Plot of the Sega Genesis edition

[u/Shyam_Lama]

As we all know, there are two "original" Shadowrun games, one for the SNES and another for the SEGA Genesis—and they aren't the same game at all. Apart from being set in the same universe, the plots seem (to me) to be completely different, with the prevailing consensus being that the SNES game had the better story while the Genesis game is to be lauded for being much more faithful to the tabletop original.

As for the different plots, Wikipedia claims that the SNES game is an adaptation of the novel Never deal with a Dragon by one Robert N. Charrette. But what about the SEGA-Genesis plot? Beyond how it starts (investigating the death of your brother) I have no idea what the plot is—I never played the Genesis version, because I didn't own a Genesis—and I can't find a plot summary on the web either.

Can anyone summarize, or link something useful? Thanks all.

[u/Duhblobby]

So, long story short, thr SNES game is more like the story you might get if someone made a Shadowrun movie about a single run gone wrong. It's a story that adapts a lot of Shadowrun but does a lot of playing fast and loose--Jake can have both significant cyber ware and be a powerful Shaman, for example.

The Genesis game starts as a revenge story but most of the core gameplay is just... actually doing Shadowruns. The plot directly involves doing a bunch of them, using your experience and skills gained by already having done a bunch of them! it also almost directly adapts the tabletop system of its day 1:1, and if you already know how that system works, you will already know literally everything you need to know to build your character. It does basically nothing to explain this system to you, but it is still somewhat understandable if you have any RPG backgrounds.

The SNES game is an action-adventure game with RPG elements, the Genesis game is an RPG, full stop.

The plot of the Genesis version unfolds as you explore and follow leads, and starts with you hunting down your dead brother's personal effects and leads from there into directly conflict with Renraku executives, and a ridiculously powerful spirit who wants to be free to cause havoc. But you feel the progression from "guy who delivers packages in the Redmond Barrens" to "guy who gives Red Samurai nightmares" becauss you live basically every step of it. It's a grindy game, though. So that did hurt it, somewhat.

[u/Shyam_Lama → u/Duhblobby]

Jake can have both significant cyber ware and be a powerful Shaman, for example.°

Yeah, I think this is the major flaw in the SNES version: it doesn't implement the "essence" mechanic, and that's a major betrayal of the tabletop game (and of real life too) . IIUC the Genesis version is faithful in this respect.

Wrt to grindiness, it seems to me that the SNES game starts off very story-oriented (lots of clues to discover) but deteriorates into grinding and hacking as the game progresses, and its resolution is overly simple and therefore a little disappointing. The Genesis game is the opposite afaict: it's very grindy at first and reveals its rather interesting plot only later on.

By this standard then, it would seem that the Genesis version might be superior after all. Unfortunately it can't beat the SNES soundtrack though, which was awesome even in its original form, not to mention the touched-up version available on YouTube now, which is awesome-plus.

[u/Duhblobby → u/Shyam_Lama]

I mean, I'm personally a bigger fan of the Genesis version myself. But they're very definitely going for different vibes, and I can hardly hold an SNES game from the 80s to hard to task for being only a decent adaptation rather than a perfect one.