SHADOWRUN (SUPER NINTENDO SNES)

Shadowrun is a cyberpunk-fantasy action role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), adapted from FASA's Shadowrun tabletop role-playing game. The video game was developed by Australian company Beam Software and first published in 1993 by Data East.

The game is loosely based on the novel Never Deal with a Dragon by Shadowrun co-creator Robert N. Charrette and is set in the year 2050. The player takes on the role of Jake Armitage, a man suffering from amnesia after being seriously injured by assassins. The plot then follows Jake as he attempts to uncover his own identity and the identity of the mysterious figure who wants him dead, and ultimately complete his mission. 2013 Shadowrun Returns by Harebrained Schemes connects the stories of this game and Shadowrun for the Sega Genesis.

A project to adapt Shadowrun for the SNES had a checkered history between 1989 and 1993, especially after being halted mid-development before being resumed in late 1992 under tight deadlines. Its eventual lead designer was Paul Kidd, creator of Beam Software's Nightshade in 1992, elements and a feel of which he later continued in Shadowrun. The game was a critical success, winning numerous industry awards, but was a commercial failure nonetheless. It has been retrospectively acclaimed by several publications as a step "ahead of its time" in the history of the console role-playing genre and credited with pioneering the film noir style in video games.