Every now and then, a hidden gaming mystery is revealed, a possible cooperation between two developers or industry giants that was never meant to be, or even a game that was in development but never saw the light resurfaces. In this case, it is the latter, as an old Sega Mega Drive port of Akira resurfaced and was released into the public. This is wonderful news for any fan of the Akira franchise, which received its original title back in 1988 for the Famicom console. At the time, it wasn't received too well, but there are other developments happening since then.
The resurfaced Akira prototype for the Sega Mega Drive was discovered and released into the public. Taking into consideration its early development state, the game isn't fully playable, however, there are several levels for players to try out. Surprisingly, they offer a variety of gameplay styles and inspiration from different titles, including Road Rash-like motorcycle racing, an action platformer, a DOOM-inspired first-person shooter stage when Tetsuo escapes the hospital, and more. The Hidden Palace YouTube channel posted a full gameplay walkthrough of the playable stages, which takes around an hour.
This comes relatively close to the recent news back in July when Bandai Namco Entertainment revealed a 4K remaster of the original film released back in 1988 as well, at the same time as its video game adaptation. It is expected to release on April 24, 2020, but that's not all, as Sunrise is currently working on a television series as well. Sunrise's television record is nothing short of impressive, as they hold arguably one of the greatest animated television shows ever made, Batman: The Animated Series, alongside Inspector Gadget, Street Fighter and more. Check out the full playthrough below if this sparked your curiosity about what could have been for the Akira franchise.
