Shadowrun (Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game)

Shadowrun
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Beam Software
Publisher(s)	Data East PAL Laser Beam Entertainment
Designer(s)	Greg Barnett Arthur Kakouris Paul Kidd
Artist(s)	Holger Leibnitz Mark Maynard
Composer(s)	Marshall Parker
Series	Shadowrun
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Release date(s)	NA May 1993 PAL August 1993 JP March 25, 1994
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	8-megabit cartridge

Shadowrun is a cyberpunk action role-playing video game (RPG) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was adapted from the tabletop role-playing game Shadowrun by FASA. The video game was developed by Australian company Beam Software and first released in 1993 by Data East.

The game is loosely based on the novel Never Deal with a Dragon by Shadowrun co-creator Robert N. Charrette. The player takes on the role of Jake Armitage, a data courier who is critically wounded by assassins in the year 2050. He wakes up in a morgue, suffering from amnesia. The game follows Jake as he attempts to uncover his own identity and the identity of the mysterious figure who wants him dead, and eventually complete his mission.

Plot

Shadowrun is an adaptation of the FASA tabletop role-playing game of the same name. The storyline of the video game is loosely based on the first Shadowrun novel, Never Deal with a Dragon, written by Robert N. Charrette. The narrative opens in Seattle, Washington in the year 2050, where the protagonist Jake Armitage, is shown being gunned down in the street at the hands of armed men. A shapeshifting lupine figure rushes to his side and is seen casting a spell over Jake before leaving hastily as the medics arrive on the scene. Jake awakens in a morgue, suffering from amnesia. Upon leaving the morgue, Jake is approached by the "Dog", a shamanistic totem who gives him a warning before vanishing into the shadows.

The rest of the story is spent investigating the events leading to Jake's shooting, learning the identity of the shapeshifter who saved him, as well the person who ordered his assassination, a mysterious crime lord named "Drake". Most of the information is found by piecing together snippets of data found by hacking various protected computer systems. Along the way, he has encounters with gangs, criminals, and magically-awakened creatures while under constant threat of attack from hitmen out for the contract on his life. Jake also discovers and develops his own latent magical abilities. Apart from his totem spirit, his only allies are shadowrunners with their services for hire.

It is eventually revealed that Jake is a courier who was carrying a program in his "head computer", a computer built inside his brain. The program was designed to destroy a malevolent artificial intelligence, which the sinister Aneki Corporation is trying to protect. The company is being aided by Drake, who is in reality a dragon and is behind the entire plot.

Gameplay

Shadowrun is an action RPG that combines both the statistical factor in the tabletop game with real-time gameplay. The player is given direct control over the protagonist Jake and moves him around using the directional pad within the game's isometric interface. A cursor system allows the player to scroll a pointer across the screen and perform various actions that include opening doors and passageways, examining and picking up objects, engaging in conversation with non-player characters (NPCs), and utilizing firearms and magic commands while in combat. In interacting with other characters, Shadowrun allows the player to gain information using a bank of terms. Whenever Jake hears a new and unusual term, this word is highlighted and is then added to the bank that he can use; from that point on, when speaking with NPCs, Jake is able to ask them about this new word. Only in this manner can a player progress with the game. As the title of the game implies, Jake is described as a "shadowrunner," a mercenary type of character common within the Shadowrun world. Moreover, the player is given the option to hire other shadowrunners as henchmen with "nuyen", the game's currency. Nuyen can also be used to purchase guns and certain key items scattered throughout various locations in the gameworld.

Battles within Shadowrun often require sharp reflexes. This is further complicated by the fact that the Seattle in the game is a tough city - practically every screen contains at least one hidden assassin who, from random locations, opens fire on Jake; the player may retreat or must otherwise immediately find the source of the attack and respond. Enemies typically drop nuyen, while at the same time, Jake builds up "karma". If the player retires to a bed to restore health and save one's progress, karma can be allocated into different attributes, skills, and magical powers. At certain points in the game, Shadowrun allows the player to enter cyberspace. Using an item called a "cyberdeck", Jake is able to hack into computers to retrieve information, as well as gain more nuyen. During such scenes, the gameplay switches to a top-down perspective while an icon of Jake moves through cyberspace, fights intrusion programs, and retrieves data. As in the tabletop RPG, if the player dies in cyberspace, he dies in the outside world as well.

Development

Shadowrun for the SNES was created by the Australian developer Beam Software when Adam Lanceman, part of the company's management team, acquired the license for FASA's 1989 tabletop RPG. The project was initially headed by Gregg Barnett until he abruptly left Beam midway through the game's development to start Perfect Entertainment in the United Kingdom. The game's production was shelved by Beam, but eventually resumed before its set deadline. Having been hired by Beam's parent company Melbourne House, fantasy writer Paul Kidd quickly took Barnett's place as producer and designer. According to Kidd, the given timeframe for finishing Shadowrun for publisher Data East was very short, forcing the team to complete production in a tumultuous five and a half to six months. An avid role-player, Kidd was already familiar with the Shadowrun license, but had to utilize the storyline that his predecessor had already gotten approved. Aspects of Beam's game Nightshade were used as a basis for Shadowrun; specific film noir components such as "dark cityscapes, dialogue-heavy exchanges, and touches of humor" were adapted directly from the former to the latter. To coincide with the last of these qualities, Kidd and artist Jeff Kamenek altered the original "serious" tone of Shadowrun by replacing portions of the script and artwork with more comedic elements.

The ROM image of the first version of Shadowrun contains a much more crude script, with more sexual suggestive and violent phrases. For example, one line is changed from "morgue guys" to "chop shop guys." The game's distributor favored the less serious version for retail release, sparking indignation and conflict among Kidd and other members of Beam's staff. "Beam Software was a madhouse, a cesspit of bad karma and evil vibes," Kidd recalled. "The war was reaching shooting level; old school creators who just wanted to make good games were being crushed down by a wave of managerial bull. It was no longer a 'creative partnership' in any way; it was 'us' and 'them'. People were feeling creatively and emotionally divorced from their projects." Shadowrun was ultimately completed by its deadline. Kidd credits this to the staffers obstaining from company meetings and workshops, and continually keeping management away from the designers. Shadowrun was released in North America and Japan by Data East, and in PAL regions self-published by Beam Software as Laser Beam Entertainment. The Japanese version has a significantly longer introduction than the English version of the game, and also has a vertically uncompressed Shadowrun logo on the title screen. The same script as the North American and PAL editions are used, but Japanese subtitles are added.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
Allgame
GamePro	(4.75/5)
Nintendo Power	3.7 out of 5
Nintendo Magazine System	90 out of 100
Super Play	85 out of 100

Shadowrun received very positive reviews from the gaming press during its release.

Legacy

Shadowrun garnered a number of awards and honors from various publications during and after its original release. It was voted as the best RPG of 1993 in the magazines VideoGames, Electronic Games, and Game Informer, as well as runner-up for the best RPG of 1993 in GamePro. Shadowrun was given the second place Nintendo Power award in the category "Most Innovative (Super NES)", describing it as "one of the best sci-fi games ever"; it was also nominated in the category "For Challenge". Super Play listed it as the 34th best SNES game of all time. In 2009, Game Informer listed Shadowrun as the 125th best video game of all time. In 2011, IGN ranked the game at number 77 on its list of the top 100 SNES games of all time.

Shadowrun has been positively recounted by many contemporary gaming restrospectives. Tim Turi of Game Informer cited Shadowrun as an important milestone in the use of film noir in video games. Turi summarized, "Shadowrun's moody music and dark streets set the somber tone for this RPG's prying conversations and self-reflective narrative." IGN AU contributor Patrick Kolan fondly considered Shadowrun "without question, one of the best underexposed classics of the SNES era" because it presented players with "a mature narrative, strong characters and a dystopian backdrop", irresistibly blended with traditional RPG elements. 1UP.com writer Paul Furtari included Shadowrun on his list of "15 Games Ahead of Their Time" for its use of a keyword dialogue system, common to PC games but foreign to consoles games of the time.

Despite meeting with favorable reviews after its release, Shadowrun sold poorly, partly because of low shipping numbers. Two co-licensed games of the same name were released around the same time by different developers and publishers: the 1994 North America-exclusive Sega Genesis title by BlueSky Software and Sega, and the 1995 Japan-exclusive Sega Mega-CD title by Group SNE and Compile. The storyline and gameplay of the SNES Shadowrun are completely different from these two games. In 2007, FASA Studio and Microsoft Studios released an adaptation of the franchise on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows.

External links

• Shadowrun at MobyGames