Remember these games? Shadowrun came out for each system about the same time. At the time, there weren't any sci/fi RPGs out there. Which do you think was the better 16-bit game?

Genesis. If I ever found a translation of the Nipponese Sega CD, things might be different.

Why, what was up with that one?

The genesis one was way better. It had more of a shadowrun feel.

Yeah, the genesis one was better.

Genesis was better, but the Sega CD looks pretty awesome, even without trolls.

Which one had the troll sammy named something like Winston Marrs? I think you could hire him at the Big Rhino. That's the only one of the two I enjoyed, but I haven't played either of them in forever and can't remember which was which.

Winston was in Genesis. The most excpetional characters in the SNES were the fox shapeshifter mage, Jamagician, and the little pyro dwarf merc.

Genesis for flavor, though the SNES one had better gameplay and a smoother difficulty curve.

Well, the SNES game got me interested in Shadowrun, so I'll have to vote for that one

the SNES game had better gameplay? man, you're hogging the kind shit.

SNES, love almost every part of the story. While the Genesis version perhaps sported real SR mechanics, I found it rather unplayable.

There were benefits to both versions.

In the SNES version, there were a number of characters, critters and lcoations that were pretty cool. Actual face-to-face conversations with people, including street docs, was fun! Besides, who can forget waking up on a slab in the morgue and going to a Maria Mercurial concert?

The big pain most people had in the SNES version was that the rules (hit points, magic points, attributes over 6 unaugmented, etc) were way away from SR rules. In addition, it was the "point and click" system, combined with keyword-based conversation. The Decking, many felt, was especially lame.

The graphics were not incredible (except the headshots, which were generally nice)...and this was a system that gave us Chronotrigger, so you expected a tad better. On the other hand, it had a nice soundtrack.


The Genesis version was much truer to the plot and rules of Shadowrun as a whole, includign a number of already-established characters (Harlequin, Jane "Frosty" Foster, Julius Strouthers, Rikki Ratboy, etc) and locations (the Renraku Arcology mall, Tarislar, Underworld 93, the Rat's Nest, the Jackal's Lantern, Glow City, Sinsearch, etc)

Most people disliked the game because the plot was much more convoluted than in the SNES version, with both a number of sub-quests, actual shadowrun, and random encounters that could be serious setbacks. You might not have a cortical bomb ticking away in your skull, but you will likely lose at least one program to tar pits. Another beef people had with the system was that a lot of locations and pictures were reused (with different color schemes), and character death didn't happen. Let me repeat: there is no way to die in the Genesis version of Shadowrun.

Most people agree that aside from re-used pics, the game contains the best graphics of the two, and compares favorably to other Genesis games (hey, how many people loved to use the Invisibility spell and just blend right in?). The soundtrack, again, is pretty good.

Better in the sense that it took more than a random street guy punching you a couple of times to die.

i spent ten minutes trying to get used to the crazy controls before i deleted it in my blind fury.

Yeah, genesis SR ruled, although I am stuck with stupid finding of Feathered Serpent and am too lazy to create the whole map of catacombs. Does anyone have any hints how to get that thingy without wandering for 12 hours?

Though the SNES version got me interested in Shadowrun, having an awesome atmospheric feel to it, and an enjoyable storyline, I think the Sega version was it's superior, simply because it was far truer to the game and didn't suffer in playability because of it.

I have the Japanese Sega MegaCD game, and I've managed to run it, but I have no clue what's going on, sadly, because it looks to beat the pants of both the SNES and Sega Genesis/Megadrive game.

Oh, I don't have to tell anyone where they can find the games, right?

If you press A - B - B - A - C - A - B at the title of the Genesis one, then open your pocsec, there'll be a blank line under Save/load. Open it and cheat away.

dv8, did you get that japanese version to work? the one i grabbed a few months ago never did work, always froze up with i think a crc error or equivalent, was taht a bad copy? i tried all sorts of differetn emulators, and even emule to download it. no luck.

if it did work, can you tell some of us other gaijin what impressions you got?

Slamm-O, you might have problems if your emulator's not set on Japanese. I suggest you check the settings and try it again.

yeah

ancient history: i have it set to japanese and i have tried many different bios and emulators (including different versions) it gets to the first interactive scene, then if i pick any of the 3 options aside from the options menu option it freezes up, ive heard that the error code i get prolly means a bad rip, but i got it from dv8 so if his works then i must have a bad copy, methinks.

Well, there goes my idea then. Good luck.

Slamm-O, I think I had the same problem as yourself. There are about three or four menu items that you can go through, one of which will lock up the game, the others make way too little sense to me, though I think I did find out how to save a game.

Isn't that a song by Genesis?

Only one 'B'...ABACAB! Interestingly enough, the title comes from the chord progression used in the song.

The code allows access to a hidden cheat menu in the pocket secretary, with some handy stuff for the terminally lazy.

the hidden menu can only be used once per game, though--that is, you have to save your game, restart, enter the code again, then reload your game to use it again. the best way to do it (with an emu) is to enter the code, then save your state. next, load your game, use the hidden menu, get your 10 karma or 10,000 nuyen or whatever, then save your game (game, not your state), then load your state. from there, load the newly-saved game and use the hidden menu again.

I'm somewhat new to emulators. What's the difference between saving your 'game state' and saving your game? Would I need to start a whole new game to incorporate these cheats?

Ok, when exactly do you type in the code? I have tried when the Genlogo comes up, when the FASA logo comes up, when the game starts...

I am using Wgen as the emulator so maybe that makes a difference. Can someone help me out here?

i believe you type the code in after the 'Push Start' line comes up. check gamefaqs if that doesn't work.

saving your state creates an image of the game as it is right then. it's like an external savegame, basically. saving your game is something you do within the game. you can save your state at any time--for instance, inside a building, in the Genesis game. that way, if you screw up and set off an alert, you can reload your state and not do whatever it is.

in the Genesis game, you have to be careful with save states. for instance, the game rolls the die in advance--if you fail your Electronics roll to open a maglock, then reload your state, you'll fail it again every time. if you walk around for a few seconds, or fiddle with other stuff, you'll get a 'new' roll. you also have to be wary of alerts going off right after you save your state--that's really, really annoying. your best bet is to hide somewhere no guards or hellhounds are likely to show up before saving your state.

But can't I do all that with just a 'saved game'? What makes the actual 'state' different, and more advisable?

well, you can save iterative states, for one thing--you can have up to 10 or so saved states per game. for another thing, you don't have to worry about save points or no-save zones. you just do it. it's also handy for saving in games that don't have a save feature--fighting games, say, or side-scroller beat-'em-ups. you can also use them to skip the machine startup stuff, if you're using an arcade game emu like MAME. or you can use it to automatically start with a certain code entered--like, say, you want to play Contra with the 30 lives code. you start the game, enter the code, then save your state. thereafter, to use that code, you just have to load that state.

So it's not really necessary in the Shadowrun game then?

Do you actually have to get beat up and fail a shadowrun before you can get out of the first area? Or is there some other way to do it without 'dying'?

er? i don't think i had to do that. been a while, though. as i recall, once you get the deck and nuyen from the hotel, you can go other places.

Oh, ok. I haven't actually tried to go anywhere since getting the deck. I guess I'll have to explore some.

i think you can call a taxi from the telcomm. don't remember.

Hey Fortune, since you are so good at linkage, I got some for you. It's a extensive FAQ and walk through of the game. My understanding of the game (I am just starting to play it) is that the plot is the secondary part of the game, the primary part is just playing it!

oh, definitely. most of the time, i just work my way up to a fairlight and hack all the live-long day. that's the best part of the game.

The Genesis definately was more like SR, but as far as games go, it was very tedious and got boring after a while. The plot was to generic (you were trying to find out what happened to your brother).
The SNES version was more story based, and the opening was much better (you wake up in a morgue with no odea what is going on or who you are).

i guess it depends on what you are asking. like, better in terms of enjoyment, gamestyle and play, or sticking to the original mechanichs. really, the two games or only in common from the name.

The Genesis version had Harlequin. Enough said.