The abandoned buildings were creppy as hell, also the final parts were you go through the jungle and run into all sorts of monsters. Going on infiltrations runs was also quite scary, not creepy but there was always the dread that some employee would ask you for your credentials and you would fail the diceroll and activate the alarms. Obviously in the late game it's not a big deal, but in the middle part getting discovered was almost a death sentence.
I was about to argue with you because Hong Kong has a special place in my heart but then I remember how many times I replayed the Genesis one even if it was just to do runs to blow off steam...yeah, you're right, Genesis SR is the best SR.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the Hell Hounds! Running into Hell Hounds in an office building where you are absolutely not expecting them to be was the worst for me. And regardless of how op your avatar became the fact that Hell Hounds presented a constant threat made them legit scary!
This game came out in 1994, Grand Thief Auto came out in 1997. I think this thing was ahead of its time. Had they been on the ball and gone a little more bombastic, you know, kill dwarf hookers for yen and take out elven drug dealers we might have seen this idea play out in a few more games over the years. Cyberpunk 2077 might have been only one of the "cyberpunk" style games out right now : )
My favorite feature was the ability to use your cyber deck to hack into random businesses. You could get a little "mom and pop" type, and steal all the data you could carry. Alternatively, you could also connect with a government/mega corporation system that can utterly destroy you and your programs if you're not skilled enough
What an awesome game, I think one thing that made it a lot more intense is that encounters can end quicly, you can dia really fast in this game especially at the start
I feel the SNES version was way creepier. One of the first things you meet in the game is a dog with red eyes, and it's basically an render of a pitbulls face glaring at you, really the kind of stuff you'd get from a creepypasta. The music was also way creepier with a downer atmosphere.
That version is completely different, and I'm not sure how it's creepier than this one. The atmosphere isn't as dark, the music isn't as dark, it doesn't make you feel the same. The mechanics are different as well, everyone has their own opinion it's alright to like one better than the other. I just don't agree with it being darker, desolation is good word to describe the Genesis version.
The SNES has a more bubbly atmosphere and is probably a better overall game in terms of difficulty. SEGA has the best 80s cyberpunk feel and extra content in terms of tech, gear, matrix etc but its a tough game for any beginner. Sega to me is the most creepy because of not knowing what's around the corner and those damn random encounters 😂
The super nintendo version seemed like a creepy prequel to the sega genesis version and the first creepy thing that stood out to me was when the protagonist wakes up in a city morgue.
Sure did love that Sega Channel. What a totally novel service it was. I remember staying up till midnight on the last day of the month to see what new games would be loaded. I also remember doing that and the games NOT updating very quickly, or until the morning!
Problem was most people had a convenient well stocked rental store nearby with a much larger selection. By 1995 it was also way too late, Genesis was outdated and replaced by Sega Saturn and soon the PlayStation would dominate.
Dude thank you for sharing your childhood memories with us. I always liked to talk about how our childhood games hit us back then. Some games that were not intended to be scary just were back then. For example Goldeneye gave me nightmares.
A great game and one of my all time favorites. Honestly I think one of the things this game does better than any game I've ever played is to keep a consistently high level of tension. This game does NOT hold your hand. It doesn't tell you what to do, and you never know how difficult or easy a run will be until you're doing it. It takes a long time to get the right feel for what you can and can't do and crossing that line and doing something you KNOW you couldn't do before but maybe can now is terrifying. Even late game, when you have a strong handle on how things work, overconfidence can and will kill you. There is no worse feeling than simply walking down the street to Ares to buy ammo only to be gunned down right outside its doors because you ran out.
I freaking love Shadowrun, it's one of my favorite tabletop systems and settings! Far as the video games go, I never got to try the Sega version, I didn't even know it existed. But I did play the SNES version and that was a lot of fun. Still go back to it every now and then and even tried to make a tabletop character like Jake Armitage. As a setting though, Shadowrun in general is one of my favorite cyberpunk worlds to visit. A place where the class divides have become so massive and bleak that going down the wrong street can land you in what might as well be a third world country where the police won't be coming to save you if something happens. A setting where technology's progress has exploded and the return of magic has flipped much of the world on it's head. God, I wish we could get a 2077 esq game for it, preferably the fully patched and bug fixed version of course, or maybe a multiplayer game where it's not a half baked pvp shooter. Maybe something where everyone is playing a role for the team and you work together to pull of jobs and missions like breaking into some ivory tower to kill or kidnap a corpo while your one friend is in cyberspace turning off cameras and bypassing security alarms. Someone else is the street samurai and is all decked out for combat and built like a Sherman tank. You got your mage ready for magic support or dealing with spirits. Maybe you even have someone running as the face or infiltrator sneaking around or walking right through security in disguise creating holes in the network for everyone else to get through. And when someone messes up and it's time to get loud everyone gets to slaughter their way to freedom and a paycheck! Just a thought.
What I find funny about Shadowrun is it plays with the players' expectations of what future sci-fi Seattle's layout would look like. Like, in the real world, Redmond is the corporate sector while Puyallup is the high end rich suburb. In Shadowrun? They're lawless ghettos run by violent gangs that even the police won't go toward, and everyone calls them the barrens. Also, Jake is impossible to recreate in the pen and paper game thanks to his combination of cyberware and magic. You can't combine use of magic and cyberware efficiently at all because cyberware lowers essence required for magic use. And since Shadowrun rewards specialization a "Jake-lite" character would be a really bad generalist who can't accomplish much.
@@Anomaly188 Agreed, Armitage was effectively like an Elder Scrolls character who needed to be potentially good at all things. The Harebrained PC trilogy was also very good, and seeing old faces again was a real treat.
One of my favorite games of all time. The non linear gameplay was very novel at the time and really extended the value of the game. Having different styles of interaction between the regular map, Matrix and dialog screens really helped set the mood, tone and immersion. Even the music was enjoyable and original. ...and Chummer, it ain't night time, those are the Shadows you are Running in.
Nothing is scary after you realize there is a data brocker who buys files of you and soon enough you are swimming in nyen with best gear money can buy.
I love this game, and I agree it is pretty creepy. You quickly realize that, barring some safe spaces like bars and inns, nowhere is safe in this game. You can get jumped by gangsters on the streets at any moment, every other building you come across is filled with zombies and you can only explore the wilderness at your own risk. Even the Matrix ain't safe. Pick a fight with the wrong node and you will die both in and out of the virtual world
I played an imported version of this in UK that a friend had when I was around twelve or so and instantly fell in love with it. Though the Snes version is a lot more sophisticated, this will always have a special place in my heart. I was overjoyed when the Shadowrun Returns games came out as they are excellent.
Ghoul nests were my most hated places to go in this game. I usually avoided taking jobs to clear them out. The wendigo-filled woods of the Salish Sidhe was also an awful experience.
Love this game!! Bought the second edition players hand book for the table top version because this game was just the preview to awesomeness! I still play the game regularly, starting over, and I enjoy running through as the shaman the most, but samurai and decker are both very fun too! Creepiest part for me was all the uncertainty, when it came out, no internet, so looking for clues took weeks sometimes, and thats a lot of random encounters!! I love the karma point system, though it's even bigger and better in the table top version!! Great vid!!
One of my most favorite games of all time. Recently a friend of mine was tossing an old 32” CRT TV. I snagged it to hook up my genesis for the first time in over twenty years. To play you guessed it. SHADOWRUN! I love this game. It totally has a creepy vibe. The music the story, the environment, and characters created the ambiance. I also loved the depth to the various upgrade systems for your shadow runners. What a great game. Instant classic.
One of my favorite games. Specially on the Genesis. The depth was awesome. Never really creeped me out except in those dark buildings with random things lurking. Oh and in the barrens where you encounter wendigo.
The abandoned buildings still creep me out. Or the noise some enemies make when you shoot them. And hellhounds? Oh man. Good thing dogs don't breathe fire IRL (yet)
Nice to know that there are people who acknowledge that the SEGA Channel existed. It was a system that introduced me to some of my favorite games from that console, and some that never made a retail release
I've never played this game before, but I can see how well it fits with its theme. Cyberpunk always felt like a genre quite close to horror to me, and both Blade Runner movies are a perfect example of that too. There's something just downright eerie and wrong about that kind of rotten hyper-connected society that has turned every corner of the world into a hostile wasteland where there's nothing left but survival of the fittest. And even those cannot survive for much longer in a dying consumed world left to rot.
I picked up a copy of this game after I saw an article in SEGA VISIONS magazine. The music really set the tone for the bleak future world in the story. The matrix battles were creepy at times, especially if you encountered a node protected by the "Black ICE" countermeasure. Parts of the final battle startled me a bit as well.
I loved Shadowrun on the SNES, and then rented the Genesis version. It.. was very different. Initially I didn't like it as much but it really grew on me and I feel it is the superior one, if a bit repetitive. Still love the SNES version but ahhh the Genesis one is special
I played the hell out of this game when it first came out, the SNES version as well even though it was crap by comparison. I also played the table top Shadowrun game. I still preferred Cyberpunk 2020 over Shadowrun but played all of them. Years later I played the PC Shadowrun games and well they were just not fun. Got a few shadowrun novels and they were equally not fun. A new Shadowrun game would be epic, made like Cyberpunk 2070 instead of the isometric games that came out a few years back that as I mentioned, were not fun. Man I wish I could go back to those times.Had a lot of fun in the 90s with games that I just don't seem to have now days, although at that time I had a wife, kids, and even my mom on occasion playing with me. The family that games together, stays together,,,, until everyone dies.
Can you tell me, - how did it use Sega Channel functionality? Was there an option to upload your score, connect to other people, or was it only for downloading the game, or am I getting everything wrong? Interesting game, thank you
it was basically a game download subscription service similar to how psn and other digital game services are now. it was just for downloading games, there wasnt any netplay or online matchmaking functionality.
Sega TV was what introduced it to me as well, and I play the heck out of it. So much that when emulators came out, you can guess what the first Sega Genesis game I went for was
Agreed -- Sound design in both games really added to this as well. In the genesis version I remember the first time i went into the building full of ghouls, wasn't expecting that! And I think in the forests of Seattle I went exploring early on, and was i killed by a Yeti running out at me if i remember correctly? I felt this way in Red Dead a few times, coming upon an abandoned old house, Id expect to find Dracula inside -- but there never was 9I guess for undead nightmare they added the Yeti and then zombies obviously, but i nthe base game it was missing). But Shadowrun was like, no you come up on a creepy place, there will be something messed up inside. no one to be trusted. And like you said, even just getting a photo snapped of you, it was unlike anything id played before. Id love to a see a Cyberpunk level Shadowrun (map could be smaller).
Dude the abandoned buildings context before ya walk in, always creeped me out...only to figure out later those jobs are a solid money maker. I'm so glad I came across this video cuz as far as a personal deal with the game , we same level...Def top 3 games of all time across all platforms for me
Beat this game as a Sam with a cyberdeck and the Shaman, was fun as hell and took forever. One of my favorite games of all time. So much atmosphere crammed into one game.
My favorite game as a kid. I know exactly what you mean by creepy. I remember doing the Ghoul missions and feeling scared. The original diablo felt similar for me. I'm doing another play through of this game right now. No cheats. I really wish someone would make a modern game of this that's real time.. no turn based stuff. Thanks for the video!
I think there's something about the sega that allows it to excel at darker atmospheres. Another one in this same vein imo is that futuristic Phantom game based on the animated series
It was definitely an anxiety simulator for me. Every time a random event screen pops up, I go "What the hell do you want from me?" and get put on guard, cause the most seemingly innocuous thing can result in you getting jumped by a bunch of thugs, or even cops. You can't trust anyone. Buying free passage from gang leaders still has them tell you it's not guaranteed. Why are there so many zombies all the time, just everywhere in the middle of the cities, just near clinics and stuff? It's so messed up
One of the really remarkable things I found was that this game followed the rules for Shadowrun 2E pretty faithfully for the most part, including stuff like combat pool and how magic potential is reduced by cybernetics... and of course you could play a decker/samurai/shaman and these options were all perfectly viable. I played both this and the SNES Shadowrun. As for which is best, honestly, I think it's an Apples and Oranges kind of deal, since each has advantages and disadvantages. The SNES version has cleaner graphics, AMAZING music, and has a pretty well paced opening. The Genesis version has more replayability, follows SR's rules faithfully, and has a superior end game.
This and the SNES incarnation are still the best cyberpunk games I've played... 2077 even after all its updates got some of the feel, but none of the heart to me.
The Genesis soundchip also had a tendency to be unsettling. For example: The Pit theme in MK1 for the Genesis always gave me the creeps when I was little.
You touched on something about this game I couldn't articulate until seeing this. I didn't find it creepy like monsters & the supernatural, more foreboding you get in a rough neighborhood after dark. This was true even when in the ghoul buildings or wandering Salish-Shidhe where supernatural enemies roam.
I had an older friend play the SNES version with me and give me his copy when he moved. Even that one was creepy! I love both versions and it's one of my favorite universes.
Holy shit I've never heard someone say they used the sega channel(1995 game streaming) to put it in perspective my family first got a computer in 2004 and I was the first person in my neighborhood to get one.
I love this game. It opened my imagination so much, there was nothing like it before. Sandbox gameplay, random encounters, skill based action RPG with a rad story? AND The Matrix?! Still have it and my Sega console. LOL, yes, I’m a huge nerd!
This is one of my favorite games of all time! My first email address was a variation of "shadowrunner" due to this game. It's also how I discovered that TTRPGs were a thing. I won't lie - a pet project of mine as a software dev. in real life is to one day go back and recreate a spiritual successor to this game. Man, the matrix minigame as well was unreal for its time.
Good video. I haven't played either the snes or the genesis version but I think the genesis version is inherently more creepier because of the more freedom you have in the game and how the camera presents things to you.
This game certainly did very well with the dystopian atmosphere of the Shadowrun world. Both this game and it's snes counterpart did well in their own ways, both are good to play I feel at least once, both are good dour dystopian worlds, though the Genesis version is possibly a little more grimier at times, especially with a somewhat darker pallette then the snes game. Nice video!
I get what you mean with the sense of unease and paranoia: being a low level decker, fresh out of redmond barrens and suddenly you're oneshotted by a mage under the space needle or decide to take on a ghoul killing job for 20 nuyen a pop just to get sucker punched by a gargoyle. But here's my counter argument: you are not meant to play alone. Get some friends and share the loot. The moment that Mars was in the party you knew that no street thug would dare look at you the wrong way. What's more interesting is that the game reinforces hiring people short term for single jobs. The more jobs you do, the happier they are to see you return. Even the more antisocial ones like the Dwarf Shaman in the barrens. It's the little things. In the end, the world of shadowrun is dark and brutal but knowing you have a friend that has your back brings some of that ligh back into the setting.
Funny how a game can sometimes feel more uncanny and creepy by accident than on purpose. Not played this game but this is an interesting angle on it. Also learned a bit about the Sega Channel; grew up playing Sega but I guess I bowed out before SC became a thing
First game I ever played that used radiant quests as a key mechanic. Both the Genesis and SNES Shadowrun games were easily top 20 for their respective systems. No clue why neither seems to get any respect.
Hmm I found out about this game while looking for games that take place in the State of Washington and when I first saw it I immediately thought of the old fallout games ( I know this game came out before fallout ) I was also excited to listen to it's soundtrack because the levels are cities that I have actually been to and it did not disappoint. my personal favorite tracks are the Puyallup Barrens and the Salish-Shidhe wilderness themes for their Eerie tribal feels to them
Genesis games had a bizarre ability to make games creepy when they really shouldn't be, Ecco the Dolphin comes to mind. And even though it's Sega CD, Sonic CD had those messed up code input screens.
@@desmaku87 Most likely yeah, it's kinda the same vibe you get off old MS DOS games, shit like Fallout comes to mind, which the character portraits of Shadowrun remind me of. There's animators out there who capitalised on that creepy MS DOS feeling like PilotRedSun so I guess it's not just us. I definitely remember Streets of Rage having it's fair share of off putting moments, the boss music used to fill me with dread as a kid xD
Oh yeah, it crept me out more than the Snes one. But man do I love this game so much more than the great Snes game! So much closer to the tabletop. What creeps me out the most are the abandoned buildings and the Salish-Shide Wilderness. Those damn Hellhounds and Wendigo's and Sasquatches that sneak up on you!
Looks like a cool game. I missed it when I had my mega drive (the genesis name in Europe). Thanks for the video will try it on the emulator when I get a chance.
If someone did a remake of Genesis Shadowrun, kept the gameplay and graphics but added more assets (that toothless dude in every bar got old) and fleshed out the weapons and matrix spells, I'd pay a lot of money for it. Fantastic game.
I would say if the game creeped you out, that is an amazing compliment. If a piece of art can make you feel anything at all, that's a success in my opinion.
I held on to my brother's physical copy of this game all these years (along with sonic 2 and s&k). I remember him swearing up and down that the Genesis shadowrun was a way better rpg than the SNES one. Me, I can't really get past the first area of either game. LOL
Shadowrun was awesome, I rented it several times from Blockbuster when I was a kid and loved it. Thanks for bringing up 2058, gonna go give it a whirl.
The Commodore Amiga was filled with games like this and they also creeped me out. It seemed that a lot of Western fevelopers were inspired by dark comics at the time; Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD stuff. So a lot og Western games went for this super dark and dirty colour pallette which worked extremely well on the Megadrive and Amiga. Just check out games like The Chaos Engine and Cadaver. Washed out and desolate whilst keeping to that highly detailed yet unnerving art style. I love it. But I won't lie, as a kid it creeped me out a lot. I avoided Western games on 16bit consoles for the longest time because of it.
I was poor as fuck growing up, having a SNES while others had PS2's but I never envied my pals cuz games like Shadowrun made me not care. This game is one of the four elements responsible for my core persona including Elvira, Yu-Yu Hakusho and Musashi's Five Rings.
The SNES version was my favorite. I have recently been trying to get into this version but struggle to adapt. Many say the Genesis version is better than SNES but i still struggle keeping engaged as the gameplay is so different
Nice video Des, very pro! I had a friend that was obsessed with this it was the 1st time I ever saw the game. I must've been 18 at the time. That same day I let him give me a small tatoo, it was some jailhouse style shit. He rigged the gun off of a walkman motor and fast forward button. The needle was a sharpened electric guitar string. Talk about a punk rock day 😅🤣😂
I'd say Harlequin, he looked like a guy stuck in a microwave.😅 And the Hell Hounds no matter how good you get in the game they're always a scare to run into.
Cool, I've never played this one but I loved the one on,.. super Nintendo I believe? It was more isometric, but had a similar vibe. I definitely wanna hunt this down in the matrix
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I'm going to assume the random guy taking your picture is so they can put a bounty on you. Need a picture to make a bounty poster, right?
towards the end of the game those random encounters disappear then turn into the renraku strike team gunnin for ya
@@parker469a
The abandoned buildings were creppy as hell, also the final parts were you go through the jungle and run into all sorts of monsters.
Going on infiltrations runs was also quite scary, not creepy but there was always the dread that some employee would ask you for your credentials and you would fail the diceroll and activate the alarms. Obviously in the late game it's not a big deal, but in the middle part getting discovered was almost a death sentence.
Still the best Shadowrun video game we got. Stupidly underrated.
i agree
I found this game in the later era and enjoyed it, and own the SNES version, but it was totally different.
I was about to argue with you because Hong Kong has a special place in my heart but then I remember how many times I replayed the Genesis one even if it was just to do runs to blow off steam...yeah, you're right, Genesis SR is the best SR.
Don't forget the SNES and Sega CD versions!
Dude HANDS DOWN! The Matrix runs alone is just amazing!
I can’t believe you didn’t mention the Hell Hounds! Running into Hell Hounds in an office building where you are absolutely not expecting them to be was the worst for me. And regardless of how op your avatar became the fact that Hell Hounds presented a constant threat made them legit scary!
This game came out in 1994, Grand Thief Auto came out in 1997. I think this thing was ahead of its time. Had they been on the ball and gone a little more bombastic, you know, kill dwarf hookers for yen and take out elven drug dealers we might have seen this idea play out in a few more games over the years. Cyberpunk 2077 might have been only one of the "cyberpunk" style games out right now : )
Don't forget System Shock 1
My favorite feature was the ability to use your cyber deck to hack into random businesses. You could get a little "mom and pop" type, and steal all the data you could carry. Alternatively, you could also connect with a government/mega corporation system that can utterly destroy you and your programs if you're not skilled enough
oh yea i loved that, so damn cool
I loved doing this, I’d go to the crime mall and pick up a hot deck and just go nuts.
What an awesome game, I think one thing that made it a lot more intense is that encounters can end quicly, you can dia really fast in this game especially at the start
I feel the SNES version was way creepier. One of the first things you meet in the game is a dog with red eyes, and it's basically an render of a pitbulls face glaring at you, really the kind of stuff you'd get from a creepypasta. The music was also way creepier with a downer atmosphere.
That version is completely different, and I'm not sure how it's creepier than this one. The atmosphere isn't as dark, the music isn't as dark, it doesn't make you feel the same. The mechanics are different as well, everyone has their own opinion it's alright to like one better than the other. I just don't agree with it being darker, desolation is good word to describe the Genesis version.
I feel the snes version is better .
The SNES has a more bubbly atmosphere and is probably a better overall game in terms of difficulty. SEGA has the best 80s cyberpunk feel and extra content in terms of tech, gear, matrix etc but its a tough game for any beginner.
Sega to me is the most creepy because of not knowing what's around the corner and those damn random encounters 😂
The super nintendo version seemed like a creepy prequel to the sega genesis version and the first creepy thing that stood out to me was when the protagonist wakes up in a city morgue.
@@Staff7boring
Sure did love that Sega Channel. What a totally novel service it was. I remember staying up till midnight on the last day of the month to see what new games would be loaded. I also remember doing that and the games NOT updating very quickly, or until the morning!
1st time I played this was the Sega Channel too. The original Gamepass!
Problem was most people had a convenient well stocked rental store nearby with a much larger selection. By 1995 it was also way too late, Genesis was outdated and replaced by Sega Saturn and soon the PlayStation would dominate.
Used to play this with my bestie, helping him level up, when we weren't playing Golden Axe or Toejam & Earl. Memories...
Dude thank you for sharing your childhood memories with us. I always liked to talk about how our childhood games hit us back then. Some games that were not intended to be scary just were back then. For example Goldeneye gave me nightmares.
how did goldeneye give you nightmares?
A great game and one of my all time favorites. Honestly I think one of the things this game does better than any game I've ever played is to keep a consistently high level of tension. This game does NOT hold your hand. It doesn't tell you what to do, and you never know how difficult or easy a run will be until you're doing it. It takes a long time to get the right feel for what you can and can't do and crossing that line and doing something you KNOW you couldn't do before but maybe can now is terrifying. Even late game, when you have a strong handle on how things work, overconfidence can and will kill you. There is no worse feeling than simply walking down the street to Ares to buy ammo only to be gunned down right outside its doors because you ran out.
i could not have said it better myself. danger is everywhere in this game.
I freaking love Shadowrun, it's one of my favorite tabletop systems and settings! Far as the video games go, I never got to try the Sega version, I didn't even know it existed. But I did play the SNES version and that was a lot of fun. Still go back to it every now and then and even tried to make a tabletop character like Jake Armitage.
As a setting though, Shadowrun in general is one of my favorite cyberpunk worlds to visit. A place where the class divides have become so massive and bleak that going down the wrong street can land you in what might as well be a third world country where the police won't be coming to save you if something happens. A setting where technology's progress has exploded and the return of magic has flipped much of the world on it's head.
God, I wish we could get a 2077 esq game for it, preferably the fully patched and bug fixed version of course, or maybe a multiplayer game where it's not a half baked pvp shooter. Maybe something where everyone is playing a role for the team and you work together to pull of jobs and missions like breaking into some ivory tower to kill or kidnap a corpo while your one friend is in cyberspace turning off cameras and bypassing security alarms. Someone else is the street samurai and is all decked out for combat and built like a Sherman tank. You got your mage ready for magic support or dealing with spirits. Maybe you even have someone running as the face or infiltrator sneaking around or walking right through security in disguise creating holes in the network for everyone else to get through. And when someone messes up and it's time to get loud everyone gets to slaughter their way to freedom and a paycheck! Just a thought.
What I find funny about Shadowrun is it plays with the players' expectations of what future sci-fi Seattle's layout would look like. Like, in the real world, Redmond is the corporate sector while Puyallup is the high end rich suburb. In Shadowrun? They're lawless ghettos run by violent gangs that even the police won't go toward, and everyone calls them the barrens. Also, Jake is impossible to recreate in the pen and paper game thanks to his combination of cyberware and magic. You can't combine use of magic and cyberware efficiently at all because cyberware lowers essence required for magic use. And since Shadowrun rewards specialization a "Jake-lite" character would be a really bad generalist who can't accomplish much.
@@Anomaly188 Agreed, Armitage was effectively like an Elder Scrolls character who needed to be potentially good at all things.
The Harebrained PC trilogy was also very good, and seeing old faces again was a real treat.
YES! SEGA Channel introduced me to the universe and I fell in love with it.
Boy oh boy sega channel was the days. Vectorman, shining force1 and 2, freaking LANDSTALKER. Man we had everything
Your first couple minutes are legit exactly how I felt. Played it on the sega channel. This is my first video I’ve watched of yours, SUBSCRIBED
yo thanks for subbin, i appreciate you
I've always wanted to play this game. The atmosphere seems chilling. Nice video
I play it once every two years. It's an amazing game.
One of my favorite games of all time. The non linear gameplay was very novel at the time and really extended the value of the game. Having different styles of interaction between the regular map, Matrix and dialog screens really helped set the mood, tone and immersion. Even the music was enjoyable and original.
...and Chummer, it ain't night time, those are the Shadows you are Running in.
Nothing is scary after you realize there is a data brocker who buys files of you and soon enough you are swimming in nyen with best gear money can buy.
I love this game, and I agree it is pretty creepy. You quickly realize that, barring some safe spaces like bars and inns, nowhere is safe in this game. You can get jumped by gangsters on the streets at any moment, every other building you come across is filled with zombies and you can only explore the wilderness at your own risk. Even the Matrix ain't safe. Pick a fight with the wrong node and you will die both in and out of the virtual world
well said. the streets and many other places are so dangerous.
I played an imported version of this in UK that a friend had when I was around twelve or so and instantly fell in love with it. Though the Snes version is a lot more sophisticated, this will always have a special place in my heart. I was overjoyed when the Shadowrun Returns games came out as they are excellent.
Ghoul nests were my most hated places to go in this game. I usually avoided taking jobs to clear them out. The wendigo-filled woods of the Salish Sidhe was also an awful experience.
Literally same story for me -- First try in '95 on Sega Channel. Good times!
You could argue that a lot games on the Genesis had an "unsettling" vibe to them. It's almost esoteric but I've always enjoyed the charm, tho.
This game and X-Men clone wars 2 are my favorite Sega games
And the cheat for it is abbacab at the start menu
Love this game!! Bought the second edition players hand book for the table top version because this game was just the preview to awesomeness! I still play the game regularly, starting over, and I enjoy running through as the shaman the most, but samurai and decker are both very fun too!
Creepiest part for me was all the uncertainty, when it came out, no internet, so looking for clues took weeks sometimes, and thats a lot of random encounters!! I love the karma point system, though it's even bigger and better in the table top version!!
Great vid!!
Great video essay man, wish I had experienced this game when it first came out.
Glad you enjoyed it!
One of my most favorite games of all time. Recently a friend of mine was tossing an old 32” CRT TV. I snagged it to hook up my genesis for the first time in over twenty years. To play you guessed it. SHADOWRUN! I love this game. It totally has a creepy vibe. The music the story, the environment, and characters created the ambiance. I also loved the depth to the various upgrade systems for your shadow runners.
What a great game. Instant classic.
One of my favorite games. Specially on the Genesis. The depth was awesome. Never really creeped me out except in those dark buildings with random things lurking. Oh and in the barrens where you encounter wendigo.
This game is solely responsible for my love of cyberpunk games! Deus ex, Syndicate and cyberpunk 2077!!
The abandoned buildings still creep me out. Or the noise some enemies make when you shoot them. And hellhounds? Oh man. Good thing dogs don't breathe fire IRL (yet)
Nice to know that there are people who acknowledge that the SEGA Channel existed. It was a system that introduced me to some of my favorite games from that console, and some that never made a retail release
My favourite game and the most nostalgic from my childhood ❤
Born 1974 Toronto Canada
Heyyy I also was introduced to Shadowrun through the Sega Channel!
Yaaaaas. TH-cam needs more Shadowrun for Genesis content.
I've never played this game before, but I can see how well it fits with its theme. Cyberpunk always felt like a genre quite close to horror to me, and both Blade Runner movies are a perfect example of that too. There's something just downright eerie and wrong about that kind of rotten hyper-connected society that has turned every corner of the world into a hostile wasteland where there's nothing left but survival of the fittest. And even those cannot survive for much longer in a dying consumed world left to rot.
The music should have been like Skeleton krew more dark fm patches and compositions
@2:19 creeped me out too
I picked up a copy of this game after I saw an article in SEGA VISIONS magazine. The music really set the tone for the bleak future world in the story. The matrix battles were creepy at times, especially if you encountered a node protected by the "Black ICE" countermeasure. Parts of the final battle startled me a bit as well.
I loved Shadowrun on the SNES, and then rented the Genesis version. It.. was very different. Initially I didn't like it as much but it really grew on me and I feel it is the superior one, if a bit repetitive. Still love the SNES version but ahhh the Genesis one is special
I did the opposite and the genny ones the best.
I played the hell out of this game when it first came out, the SNES version as well even though it was crap by comparison. I also played the table top Shadowrun game. I still preferred Cyberpunk 2020 over Shadowrun but played all of them.
Years later I played the PC Shadowrun games and well they were just not fun. Got a few shadowrun novels and they were equally not fun.
A new Shadowrun game would be epic, made like Cyberpunk 2070 instead of the isometric games that came out a few years back that as I mentioned, were not fun.
Man I wish I could go back to those times.Had a lot of fun in the 90s with games that I just don't seem to have now days, although at that time I had a wife, kids, and even my mom on occasion playing with me. The family that games together, stays together,,,, until everyone dies.
I thought that hologram portrait was creepy too, especially since it just leads you to get ambushed usually. Glad I wasn't the only one!
i think the lack of colors made it look creepy too
Can you tell me, - how did it use Sega Channel functionality? Was there an option to upload your score, connect to other people, or was it only for downloading the game, or am I getting everything wrong?
Interesting game, thank you
I think it was just for playing the game. You'd get access to a bunch of games. The games would change periodically. Monthly, I think.
it was basically a game download subscription service similar to how psn and other digital game services are now. it was just for downloading games, there wasnt any netplay or online matchmaking functionality.
Sega TV was what introduced it to me as well, and I play the heck out of it. So much that when emulators came out, you can guess what the first Sega Genesis game I went for was
haha same here
Dude I was like 12 in 95 and my first ghoul run scared me as a kid. This game was gritty and grimdark before I knew what that was.
Agreed -- Sound design in both games really added to this as well. In the genesis version I remember the first time i went into the building full of ghouls, wasn't expecting that! And I think in the forests of Seattle I went exploring early on, and was i killed by a Yeti running out at me if i remember correctly? I felt this way in Red Dead a few times, coming upon an abandoned old house, Id expect to find Dracula inside -- but there never was 9I guess for undead nightmare they added the Yeti and then zombies obviously, but i nthe base game it was missing). But Shadowrun was like, no you come up on a creepy place, there will be something messed up inside. no one to be trusted. And like you said, even just getting a photo snapped of you, it was unlike anything id played before.
Id love to a see a Cyberpunk level Shadowrun (map could be smaller).
Dude the abandoned buildings context before ya walk in, always creeped me out...only to figure out later those jobs are a solid money maker. I'm so glad I came across this video cuz as far as a personal deal with the game , we same level...Def top 3 games of all time across all platforms for me
Beat this game as a Sam with a cyberdeck and the Shaman, was fun as hell and took forever. One of my favorite games of all time. So much atmosphere crammed into one game.
My favorite game as a kid. I know exactly what you mean by creepy. I remember doing the Ghoul missions and feeling scared. The original diablo felt similar for me.
I'm doing another play through of this game right now. No cheats. I really wish someone would make a modern game of this that's real time.. no turn based stuff.
Thanks for the video!
yea im not into the new shadowrun games. they are cool but i want something like this again.
I think there's something about the sega that allows it to excel at darker atmospheres. Another one in this same vein imo is that futuristic Phantom game based on the animated series
It was definitely an anxiety simulator for me. Every time a random event screen pops up, I go "What the hell do you want from me?" and get put on guard, cause the most seemingly innocuous thing can result in you getting jumped by a bunch of thugs, or even cops. You can't trust anyone. Buying free passage from gang leaders still has them tell you it's not guaranteed. Why are there so many zombies all the time, just everywhere in the middle of the cities, just near clinics and stuff? It's so messed up
One of the really remarkable things I found was that this game followed the rules for Shadowrun 2E pretty faithfully for the most part, including stuff like combat pool and how magic potential is reduced by cybernetics... and of course you could play a decker/samurai/shaman and these options were all perfectly viable.
I played both this and the SNES Shadowrun.
As for which is best, honestly, I think it's an Apples and Oranges kind of deal, since each has advantages and disadvantages. The SNES version has cleaner graphics, AMAZING music, and has a pretty well paced opening. The Genesis version has more replayability, follows SR's rules faithfully, and has a superior end game.
This and the SNES incarnation are still the best cyberpunk games I've played... 2077 even after all its updates got some of the feel, but none of the heart to me.
The Genesis soundchip also had a tendency to be unsettling. For example: The Pit theme in MK1 for the Genesis always gave me the creeps when I was little.
Good video !!
I’ve got a soft spot for the SNES version takes me back
You touched on something about this game I couldn't articulate until seeing this. I didn't find it creepy like monsters & the supernatural, more foreboding you get in a rough neighborhood after dark. This was true even when in the ghoul buildings or wandering Salish-Shidhe where supernatural enemies roam.
I had an older friend play the SNES version with me and give me his copy when he moved. Even that one was creepy! I love both versions and it's one of my favorite universes.
Never played the Sega game, but I loved the TTRPG since early 90s.
Holy shit I've never heard someone say they used the sega channel(1995 game streaming) to put it in perspective my family first got a computer in 2004 and I was the first person in my neighborhood to get one.
I love this game. It opened my imagination so much, there was nothing like it before. Sandbox gameplay, random encounters, skill based action RPG with a rad story? AND The Matrix?!
Still have it and my Sega console. LOL, yes, I’m a huge nerd!
This is one of my favorite games of all time! My first email address was a variation of "shadowrunner" due to this game. It's also how I discovered that TTRPGs were a thing. I won't lie - a pet project of mine as a software dev. in real life is to one day go back and recreate a spiritual successor to this game. Man, the matrix minigame as well was unreal for its time.
word up, i dont think there are any spiritual successors to this game. i was hoping the latest shadowrun games were going to be but they werent
@@desmaku87 Yeah, and there's something about random events and the portraits and the Johnsons that you don't get with something like Cyberpunk 2077.
Good video. I haven't played either the snes or the genesis version but I think the genesis version is inherently more creepier because of the more freedom you have in the game and how the camera presents things to you.
This game certainly did very well with the dystopian atmosphere of the Shadowrun world. Both this game and it's snes counterpart did well in their own ways, both are good to play I feel at least once, both are good dour dystopian worlds, though the Genesis version is possibly a little more grimier at times, especially with a somewhat darker pallette then the snes game.
Nice video!
I get what you mean with the sense of unease and paranoia: being a low level decker, fresh out of redmond barrens and suddenly you're oneshotted by a mage under the space needle or decide to take on a ghoul killing job for 20 nuyen a pop just to get sucker punched by a gargoyle.
But here's my counter argument: you are not meant to play alone. Get some friends and share the loot. The moment that Mars was in the party you knew that no street thug would dare look at you the wrong way. What's more interesting is that the game reinforces hiring people short term for single jobs. The more jobs you do, the happier they are to see you return. Even the more antisocial ones like the Dwarf Shaman in the barrens. It's the little things.
In the end, the world of shadowrun is dark and brutal but knowing you have a friend that has your back brings some of that ligh back into the setting.
Funny how a game can sometimes feel more uncanny and creepy by accident than on purpose. Not played this game but this is an interesting angle on it. Also learned a bit about the Sega Channel; grew up playing Sega but I guess I bowed out before SC became a thing
oh I loved this game. such a unique atmosphere. I hated going into the creepy abandoned warehouses.
First game I ever played that used radiant quests as a key mechanic.
Both the Genesis and SNES Shadowrun games were easily top 20 for their respective systems.
No clue why neither seems to get any respect.
Genesis Shadowrun is up there with Secret of Evermore for my most nostalgic game.
the music is harsh, but i like it
I missed out on the Genesis, but holy shit did this one have me grinding up my stats
Loved this game. Not sure if it was what got me into playing on Shadowrun MUDs or MUSHes, or if it was the other way around.
Shadowrun was the best genre in fiction in the 80s-90s. Period. Best books ever.
I didn't know about it until a few minutes ago.
Hmm I found out about this game while looking for games that take place in the State of Washington and when I first saw it I immediately thought of the old fallout games ( I know this game came out before fallout ) I was also excited to listen to it's soundtrack because the levels are cities that I have actually been to and it did not disappoint. my personal favorite tracks are the Puyallup Barrens and the Salish-Shidhe wilderness themes for their Eerie tribal feels to them
Genesis games had a bizarre ability to make games creepy when they really shouldn't be, Ecco the Dolphin comes to mind. And even though it's Sega CD, Sonic CD had those messed up code input screens.
yea it could be the lack of colors or even the soundchip.
@@desmaku87 Most likely yeah, it's kinda the same vibe you get off old MS DOS games, shit like Fallout comes to mind, which the character portraits of Shadowrun remind me of. There's animators out there who capitalised on that creepy MS DOS feeling like PilotRedSun so I guess it's not just us.
I definitely remember Streets of Rage having it's fair share of off putting moments, the boss music used to fill me with dread as a kid xD
You ever tried the tabletop version? Apparently its pretty complicated
there was a site i used to go to where you can play shadowrun pen and paper style through the chat, but table top, nope.
i must have rented it from blockbuster 50 times back then👍
i played both back then one on nintendo as well i like both actully
Oh yeah, it crept me out more than the Snes one.
But man do I love this game so much more than the great Snes game! So much closer to the tabletop.
What creeps me out the most are the abandoned buildings and the Salish-Shide Wilderness. Those damn Hellhounds and Wendigo's and Sasquatches that sneak up on you!
Looks like a cool game. I missed it when I had my mega drive (the genesis name in Europe). Thanks for the video will try it on the emulator when I get a chance.
I had the SNES version. Great game. To me a long time to figure out as a kid.
This was my favorite game on genesis.
Definitely an amazing game. Much respect for the source material
If someone did a remake of Genesis Shadowrun, kept the gameplay and graphics but added more assets (that toothless dude in every bar got old) and fleshed out the weapons and matrix spells, I'd pay a lot of money for it. Fantastic game.
yeah i would too, im surprised no one has gone for it yet. thank goodness for the mod hack
@@desmaku87 Which mod? Best one I've come across is Shadowrun 2048. Better balance of weapons/matrix spells.
@@sumerianliger thats what i was referring to bro
I would say if the game creeped you out, that is an amazing compliment. If a piece of art can make you feel anything at all, that's a success in my opinion.
Entertaining and well wrtten bro, thankyou
Much appreciated
Likewise on everything including Sega Channel I miss so much. This game needs a real remake.
I held on to my brother's physical copy of this game all these years (along with sonic 2 and s&k). I remember him swearing up and down that the Genesis shadowrun was a way better rpg than the SNES one. Me, I can't really get past the first area of either game. LOL
Shadowrun was awesome, I rented it several times from Blockbuster when I was a kid and loved it. Thanks for bringing up 2058, gonna go give it a whirl.
yea the 2058 hack is pretty good, find it at romhacking :)
same ,must have rented it 50x
The Commodore Amiga was filled with games like this and they also creeped me out.
It seemed that a lot of Western fevelopers were inspired by dark comics at the time; Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD stuff.
So a lot og Western games went for this super dark and dirty colour pallette which worked extremely well on the Megadrive and Amiga.
Just check out games like The Chaos Engine and Cadaver. Washed out and desolate whilst keeping to that highly detailed yet unnerving art style. I love it.
But I won't lie, as a kid it creeped me out a lot. I avoided Western games on 16bit consoles for the longest time because of it.
What pistol is that? I've played this game dozens of times and I've never seen that sprite.
it could be from the 2058 hack. they added and altered weapons from the original game.
If this game creeps you out,
You must have never been in a major city after 9pm.
real funny
I did feel it was a darker game. I played that game quite a bit.
Never played this game on SNES saw it on the shelf at Hollywood Video rental store s
as it should
why
@@desmaku87 ...it's a creepy game
what makes it creepy to you
@@desmaku87 idk...
SAME and what a bizzzare odd video. i dig it
I was poor as fuck growing up, having a SNES while others had PS2's but I never envied my pals cuz games like Shadowrun made me not care.
This game is one of the four elements responsible for my core persona including Elvira, Yu-Yu Hakusho and Musashi's Five Rings.
The SNES version was my favorite. I have recently been trying to get into this version but struggle to adapt. Many say the Genesis version is better than SNES but i still struggle keeping engaged as the gameplay is so different
Nice video Des, very pro! I had a friend that was obsessed with this it was the 1st time I ever saw the game. I must've been 18 at the time. That same day I let him give me a small tatoo, it was some jailhouse style shit. He rigged the gun off of a walkman motor and fast forward button. The needle was a sharpened electric guitar string. Talk about a punk rock day 😅🤣😂
homemade tattoo? did it hurt?
I'd say Harlequin, he looked like a guy stuck in a microwave.😅
And the Hell Hounds no matter how good you get in the game they're always a scare to run into.
Cool, I've never played this one but I loved the one on,.. super Nintendo I believe? It was more isometric, but had a similar vibe. I definitely wanna hunt this down in the matrix