In one of my quasi-predictable spurs of nostalgia, I decided to look up a Sega Genesis emulator and grabbed the Shadowrun game rom. It was easier than expected, and immediately I got re-hooked on what I consider the first video game that really got me sucked into the entire cyberpunk/goth theme of gaming (which ultimately led to my love for AO).
Wish I had more time to play it more because of how many hours are required for it, but I can definitely appreciate how well-made the game was, especially now; and how nice it is as a pick-up-and-play game by just loading my character and doing a couple shadowrun missions, then saving and quitting. Once I have time, I'll start diving back into the storyline, but the fact that there are so many options of play-style in a semi-linear game from the Sega Genesis era is, without intending dramatics, near mind-blowing.
The modest graphics were still top of the line for a Genesis machine, and the amount of work that was poured into making this game must have been astounding. It's difficult to make progress, requiring lots of missions to build up your character before going from one plot point to the next, but not so much as to be frustrating, as the missions are often pretty fun so long as you play with a game pad (I dread playing console emulators on a keyboard). Balance like that alongside so many possible playstyles is hard to find in a video game, in any generation.
Even by today's standards, the game matches the original pen-and-paper Shadowrun RPG exceptionally closely, complete with full character templates and all the original stats, as well as Karma gaining and spending for improvement.
Anyway, nostalgia achieved, but I'm relieved that it's also a sort-of new discovery of an extremely well-made game from the console generation. If you're even remotely interested, I recommend you buy a gamepad, grab a Genesis emulator, and check out the Shadowrun rom (I'm certainly not condoning downloading copyrighted games without purchasing, but picking up an actual Genesis and this cartridge would prove pointlessly difficult nowadays).
(and no, I'm not going to start linking to emulators and roms, sorry)
Shadowrun (Sega) Shrine
