News – Game Boy Akira Tie-in Cartridges Discovered

We’ve had an awful lot of retro discoveries recently, from the SNES Rayman build, to four rare Satellaview Kirby games, all the way through to the mythical Nintendo Playstation. And now, just as we look to close 2016, we can add one more to the list. A game that will only continue to annoy and frustrate fans of arguably the most iconic Japanese anime ever created.

Yes, that’s right I’m talking about Akira…. again. It hasn’t been even a year since footage of THQ’s lost 16-bit Akira tie-in was finally seen by the world, instantly driving most of us into despair at the fact this never saw the light of day. Well, at the same time there was also scaled down versions in development for portable consoles, and it’s this scaled down version for the Game Boy that has now also been revealed.

This footage came thanks to gaming historian Patrick Scott Patterson, who recently uploaded footage of this lost Game Boy title to his YouTube channel. That’s not all though, as he actually managed to get his hands on four completely different builds, showcasing each and every one in the video above.

From the footage, it seems like THQ were once again quite far into developing what looks to be quite a diverse title. In fact, it seems like THQ were once again more than able to capture the spirit of Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 adaptation of the manga Akira, with both motorcycle and side scrolling gameplay mechanics, alongside cutscenes that set the story. Although of course it’s hard to tell what could have been from footage alone.

It is still yet to be seen if Patterson intends to release these builds for public consumption. However, just the fact that these have been discovered, and therefore now safeguarded for generations to come, is good news indeed. Now we just need to get our hands on that awesome looking 16-bit Akira tie-in.