By Nightmare and Kurt Kalata

Pen and paper role playing games are, now and probably forever, stereotyped as little more than fantasy-based Dungeons and Dragons clones. One of the major titles that defied this convention was FASA's Shadowrun. The world of Shadowrun borrows heavily from cyberpunk lore, the genre practically invented by author William Gibson with his book Neuromancer, and the atmosphere is heavily influenced by Ridley Scott's 1982 classic film Blade Runner. You should know it by now. Expansive cities bathed in near perpetual dinginess, despite huge technological advances - Shadowrun's choice setting is a futuristic version of Seattle. Mega corporations that rule over practically everything. And there's an exaggerated sense of the 80s-bred paranoia that the Japanese were going to take over - the currency in this world is even called the "nu-yen". But Shadowrun did things a bit differently, by taking this dystopic landscape, filled with laser guns and computer hackers, and meshed it with the usual role playing conventions like magic spells and dragons. There are humans in the world of Shadowrun, along with dwarves, elves, and orcs. You'll fight vampires and zombies with pistols and grenades. Amidst the techies that outfit themselves with the latest cybernetic enhancements to interface with digital landscapes, there are shamans who hold deep mystical beliefs and wield magic powers. The world is inhabited by strange people who speak English with their unique brand of slang ("Hoi chummer!", you'll be greeted with many times, even as a complete stranger.) It's a completely unique world which, naturally, made for some excellent video games. During the 16-bit era, there were three Shadowrun games, published for the SNES, Genesis, and Mega CD platforms. Each of them were made by completely separate developers and offer entirely different takes on the world of Shadowrun. None of them, however, strictly adhere to the guidelines usually applied to console RPGs. The SNES version blends elements of point-and-click adventure games with role playing elements. The Genesis version more closely mimics the rules and experiences of the pen and paper game, offering a hugely open ended game experience that's closer to Grand Theft Auto than Final Fantasy. And the Mega CD game, released only in Japan, a digital novel with tactical combat segments liberally interspersed through all of the text. Even the 2007 release, published a decade after any of the 16-bit titles, takes the concept of a tournament first person shooter and seeks to reinvent it. These reasons alone should be enough to convince anyone to adventure into the dark underworld of Shadowrun.

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Shadowrun - SNES (1993)

American Cover

European Cover

Shadowrun (SNES)

The Super Nintendo version of Shadowrun was developed by Australian development company Beam Software (also known as Melbourne House, which later became Krome Studios Melbourne) and published by Data East. As soon as you begin the game, the first thing you see is your character, Jake, get ruthlessly murdered by a group of street thugs. Shortly after the thugs clear the scene, a fox crawls from the shadows, enchants his body, shapeshifts into a woman and runs away. The game starts when the morticians are putting you on ice. As soon as they leave the room, you awaken from your slumber, apparently unharmed despite being riddled with bullets just moments earlier. And as luck would have it, you've completely lost your memory. So after freaking out the morgue guys, you escape, and need to solve a number of problems: Who are you? Who was the transforming fox chick? Why are there random snipers on the street shooting at you? Who is this man named Drake? And most bafflingly, why are talking dogs advising you of your destiny? The SNES Shadowrun is an odd mixture of PC-style point n' click adventure games with role playing mechanics. Although you directly control your character with the directional pad, you can call up a cursor at any moment to look at your surroundings or interact with them. The interface is certainly very clumsy, especially when you try to attack enemies. All you do is press the attack button to activate the targeting cursor, highlight the bad guy, and keep hitting fire until they - or you - get killed. At the beginning, your skills are pretty weak, so you'll often find yourself missing targets even at point blank range. This is where all of the RPG elements come in. There are also these cybernetic parts called Cyberware, which you can install on your body for boosts in certain aspects and stats, like the Wired Reflexes, which allows you to pull the trigger of your gun faster, and the Dermal Armor, which allows you to always have a bit of extra protection. Likewise, you can also learn magical spells to aid you in battle. You earn Karma by defeating enemies, which is Shadowrun's equivalent of experience points. Whenever you sleep, you have the option of using Karma points to raise various abilities and skills, ranging from extending your life meter to gaining computer skills. Gaining Karma is tedious (especially at points where you NEED to), but you can lose it as well. If you really want to, just shoot at an innocent guy and you'll see that someone is telling you to stop hurting the innocent. If you continue your transgressions, one Karma point will be deducted from your total. Compared to other RPGs on the SNES (and Japanese RPGs in general) there's a lot more freedom and interaction given to your character, even though the plot itself is still pretty linear. Although you technically only control Jake, you can also hire various Shadowrunners, who'll tag along and use their skills in any area where Jake may be lacking. They also aid in combat, though they're controlled entirely by AI. (In the early stages of design, there was to be tactical combat, where you could give individual orders to each of your companions, but this was unfortunately scrapped.) At a certain point in the game, you are allowed to "jack in" the Matrix, a complex computer system (and world) that everybody wants to rule. In these short intermissions, the viewpoint changes from isometric to overhead, as you move your avatar around this computerized world. The goal is these segments is to try to retrieve data and be careful of various 'mines' that are in your way. These sections aren't really that hard or interesting, since it's really just trial and error, but they do their role in keeping the game fresh and innovative. Since there are several mysteries to solve, you'll be doing a lot of detective work by talking to everyone you meet. Important people will mention highlighted "keywords", which are topics of conversation that you can interrogate other people about. You can ask many, many questions using the keywords acquired during various other conversations, but not everybody knows about all the keywords you ask. Though the artwork in general is kinda bad, but some of the people you talk to are drawn well. A select few among the characters actually look good, like the rock star Kitsune. But Jake's face is so ugly, that you would be surprised to see some girls calling him 'handsome'. Shadowrun also has some really badass music. It's a lot grittier than your standard SNES soundtrack, but the sample quality is right up there next to the later Square games. One of the best themes is played in the morgue at the beginning of the game, driven by an electric guitar, a catchy bass line, and a haunting flute melody. While there are only a sparse number of tracks, they're almost all excellent, and contribute heavily to the oppressive atmosphere. It's surprising to see such dark subject matter in Shadowrun - it was released in 1993, before Nintendo loosened up its censorship standards, so it was surprising to see a game that had the protagonist brutally murdered within the first few minutes of the game. There are points where you can see where Nintendo did some tinkering. Right at the beginning of the game, you need to loosen the lips of an NPC. The only way to do this is by going to the bar, ordering your favorite drink - an "iced tea" - and delivering it to this character, who suddenly becomes a lot more talkative. There's a beta ROM of Shadowrun floating through the internet that is slightly less censored than the actual release copy. In the uncensored version, the morgue is referred to as a "chop shop" (keeping in line with the pen and paper RPG), and Kitsune the rocker is a bit more flirtatious. There are some minor problems with Shadowrun - it's often a bit aimless, and it's far too easy to miss small items, halting your progress until you scan over every scene you've visited. The interface could've used some work, but it's about as best as it could be without the use of a mouse. But otherwise, Shadowrun has a fantastic plot, with superb writing - definitely superior to any of the Japanese translated RPGs on the system - and unique gameplay that has cemented its reputation as a cult classic. The Japanese release of this Shadowrun is very odd - instead of replacing the text, all of the English is kept as is, with Japanese subtitles popping up around the screen. The interface has been changed a bit too. In the English versions, whenever you try to interact with an object, the default selection from the verb menu is "Quit". This means you need to point at something and manually select your action, even if there's only one selection. The Japanese version instead highlights the optimal action, making it easy to simply highlight an item and hit the button twice. On the downside, the L and R shortcut buttons, which were meant to circumvent this issue in the English release, have been removed. MP3s Download here Assassination Morgue Downtown

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Release Version	Uncensored Version
Release Version	Uncensored Version

Shadowrun - Genesis (1993)

American Cover

Shadowrun (Genesis)

Shadowrun (Genesis)

The Genesis version of Shadowrun was developed by Blue Sky Software, who also did the 16-bit Jurassic Park games for Sega, along with the Vectorman titles. It's a very, very different game, but the setting and mood is still pretty much the same. In the Genesis Shadowrun, you take on the role of a young man named Joshua. Before you begin the game, you're prompted to choose from one of three different character classes. Samurai are most suited for combat, Deckers are the best for jacking in the Matrix, and Shamans are the best magicians. Much like the SNES version, you can hire shadowrunners to do certain jobs for you, so you can choose to be a Samurai and just contract Deckers or Shamans to help out. After selecting your class, the opening cinema details the story of Joshua's brother, who was a Shadowrunner. He went on a mission with some of his fellow buddies, but they were ambushed and killed. One of his mates had a cyber eye, and the eye captured a video of the whole massacre. With this being the only clue, Joshua must investigate his brother's death and take revenge. After leaving for Seattle, you discover the hotel your brother was staying out, but the skeezy owner demands some cash before you can claim it. And so begins your career in shadowrunning, as you begin running quick missions for the local "Mr. Johnsons", shady crooks who want you to do their dirty (and occasionally not so dirty) business. Sometimes you'll display be playing delivery boy, running packages from one place to another. Other times you'll need to escort people. If you're into more action, you can hang out at abandoned buildings and kill some ghouls, or hunt down troublesome gang members. These missions are all randomized, so you can keep going back to them over and over to get different variations. Successfully completing missions will earn you cash, along with karma, which can once again be used to upgrade numerous statistics. The Genesis Shadowrun is pretty open ended, almost overwhelmingly so. You're constantly told the names of different locations without having any clue where they actually are. This is game where you really need to sit down and explore before you can get into it. Once you get past the first few steps of the game, the whole city of Seattle is open to you, and most of it can be easily accessed via taxi, summoned at any number of computer terminals. You can then begin one of three different plots and progress through them in any order, even switching between them if you wish. When you complete all of them, you can eventually proceed to the final steps of the story, although there are tons of different subquests to run. Most of the game involves running around, talking to new people, and getting contacts. Although you can't interrogate people like you can in the SNES Shadowrun, you're usually offered different responses when talking to people, and there's more dialogue overall, all of which is very well written. The story isn't remotely as involving - or as good - as the SNES game, but it's passable. It also doesn't suffer from the censorship of Nintendo - the hospitals are still referred to as "chop shops" here. There's a lot of customization to found in this Shadowrun, with twenty different skills to upgrade, like firearm proficiency, computer skills and endurance. Unfortunately, much of this is restricted by the class you chose at the beginning. If you chose to be a Samurai, forget using magic. If you chose to be a Decker, there's not much in the way of combat skills, and no magic either. And if you chose to be a Shaman, your combat and cyber skills will be lacking. Though there's nothing stopping you from getting Cyberware as a Shaman, but your Essence will decrease, which will weaken magic casting. All classes have Essence, but only Shamans need them. The combat is pretty simple, and everything takes place in real time. Your character aims automatically at enemies, and you just have to push the button to fire. Wait a few seconds, and you can attack again. Your character also has two health bars - one for Physical and the other for Mental health. If one of them runs out, you'll black out and end up in the hospital. Thankfully, the only penalties are losing 10% of your cash (much nicer than the 50% of Dragon Quest games) and the loss of any partners with you at the time. But just because it's simplistic doesn't mean it's easy. Even with a maxed out character with all the best weapons, you'll find yourself getting your ass kicked regularly. Luckily, you can hire some Shadowrunners to protect and help you, and you can even switch to play as them by hitting the B button. Shadowrunners will ask if you want them for just one shadowrun, or if you want them as a life long partner. Naturally, the one-time run is much cheaper. If you die with a Shadowrunner in your party, or if you leave a dead Shadowrunner companion, then next time you meet them, they be quite grumpy, and ask for higher prices. Matrix running is a much more integrated here than in the SNES version. Not only are they a big element in many of the missions you'll undertake, but you can sneak in at any time to steal data files and sell them on the street for extra cash. Once you get a datajack (or hire someone who has one), you can plug into any terminal and hack into it, allowing you to access the databases of any number of huge corporations. As you cruise through through the maze-like nodes of cyberspace, you'll run into various defense programs called ICs, whose job is it to terminate nasty hackers like you. In order to combat them, you can use variety of offensive and defensive computer software. Since a maximum of five can be loaded at the same time, and each has different success rates depending on the IC being fought, choosing the right software is critical for victory. Some ICs will even directly attack your physical form and destroy your datajack, if you're not careful. These scenes look a lot like the battle scenes from Phantasy Star 2, complete with the blue grid. However, you only control one character, with your avatar bearing a suspicious resemblance to the Silver Surfer. Although you can't interact much the game environment, the whole world feels remarkably alive. For example, in some districts of Seattle, there are gangs, who will constantly stalk you and smash in your face in. If you want them to leave you alone, you'll have to go to their base and cough up some money to ask for safety. Unfortunately, this only lessens the frequency of random attacks, and you'll still be assaulted. This can quickly become a problem early on, because when you're being attacked, you can't enter buildings and thus, your only choice is to run away (which is nigh impossible) or to try and kill them. In which case, even more will come after you.. There are plenty of other random events other than gang attacks. When walking around in some district, a screen will pop up describing some event - civilians under attack, usually - and you're usually given three different choices on how to react. You can usually choose to open fire, to step in and interject, or just walk away quietly. Choose wisely, and you might be able to score some extra cash - choose poorly, and you'll be dead. Sometimes, you'll meet smugglers who'll offer you illegal grenades. If you're lucky, you'll have a good deal on your hands and get those grenades, but other times, a Lone Star (equivalent of a police in Shadowrun) officer will reveal himself and take you to their headquarters, where you'll need to pay hefty fines. The SNES Shadowrun had some dark visuals, but it's nothing compared to the dank and decrepit world in the Genesis version. The lower color palette of the Genesis actually works to its favor to add to the creepy atmosphere, even if the visuals themselves are technically rather unimpressive. The music is also largely forgettable, although some themes are particularly creepy, especially the humming in the Matrix sequences. Although it can get overwhelming until you get a hang of it, the Genesis rendition of Shadowrun remains the truest to the pen and paper gaming rules, and is definitely worth it for those who like a lot of freedom in their RPGs. Due to the game being coded strictly for the English alphabet, the game was not translated into Japanese, and was released in English in Japan.

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