What do y'all feel is the canon veriability of the SR video games, that is the SNES and Sega Genesis versions (which are the two I have)?

I only ask because there's an AI in the SNES and Harley and Frosty in the Sega Genesis (along with a few, minor details). So I should probably mention them in my site. Maybe provide a screenshot of Harley or something. Perhaps a link. Dunno.

So, what think you?

Genesis might be canon, but really doesn't seem to be that important to the rest of the world.
SNES version had teleportation. 'Nuff said.

~J

Teleportation, and being a decker/samurai/shaman with a shiteload of cyberware and enough magical juice to power the Seattle grid.

I'll third that opinion.

Well, I think the SNES game was made under 2nd edition, so perhaps these values are off. But Jake gets a Datajack, Headware Memory, Wired Reflexes, Dermal Armor, and a Skillsoft. Now, if you assume theres 50mp of memory, the reflexes and armor are at level 1, and that the skillsoft is a chipjack/knowsoft in 3rd, the total essence only comes to 3.17 essence. Plus you almost have enough force points to buy each of the spells he gets at 6, you do if you spend some money buying spell points. And with the graphics used it would be easy to say Jake has the gesturing geas =). Im not saying its all peachy keen, but its well within possible. It might even be entertaining, as such a character would be very versatile. Also, they were about to develope an AI and Jake stopped it, as I understood the plot. The teleport part was supposed to be an astral quest. And he did fight a dragon... thats the least believable part imo. But whatever, compared to some of the novels its still more logical.

As for the SEGA one, it was really cool but I never finished it before I had to return the game. So sadly I didnt get to see the cool parts. And on that note, pics!

Are these new games or really old ones? Have not heard of either so wanted to ask.

They're really old. I believe they came out in the early 90s. (I own them both (bought them new when they came out) and have played them, but that was a *long* time ago. I remember enjoying them, though.)

How about the fox-shifter with a tail? She walked around in town openly without being shot. Since I assume that it was supposed to be Seattle, it's kinda off.

Both games were developed under 2nd ed. The Genesis/Megadrive one was much more accurate. I liked it better than the SNES one, but it did get a bit boring in some places.

-Strobe

Would you shoot a dog that happened to be walking down the street? Then why would you shoot a fox? IIRC, there's no bounty on shapeshifters. They're just not treated as sentient beings.

I say you should mention them on your site for completion's sake, but make a note that they may not be considered canon since a lot of the stuff in the games wasn't true to the game world.

The Abstruse One

Yea, that sounds reasonable. Perhaps a section on them with the disclaimer that its not neccessarily canon. Links to some pics and stuff would be rather cool to, for those that havent played them through. Be nice to include for completness.

Why do you guys keep talking about these old ass games?

Because now you have me going through the basement trying to find the right plugs so I can play them again. My 11 year old brother plays with our group most times and he has been asking me if SR has a game out. I say no because I don't feel like setting the systems up, but now you guys have me remembering fondly of the afternoon sessions playing video SR, while waiting fo the weekend to play p&p SR.

I keep hearing you can emulators to play old cartrige games on your PC. Can someone point me in the direction to get set up. I really don't feel like finding those damn power plugs.

I am not sure what you wish to accomplish with making a web page for these games, but you could point out were things are canon or non-canon. I don't know but if you do be assured I'll read it as I have read all your stuff, including Rayguns, DV8s and K10s stuff. I am pretty sire when ever a SR page is mentioned I have read it. I haven't read the novels and don't remember the characters in the games so maybe you could right up some stuff if they are in the games.

Another blow to the cononicity of the SNES SR game: it used a straight hit points system. Hm.

Well, it's not like I couldn't put ROMs and EMulators on my site...just making sure to post the "If you don't own it, delete it within 24 hours" line.

Yea, but Nintendo has been screwing with people that DO put that on their site.

See, this is why we keep Adam around. VOice of Reason.

The last time I went to the SNES9x site there didn't seem to be any way of actually downloading the emulator. Luckilly ZSNES is pretty much the same and easier to get.

I'm still waiting for a fan translation of the SegaCD game...

Mr. Man, there is actually a download page, they just removed the link. Look here. Also, the files can be grabbed all throughout the Internet by now.

This is a pretty complete walkthrough for us who thought playing the Genesis game was similar to gnawing your own toes off, but wanted to know about the cool plotline.

The SNES version was interesting, but there was no way it was Canon.

My cases for these are the megacorps. Drake and Aneki. Seems pretty obvious to me that Aneki was supposed to be Renraku, and I'm not certain about Drake, but it could have been meant to bt Saeder-Krupp, though how a pansy like Jake could even get to MEET Lofwyr is beyond me.

Most of what happened in the SNES game was canon. The AI was made by Aneki. I'd say, for the most part, ignore it. Maybe mention the Genesis game, because it ruled.

Weeeeell, in the novel Never Cut a Deal with a Dragon, Sam (The wussy one) runs afoul of the head of security for UniOil.... who happens to be a dragon named Drake..... and then Ghost kills it with a Minigun.... tee hee.

As for Kitsune (The fox shapeshifter from the SNES SR game), she wasn't only a Seattle celebraty, but THE It musician. So, I'd think it'd be pretty reasonable that she might be exempt from the worst of the racism a shapeshifter would encounter... as long as she was famous. Oddly enough, in a game that was more derivative of movies than it was of actual SR canon, Kitsune was a pretty damned creative character.

SNES had maria mercurial, Dances-With-Clams, Jamagician...

Just so you guys know, for snes, genesis, or any other emulator, Zophar is the place to go

The best IMHO is the Sega one because it followed the SR world and mechanics. The genesis one was great because you could complete the game when ever you choose, I spent most of my time going on runs and just doing what I pleased. Sure there where not a lot of the ware and gear that is in SR, but it was still pretty enjoyable. I also like the music that was in the game, I have been looking for the mp3 of them, and techno remixs if they exist.

By the way, for those interested in the Mega CD Shadowrun game, take a look here. It looks awesome...in a console, mid-nineties sort of way!

If anyone's interested in the MegaCD game, it's been listed on ebay at least three times in the past month. Only problem is that it goes for about $90-150 every time it lists. Plus you have to have a MegaCD system (which is the Japanese version of the SegaCD), NOT the American version. As if the American version were easy enough to track down

The Abstruse One

But are they also Japanese versions of the game, or translated versions?

Nevermind, found it already. Japanese versions. I've been scouring the net all morning to see if I could find the ROM, but it's nigh impossible to find since it was the very last game to come out for the Sega Mega CD, and largely went unnoticed. I did, however, find a couple of screenshots, and though a bit too Anime for my tastes, the game looks to be pretty enjoyable.

I always thought Shadowrun would make a great online game. Having played a few I can see were the basic concept would be pretty easy to transfer. I would think it would appeal to all sorts of players as it has magic and tech all over the place.

It'd actually be pretty difficult to translate if you ask me. For one thing, how would you set up Johnsons? You'd basically have to have a bunch of players whose characters were corporate executives to capture the flavor of Shadowrun. Otherwise, it's just Ultima Online with cyberware and hacking. In game hacking I mean, as opposed to the sort of hacking every third dork on there claims to do.

The Abstruse One

Neocron is the closest thing to a computer sr game I ever played. Not officially sr, but shares a lot of qualities, like future technology with magic and magic races, hacking, etc. I played the beta, and it was a lot of fun, and in many ways kinda had an underlying sr 'haunt' to it while I played.

If I ever have large amounts of coding experience and funding I plan to make a SR game.
Of course, it will probably never see the light of commercial release even in the highly unlikely ability that I get it made, what with Microsoft having the rights and all, but it's nice to dream.

~J

There are already three different "MMORPG" Shadowrun games:

• Seattle
• Denver
• Detroit

I'd play on one of them but I don't have the time.

Since it's a bit too large to just put up for download for anyone, let me know if you want the Japanese Sega CD Shadowrun iso (140 Mb) and we'll see what we can do.

PS: I don't understand shit of it, but it's good to have it anyway.

is there a japanese Sega CD emu that runs under windows and not windows-j?

Can you email it to me dv8 if you got it? Danbot372@yahoo.com

And bitbasher, I use Kega, and although I haven't tried sega cd games, it says it will play (from all over the world). It does play jap sega cartridge games fine

Danbot, no, he can't, because yahoo caps its mailboxes at 6 megs.
Of course, if you've purchased a larger mailbox capacity from them, it may fit. If so, just slap me for assuming you had a free account.

~J

yo DV8 can i get a copy of that iso? ive been looking for it forever.

and anyone have any resources/sites on translating ROMs? i have a decompiler and such, and a know assembly and altavista can translate japanese (however badly) so id be willing to wade through it if possible.

ciao

Babelfish (Altavista's translation software) only translates some kanji and very little hiragana and katakana. And it translates both horribly. Seriously, it's so bad it's humorous. Let it translate some Japanese webpage for you and watch it work. You'll be rolling I bet.

If there's any romanized Japanese text, though (like "Konban wa minna-san" written out in Western-style letters rather than kanji or katakana), it won't translate it at all. Besides, the translator program works best on very dry, formally written material and does horribly with things like slang or accents, which not only would be prevelent in a Shadowrun game, but in any Japanese game in general (as Japan has several distinct dialects which people associate with various personality traits and are used in anime and video games often to help identify the character -- the best example of this is in Rurouni Kenshin, where Kenshin will speak with a formal Tokyo accent when he's talking normally, but when he changes into the Battosai, his accent becomes a Kyoto/Southern Japan style accent which is usually seen to be more coarse and crude.)

Unless they upgraded it over the last couple of months and I missed it, of course...

The Abstruse One

actually i have used, to translate a couple of reviews of this game in fact. It did a HORRIBLE job, don't get me wrong (troll= rhinocerous horn-bear face. At least i think that was troll...). The good news it translated nearly all of the words, except a token few. Anyone know japanese and want to go over some texts reviewing?

I didn't think Japanese SR had trolls...