Akira (video game)

Akira (アキラ) is a Visual novel adventure game based on the 1988 animated movie version of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga of the same title. It was released in 1988 by Taito for the Nintendo video game console exclusively in Japan. The player takes the role of Kaneda, who begins the game when his motorcycle gang is taken to police custody after the abduction of their friend Tetsuo by the military.

Gameplay
Progress in the game is made by selecting actions from a list. Your current location is depicted in a static image, often redrawn from the movie. Your progress can be recorded with the help of passwords.

Reception
Akira was given a poor total score of 17 out of 40 from the four reviewer panel of Famicom Tsūshin magazine.

Other Akira video games
To date there have been three games based on Akira. This Family Computer entry was the first followed by a British made action game in 1994 for the Amiga/CD32. The most recent game was released in 2002 by Bandai for the Playstation 2, called Akira Psycho Ball. It takes the unusual form of a Pinball simulation. There was also an unreleased, unleaked, apparently unfinished Super Famicom game based on Akira by THQ, as reported in the 1993 CES Preview provided to subscribers of Electronic Gaming Monthly.