Prototype of cyberpunk anime Akira Sega Genesis video game surfaces
That game, long rumored but only recently unearthed, was to be a Sega Genesis release in 1995. Prototyped by Black Pearl Software before cancellation, the game quietly disappeared for decades, until, as the Daily Dot reports, the prototype showed up online. This digital version, released by Hidden Palace, who specializes in this sort of thing, is a lengthy video showing off the play of this unfinished version of the game, which is fairly expansive—enough to clock in at an hour’s length, even in its unfinished state.
And what a thing it is. The play is changeable in what we see, with platforming, first-person sections, some good old fashioned psychic fisticuffs as Tetsuo. But what’s really compelling here is the style, the way even in this prototype Black Pearl Software manages to capture the visual and aesthetic style of the source material. It really looks like Akira in 16-bit. The sewers are right. The city streets. That motorcycle.
Developed by Black Pearl Software sometime in late 1993 for a planned released in 1995, this game attempted to do a faithful adaptation of the original film by presenting various key scenes from the film in unique ways. The game features first person shooting, racing, platforming, and beat-em up segments to help illustrate the various points in the movie’s story. Thought to have been lost since its initial debut in various media as well as the Summer Consumer Electronic Show (SCES 94) in 1994, an early prototype has been discovered and is presented for the first time in full!
