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Has a Game Based on Akira Ever Been Released?

GDGF

Soothsayer
...Besides that crappy looking pachinko game (or was it pinball) that I saw on Cinematech, that is. For the past several generations I've heard rumblings - A side scroller for SNES, a racing game for the PS2. Haven't seen any results, though. Why? It sounds like a no brainer. Even if the franchise is years old now, certainly there would be enough of a fan base present to get one of these projects off the ground. It'd be nice.

Akira-LD_Box_SpecialCollec.jpg
 

Argyle

Member
An Akira adventure game was released for Famicom - I think Taito published. I have a copy of it lying around somewhere...
 
I wish someone would make an action game ripping off the storyline. You know, riding the bike around Neo Tokyo, rescuing Tetsuo and flying the hovercrafts around, etc.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
Pipedream, but I'd love to see a Battlefield style game in the Akira universe with all the appropriate teams- Kanada's gang, the Clowns, the US and Japanese Navy, Akira's Neo Tokyo Empire (with Tetsuo at his side)...

Just when my coil was reaching the green line!
 
the racing game sounded awesome (PS1 game, later rumored to have shifted development to PS2, now vaporware)- different areas of Neo Tokyo, choose which gang to be on, choose a character from the comics, and race those badass motorcycles Road Rash style.

If I can remember, the SNES game was more of an action game based on parts from the film.

It's a shame, because the property still has potential for a fantastic game, IMO.
 

Lo-Volt

Member
Akira would be great for a good game treatment, but Gundam, Samurai Champloo and I'm sure many others are still ahead in line. One milestone at a time would be appropriate, I think. But the PS3 and 360 could do a great job with the celshading; a fully-realized Akira game would be a lovely visual experience in the right hands. I think there was a pinball game for the PlayStation 2 a few years ago, as a matter of fact (is that what you were thinking of?). Naturally, I don't know anything about it, it being a PS2 pinball game and all.
 
There have been three released Akira games, AFAIK: the Famicom adventure game, the pinball game for PS2 (Akira Psychoball), and a shitty Amiga platformer.

Famicom:
Akira1.gif
Akira2.gif


Amiga:
akira-1.gif


PS2:
akira_screen002.jpg


akira_screen008.jpg
 

ronito

Member
pinball1.jpg


I don't know about you, but when I saw Akira the first thing that I thought was "This would make an AWESOME pinball game!".
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
Father_Brain said:
There have been three released Akira games, AFAIK: the Famicom adventure game, the pinball game for PS2 (Akira Psychoball), and a shitty Amiga platformer.

I still have my Amiga 500, actually! It was probably for one of the higher platforms, though :(

ronito said:
I don't know about you, but when I saw Akira the first thing that I thought was "This would make an AWESOME pinball game!".

That is one hell of a waste of a license.
 

bjork

Member
One of the EGM Buyer's Guides ran a screenshot for Akira... it was SNES or Genesis, iirc. I wonder how far along that game got?
 

The End

Member
Lo-Volt said:
Akira would be great for a good game treatment, but Gundam, Samurai Champloo and I'm sure many others are still ahead in line. One milestone at a time would be appropriate, I think. But the PS3 and 360 could do a great job with the celshading; a fully-realized Akira game would be a lovely visual experience in the right hands. I think there was a pinball game for the PlayStation 2 a few years ago, as a matter of fact (is that what you were thinking of?). Naturally, I don't know anything about it, it being a PS2 pinball game and all.


There is a terribly damn Samurai Champloo game, and like 400 gundam games, the best of which is probably Gundam: One Year War.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
bjork said:
One of the EGM Buyer's Guides ran a screenshot for Akira... it was SNES or Genesis, iirc. I wonder how far along that game got?

Yeah, I remember that. It was going to be developed by THQ if I recall correctly.
 

Whimsical Phil

Ninja School will help you
For the record, Akira Psycho Ball is quite good.

And I was actually able to play THQ's Genesis Akira game back at a CES show ages ago (this, of course, pre-dated E3). Somewhere at my parent's house, I still have a sales flyer for the game with info and screens on it. I'll have to try to dig it up next time I'm there and get that puppy scanned.

If I remember correctly, it was announced for Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, Game Boy, and Game Gear, although I believe that the Genesis version was the only one on display on the show floor.

The main gimmick of the game was that each stage played differently. Lemme see how many I can recall...

- A motorcycle racing stage that was a lot like Super Hang-On. As you would imagine, you were Kaneda racing against the Clowns.

- A FPS stage where you were Tetsuo wandering though the lab where he was being experimented on. Instead of a gun at the bottom of the screen, you just saw Tetsuo's hand, and when you fired at guards, he shot out a blast of psychic energy. This stage was about as impressive looking as a FPS could look on the Genesis.

- A side scrolling stage where you were Kaneda and Kei piloting that hover vehicle through the sewers. These stages weren't strictly side scrolling, though, as they were quite large and maze-like. You could fly quite a ways up and down as well as left and right. You used the gun on the vehicle to shoot down the guards' crafts.

- An isometric stage (think Viewpoint) where you were Tetsuo walking across the bridge (the one he would eventually destroy). Pressing the attack button caused him to swing his arm out in front of him, sending a wave of psychic energy out in front on him. The main enemy that I recall in this stage were rows of soldiers armed with the laser cannons from the movie. I remember being really impressed with the look of the Tetsuo sprite on this stage (complete with his tattered red cape).

- The last stage that I remember was a 2D beat-em-up (or was it a one-on-one fight?). Either way, you were a surprisingly large mutated Tetsuo attacking, well, whoever it was attacking you (Kaneda? Soldiers? I don't remember).

Seeing as how I was a big fan of the movie at the time, I talked to one of the head PR people at length about the game. She even gave me an animation cel from the movie (of the giant teddy bear and rabbit that attacked Tetsuo), which they were probably giving out to the press.

Even though I was just a scrub working at Babbage's at the time (yes, I was one of those retail kids who snuck into the show), she gave me her business card and I kept in contact with her for a while getting updates on the game. Until, of course, she gave me the sad news one day that they had cancelled it.

Man, I really gotta find that sales sheet now.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
Whimsical Phil said:
For the record, Akira Psycho Ball is quite good.

And I was actually able to play THQ's Genesis Akira game back at a CES show ages ago (this, of course, pre-dated E3). Somewhere at my parent's house, I still have a sales flyer for the game with info and screens on it. I'll have to try to dig it up next time I'm there and get that puppy scanned.

If I remember correctly, it was announced for Genesis, SNES, Sega CD, Game Boy, and Game Gear, although I believe that the Genesis version was the only one on display on the show floor.

The main gimmick of the game was that each stage played differently. Lemme see how many I can recall...

- A motorcycle racing stage that was a lot like Super Hang-On. As you would imagine, you were Kaneda racing against the Clowns.

- A FPS stage where you were Tetsuo wandering though the lab where he was being experimented on. Instead of a gun at the bottom of the screen, you just saw Tetsuo's hand, and when you fired at guards, he shot out a blast of psychic energy. This stage was about as impressive looking as a FPS could look on the Genesis.

- A side scrolling stage where you were Kaneda and Kei piloting that hover vehicle through the sewers. These stages weren't strictly side scrolling, though, as they were quite large and maze-like. You could fly quite a ways up and down as well as left and right. You used the gun on the vehicle to shoot down the guards' crafts.

- An isometric stage (think Viewpoint) where you were Tetsuo walking across the bridge (the one he would eventually destroy). Pressing the attack button caused him to swing his arm out in front of him, sending a wave of psychic energy out in front on him. The main enemy that I recall in this stage were rows of soldiers armed with the laser cannons from the movie. I remember being really impressed with the look of the Tetsuo sprite on this stage (complete with his tattered red cape).

- The last stage that I remember was a 2D beat-em-up (or was it a one-on-one fight?). Either way, you were a surprisingly large mutated Tetsuo attacking, well, whoever it was attacking you (Kaneda? Soldiers? I don't remember).

Seeing as how I was a big fan of the movie at the time, I talked to one of the head PR people at length about the game. She even gave me an animation cel from the movie (of the giant teddy bear and rabbit that attacked Tetsuo), which they were probably giving out to the press.

Even though I was just a scrub working at Babbage's at the time (yes, I was one of those retail kids who snuck into the show), she gave me her business card and I kept in contact with her for a while getting updates on the game. Until, of course, she gave me the sad news one day that they had cancelled it.

Man, I really gotta find that sales sheet now.

Wow! Thanks for the info. You're the only person I've ever heard give a real gameplay breakdown for the game that could have been.
 

shuri

Banned
Whimsical Phil said:
really cool info about AKira genny
I think that's the only way you could do an Akira game. That sounds pretty damn cool; but perhaps that having so many sub games had the consequences of having inegalities in the quality of each sub type.

Perhaps what would be interesting would be a game based on the Akira universe, aka told from the point of a view of a soldier perhaps.
 

Whimsical Phil

Ninja School will help you
shuri said:
I think that's the only way you could do an Akira game. That sounds pretty damn cool; but perhaps that having so many sub games had the consequences of having inegalities in the quality of each sub type.

Perhaps what would be interesting would be a game based on the Akira universe, aka told from the point of a view of a soldier perhaps.
You might be more right than you realize...your post reminded me of another detail of my little story. When I asked THQ's PR person at the time why the game was axed, she explained that the game wasn't living up to the company's expectations and that the Akira brand was too important to waste on a sub-par game. She told me that THQ would probably do an Akira game in the future, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that ship has sailed.

And the Akira universe game sounds like an interesting idea, but you run the risk of getting a repeat of the first Matrix game. Not in terms of the terrible quality, but no one wants to play as a side character. If you play a Matrix game, you wanna play as Neo. If you play an Akira game, you wanna play as Tetsuo and/or Kaneda.
 

Sho Nuff

Banned
Whimsical Phil said:
And I was actually able to play THQ's Genesis Akira game back at a CES show ages ago (this, of course, pre-dated E3). Somewhere at my parent's house, I still have a sales flyer for the game with info and screens on it. I'll have to try to dig it up next time I'm there and get that puppy scanned.


Whoa dude! Thanks for the scoop, totally awesome. I remember reading about it in some UK mag that said it would be like "Flashback on bikes." :lol
 

Shaheed79

dabbled in the jelly
BenT said:
The story would have been cooler if it ended like, "And that PR chick? Today I call her my wife."

:lol

Awesome impressions Phil. It really is a shame that such a license has gone untouched for this long not counting the K999 character of course.
 
He's reborn, thus the baby appearance. And he has the attributes of an amoeba. There's a very well-written synopsis if you're interested, but most people will just shrug it off and would rather not understand it.
 
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