Akira (Prototype)

Akira (Prototype)
Dump status Released Dumped by drx Released by drx File release date December 25, 2019 Origin EPROM cartridge EPROMs Board A 3x ST M27C4001-12F1 1x Toshiba TC574000AD-150 Board B 4x ST M27C4001-12F1 Board SGEP2A Dump method Retrode 2, True-USB PRO GQ-4X Game Akira System Sega Mega Drive Genre Action Release date Unreleased

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An early prototype of the unreleased Akira for the Sega Mega Drive.

The Cutting Room Floor research

This prototype has a research article on TCRF.

Notes

• This specific build was burnt on two PCBs, one working and one partially working. Upon dumping both PCBs, it was discovered that one of the later EPROMs on the non working one was a duplicate burn of one of the first EPROM chips but is otherwise exactly the same as the working PCB. The working prototype was dumped multiple times with a Retrode 2. Each dump was consistent in terms of calculated checksum. The EPROMs that make up the working prototype were dumped individually with an EPROM programmer to ensure that the EPROMs had no issue.
• Approximately 65% of the ROMs contents can be accessed within the game itself according to a code/data log analysis. The other 35% is non-null data containing unused sprites and other data.
• Developed by Black Pearl Software in 1993 with an intended release for 1995.
• Earlier than the demo present at the Summer Consumer Electronic Show of 1994 (SCES 1994).
• A lot of music cues are present in the sound test but are unused by the game itself.
• None of the levels can be completed in this prototype.
• You can go back to the level select at any time by pressing start.
• Level 1K/1T lack enemies.
• The game is prone to crashing around the starting area on level 2T.
• The cutscene that plays before 1K/1T are the same.
• There is no cutscene before 4K.
• The game freezes upon loading into the fifth stage.

Levels

• The levels are categorized in the game by whenever you play as Tetsuo (T) or Kaneda (K). That means there are two Level 1s (Level 1(T) and Level 1(K)), two Level 2s (Level 2(T) and Level 2(K)), etc., with the only exception being Level 5, which only has a Kaneda variant but is still referred to as Level 5(K).
• The levels can be selected on a map in any order, and each level has a preview picture and a short description for the stage that follows the plot of the movie.
• There are no sound effects whatsoever.
• Pressing Start brings you back to the level select.

Motorcycle Rumble/Gang Leader - Level 1(T)/Level 1(K)

• The only level pair that is practically the same, with the only difference being the character you play as. All you can do here is turn left and right as well as punch.
• The cutscene that plays before Level 1(T)/Level 1(K) are the same.
• There is no music.
• There are no enemies.
• The level loops endlessly, and thus cannot be completed.

Army Hospital #1 - Level 2(T)

• Up/Down: Move up/down.
• Left/Right: Aim hand, strafe left/right.
• A: Shoot energy blasts.
• A + B: Use item.
• B + Left/Right: Select item.
• C + Left/Right: Turn left/right.

• The first of two first-person stages. In them, you control Tetsuo through a military hospital almost in the style of Doom. You can turn around, strafe, and shoot out Esper energy blasts. There are also doors you can open by just walking up to them, as well as enemies you can blow up (and quite graphically, too).
• Three keycards are required to progress through the level: a bronze one to enter the Records area, a gold one to enter the "No Entrance" area, and a red one to enter the Restricted area. The Restricted area is a small room decorated with childish illustrations reminiscent of the movie's nightmare scene, and seems to be where the level would've ended. There isn't a way to complete it, though.
• The music that plays here is the same as on the title screen.
• If Tetsuo is adjacent to a medical curtain decoration and turns to face it, the game will crash.
• Many areas/rooms are labeled, such as the Cafeteria, Observation Room, and Barracks.
• The enemies will only move if Tetsuo bumps into them, and will never attack him. Soldiers are an exception: they either walk in place or allow Tetsuo to noclip into them.
• Four items can be picked up in the initial hallway: one PSI power pill, and three food items. The items can be used even though there's no way for Tetsuo to lose health or psychic power.
  • Using any of the healing items will display an animation of Tetsuo eating.

In the Sewers - Level 2(K)

• Left/Right: Move left/right.
• Down: Crouch, exit background layer, climb down ladder, pick up item.
• Up: Stand up, enter background layer, climb up ladder.
• A: Shoot gun/Punch.
• A + Down: Block
• B: Jump
• C: Kick

• The first of two platforming stages. In these, you control Kaneda in a very side-scroller fashion. He can jump, climb ladders, kick and shoot a gun. Shooting the gun drains your ammo, which you can refill with items. Once you're out of ammo, your gun gets replaced with a punch and the ability to block.
• There's also an interesting mechanic in this level: the ability to switch between the background and foreground layers through door-like holes on the wall.
• No music plays in this level.
• Pill: Restores your Str. (health)
• Uzi: Restores your ammo.

Army Hospital #2 - Level 3(T)

• The second first-person level. Very similar to the first one, but with a few noticeable differences.
• There are no enemies present in the stage.
• The area/room labels aren't present.
• The bear seen in the movie's hallucination scene can be found and fought in the central room. Once the bear is killed, Takashi appears and vanishes.

Flight to Fate - Level 3(K)

• A side-scrolling bike-escape maze sequence with a rather impressive pseudo-3D effect. This is one of the few levels to actually have sound effects: a sound for shooting, a sound for bullets hitting metal, an explosion sound and a "NO!" soundclip for the enemies. Shooting the bike gun drains your ammo.

Olympic Bridge - Level 4(T)

• This one is an isometric stage starri

ng a freshly broken-out Tetsuo. All he can do is move around and shoot out Esper energy waves. However, he can charge up those energy waves to make them even deadlier.

• This stage suffers from tile scrolling bugs.
• Both this stage and Level 4(K) share the same music, which is different from Level 2(T) and Level 3(T).

Platform Action - Level 4(K)

• The second of two platforming stages. Takes place on the famous elevator.
• Erroneously shares the same cutscene as Level 3(K).
• This stage suffers from tile scrolling bugs like Level 4(T).

Psychic Stormwall - Level 5(K)

Player 1 (Kaneda):

• Left/Right: Move left/right.
• Down: Crouch
• Left/Right + Down: Crouch to left/right.
• Up: Jumping (can cause the game to freeze if let go).
• A: Punch
• B: Block
• C: Kick
• C + Up: Jump kick.
• C + Down: Crouch kick.

Player 2 (Tetsuo):

• Left/Right: Move left/right.
• Down: Crouch
• Left/Right + Down: Crouch to left/right.
• Up: Jumping (doesn't cause the game to freeze like Kaneda).
• A: Punch
• B: Block
• C: Kick
• C + Up: Jump kick.
• C + Down: Crouch kick.

• This level was meant to be the climactic showdown between Tetsuo and Kaneda from the movie. However, you can't really do much here, because the game freezes upon loading into the fifth stage. This can be fixed with Action Replay code 00D5F4:4E71.
• In terms of gameplay, this level is similar to the platformer levels, but with one boss instead of multiple enemies. Players 1 and 2 take control as Kaneda and Tetsuo, respectively, and pummel each other until one loses enough health. Tetsuo mutates once this happens, while Kaneda stops getting staggered by attacks.
• Once Tetsuo mutates, Player 2 is unable to control him, and starts cycling through a set of actions. He walks forwards then backwards, jumps in place twice, attacks with a flesh whip from his hand twice, spits slime at Kaneda, and uses a similar whip near his foot twice. Rinse and repeat. If Player 1 hits mutated Tetsuo, the mutation animation plays in reverse and he returns to normal. Another attack will set the animation off again, however.
• This is the only level to have actual sound effects in place.
• Pressing too many buttons at once can still crash the game.
• Pressing Start will not go back to the level select, but instead plays a cutscene of Neo-Tokyo exploding with a sound effect. Afterwards, the game goes back to the Sega screen.

Screenshots

• 

  Sega logo.

• 

  Black Peal Software logo.

• 

  Intro.

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  Main menu.

• 

  Options.

• 

  Level select 1.

• 

  Level select 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (1K/1T).

• 

  Level 1T gameplay.

• 

  Level 1K gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 1K gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (2T).

• 

  Level 2T gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 2T gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (2K).

• 

  Level 2K gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 2K gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (3T).

• 

  Level 3T gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 3T gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (3K).

• 

  Level 3K gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 3K gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (4T).

• 

  Level 4T gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 4T gameplay 2.

• 

  Level 4K gameplay 1.

• 

  Level 4K gameplay 2.

• 

  Level cutscene (5K).

• 

  Level 5K gameplay.

Files

File	Type	Date	Size	SHA-1
Akira (Prototype).md	File	1990-11-21 08:00:00	2 MB	27dbe96f5478e37e48817fb48a7a06c10f603090

Header

00000100 53 45 47 41 20 47 45 4e 45 53 49 53 20 20 20 20 SEGA GENESIS 00000110 28 43 29 4e 55 46 58 20 31 39 39 31 2e 41 55 47 (C)NUFX 1991.AUG 00000120 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 00000130 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 00000140 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00000150 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 00000160 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f 4f OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 00000170 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 00000180 47 4d 20 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 2d 58 58 00 00 GM XXXXXXXX-XX.. 00000190 4a 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 J 000001a0 00 00 00 00 00 1f ff ff 00 ff 00 00 00 ff ff ff ................ 000001b0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 000001c0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 000001d0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 000001e0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 000001f0 55 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 U

Origin

• 

  PCB only.

• 

  PCB with Toshiba EPROM.

• 

  PCB with ST EPROMs.

See also

• This release is part of Hidden Palace's Holiday 2019 release event. Click here for more information on the other releases from this period.
• Original release article.