered are not enough to prove that one or another is a Snatcher. They consider a possibility that they are being tricked, with everything falling in place too neatly. They go to Mika and inquire about Harry's and Cunningham's whereabouts. They find out from her that Harry is trailing Cunningham about something, and that Cunningham is due to attend the Kyoto Summit, where world leaders are to discuss about the Snatcher situation.
Gillian and Metal leave and board the Turbocycle. They soon recieve a videocall from Jamie, telling that she has found out that Queens Hospital has a undocumented basement level. However, on their way there, the Turbocycle starts accelerating rapidly. As the try to fix the problem, Gillian implies that Harry may have done this. Gillian and Metal ultimately survive, thanks to Randam's intervention.
The trio heads to Queens Hospital and again, using the "face to face" clue, they move a vase that toggles the stairs to the basement. At the basement, they pretty much find the ground floor reception, except well maintained. They investigate the first two of the three doors, and eventually figure out how to open the third.
The third room turns out to be the morgue, which contains the skeletonized bodies of few Snatcher victims, including a one that's still decomposing. Randam brings the prospect of figuring out the bodies' identities and Metal Gear proceeds to try simulated reconstruction to identify them. Metal Gear's process allows him to indentify the three skeletonized victims as Freddy and Lisa Nielsen, as well as Chin Shu Oh.
Metal then proceeds to reconstruct the fourth victim, which Gillian notes is the most recent, since its decomposing still. Metal completes his process, and to Gillian's shock and horror, it's (the real) Benson Cunningham. Its now clear that the "Benson" on the paper referred to Cunningham, who has been replaced by a imposter Snatcher since approximately a month ago.
Gillian determines that Cunningham sabotaged the turbocycle and likely planted the Outer Heaven matchbox in the Engineers Room to try frame Harry. Metal on the other hand concludes that Harry must have discovered that Cunningham was a Snatcher and left the "face to face" message as a clue. Gillian and Metal note that Harry went after to track Cunningham, but now, both Mika and Harry are in danger.
The lights go out and Chin Shu Oh, accompanied by few "naked" Snatchers incapacitate Gillian and Randam. Chin explains Snatchers' ambitions, while Gillian and Randam try to figure out how to escape. Randam uses a powerful bomb to sacrifice himself to allow Gillian and Metal to escape and take the entire Queens Hospital with him.
Randam's bomb blows up and Gillian and Metal successfully escape through the airducts to the "tubeliner", a abandoned subway. They navigate the abandoned subway and eventually find a way out. They come out of the bathtub at the apartment of the Nielsens, and after concluding their findings about how Snatchers operate, they leave the house. They then take black taxi, where Chin Shu Oh, who survived the explosion, was waiting in ambush. Gillian "junks" Chin and commandeers the vehicle -- heading to JUNKER HQ.
Final fight[]
“ | (Unamused laughter) I'm right here! I don't need to run or hide from you! (reveals Mika Slayton as hostage) [...] Seed! Go ahead and shoot! But you'd better be pretty good shot! Or this kid goes home in a bag![...] I have you now, JUNKER! | „ |
~ Cunningham!Snatcher at the start of their fight. |
Gillian and Metal arrive at JUNKER HQ, with its lobby in a derelict shape. They find the reception booth with shield lowered, that has been hammered with blaster fire. Metal manages to trigger a emergency access to open shutter, revealing an unconscious and injured Mika inside. Gillian comes to her aid, while she starts regaining consciousness. She tells that she knows that Chief is a Snatcher and that Harry put her inside the reception booth and locked the main door to seal himself and the Cunningham!Snatcher inside the quarters.
Gillian orders Mika to open the main door who complies, warning that Cunningham!Snatcher is very clever. Gillian and Metal run in, only to find mortally injured Harry in the hallway. Gillian rushes to help him, while weakened Harry tells that he became suspicious of Cunningham when he was fiddling with Gillian's turbocycle, and that he too had found the vase picture behind Cunningham's painting.
Gillian orders Metal to assess his health, but Metal hesitates, indicating that Harry is in a very bad way. Harry then tells that he went to confront the Chief about his findings, the latter showed who Harry "what he really was." Harry laments that he was barely able to harm the Cunningham!Snatcher. Gillian and Metal converse that Harry's is beyond saving. Gillian tries to calm dying Harry, who starts to talk about various things to calm himself as well, knowing his imminent death. As he nears his moment of death, he tells Gillian that its up to him to defeat Cunningham and that he Gillian will become the last JUNKER.
Metal Gear confirms Harry's death, which greatly upsets Gillian. Enraged, he swears revenge on the Cunningham!Snatcher. Before heading out to find Cunningham, he tells Metal that if he dies against him, Metal needs to take Mika and run and blow up the JUNKER HQ.
Gillian and Metal search the entire JUNKER HQ room-by-room. After having checked them all, they go check the Chief's office again, and this time, they discover a droplet on Chief's desk. They confirm that its blood, and that its dripping from the ceiling.
Upon gazing up, they find the Cunningham!Snatcher on the ceiling. Gillian opens fire, but ends up shooting at lights and causing a malfunction in the entire JUNKER HQ light control system. Before the emergency lights turn on, the Cunningham!Snatcher manages to slip under Gillian and Metal.
They again search JUNKER HQ room-by-room, for traces of blood. Not finding him anywhere, they realize that Mika may have opened the main door. They go the lobby and find that Mika is not inside the reception booth.
The lights suddenly go out and Cunningham's tells that he is present. Metal's motion detector goes off and Gillian orders Cunningham to reveal himself. Cunningham complies, taunting Gillian and then revealing Mika, tied from her arms, as a human shield. Gillian expresses surprise and dismay about Mika opening the door, with her telling that she got frightened by the emergency lights.
Cunningham!Snatcher is confident that Seed is afraid to shoot back at Cunningham, with Mika imploring Seed to just shoot him. Cunningham boasts and attacks Gillian with his mouth-blaster.
Ultimately, Gillian is able to hit Cunningham enough times without hitting Mika and goes down. Metal Gear declares that Cunningham!Snatcher's functions have been terminated, and Gillian checks if Mika is fine. Mika thanks Gillian, while the latter deems he has made good on his revenge for Harry's life and thinks he has repaid his favor to Randam's sacrifice.
“ | .....J, JJ.. JUNKER... Don't ever think... this's over. [...] Queen hospital is... just an artificial skin maintenance clinic. In this city there are our comrades... their number is unimaginable. Your existence... isn't worth considering. ...unless your memory returns... DOSVIDANIYA! J.U.N.K.E.R.... | „ |
~ Cunningham!Snatcher's final lines in MSX2 version/fan translation |
Suddenly, the Cunningham!Snatcher begins to talk. Metal notes that its only residual energy and that Cunningham!Snatcher will cease to function soon. He taunts Gillian, saying that the Queen Hospital was just a maintenance facility and that there is great many more Snatchers out in Neo Kobe.
Cunningham!Snatcher then tells that the Snatchers are moving into Phase 2, and that "they are enlisting help of Professor Lorraine" - I.E Jamie. He then tells that as long as Gillian is unable to recover his memories, he has no means to end the Snatcher menace. He then mockingly gives his farewells to Gillian and shuts down for good.
Alternative continuities[]
SD Snatcher[]
TBA
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Cunningham is one of many Hideo Kojima villains that first serve as the player character's boss/authority figure, before being revealed to be one of the main villains of the game. These include Big Boss (or his body double) from the original Metal Gear, Gates Becker from Policenauts, the Colonel AI from Metal Gear Solid 2 and Major Zero from Metal Gear Solid 3 (eventually revealed to be the mastermind of the Patriots and the overarching villain of the series.)