Journalist John Szczepaniak spent quite a bit of time collecting information about the Akira game. Just under 20 years later, a now-archived 2012 interview on Hardcore Gaming 101 with former Akira game developer, Jim Gregory, provided more context for the lost game. A Genesis demo was even available at CES 1993. It was known to be in development in the early 1990s. At the time, it seems it wasn’t really known how this Akira game vanished into the night. The Akira case seems special even for this group. Their list of prototype preservation efforts this year includes Silent Hill v0.10, The Jungle Book, and an early one for Return of the Jedi for the SNES.
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This year, prototypes are their main headlines for software releases. Hidden Palace, responsible for the video and this resurfaced software, is a group dedicated to preserving video game software and hardware. The actual prototype, of course, is glitchy and incomplete, but many sections are complete enough to give a whirl. There are also some small cutscenes that show how the story plays out. Multiple genres are represented, including driving sections, beat-em-ups, isometric combat, platforming, and more. Now, we can see the potential of this lost game - and it’s more than promising. Hidden Palace, responsible for the prototype release, compiled a gameplay video for this game. However, this edition fell out of development, and two poorly-received ones ended up making it out alive. It was developed by Black Pearl Software, a THQ company which was known for its adaptation of The Mask and its PGA Tour 96 game across several platforms. This particular Akira game saw wide coverage before it fell out of development. So of course, an Akira adaptation seemed inevitable - and a hotly-anticipated Western adaptation existed, with demos popping up at game shows in the early 1990s… until it didn’t exist. As the SNES, Genesis, and other household consoles reached home, nearly everything got a game adaptation.
In the 1980s, the mish-mash of video games and pop culture couldn’t be avoided. The sci-fi anime classic was meant to have adaptations on the Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive and more. Thanks to video game preservation efforts, a prototype version of the official Akira video game has resurfaced a quarter-century after its promised release.
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