Over the years, some of Shirow's works have been adapted into video games, or he has been hired to do character and mecha designs for others. Of course, he's also done images for RPGs and other things, but these games are all fairly obscure, with the bulk of the information I have found in Intron Depot 1 and 2. Ghost in the Shell on the Playstation has been the only game to see any success in the US. As I only actually have the Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed games, my firsthand knowledge on the different titles is rather limited, and most of my knowledge is based on material found at Puto's Masamune Shirow site and Gamefaqs.
As I stated, these games are all very rare, and as such, most of the information I can provide is extremely minimal, additionally, I know this list is fairly incomplete, as there are a pile of random tabletop RPGs, he seems to have done illustrations for that saw very small print runs in Japan, along with the occasional art pieces for CCGs. As I can find such little information on those games in other mediums, I'm going to have to refer you to my listing on the Intron Depot 2 page, rather than reiterating them here. Also not found on this page is information on the recently announced GitS Playstation 2 game, nor information on the announced online game Hyakki Shou, apparently one of the titles of the Posterbooks he's been doing.
Easily the top title out of the Shirow-based games, Ghost in the Shell is a very fun title. You are Section 9's rookie member, riding around in a Fuchikoma, and have to complete a series of missions to counteract the actions of a terrorist group, the "Human Liberation Line." You're chasing after them because they've just gone and blown up Megatech Body Corporation, the primary manufacturer of government cyborg bodies and componenets. During the game you play through a variety of missions, from roaming the city looking for targets, to chase sequences on a highway and on the water, to climbing the interior of a skyscraper for the climactic fight at the end of the game. Also included is a fun little training mode where you do some timed target practice and get ranked on how well you preform, be it miserably or without equal. All in all, you could probably go through the game in an hour's time or so.
While the gameplay is a bit limited on the difficulty scale, it still manages to produce a fun third-person arcade-style shooter with a few innovations. Namely, the ability to walk on any solid surface(vertical, horizontal, or otherwise) in your Fuchikoma while blasting away at a variety of enemies. But then we get to the real meat of this game - the cutscenes. Complimenting almost every mission(including the training mode and opening sequence) are a series of gorgeous cel-animated cutscenes featuring characters styled after the manga and data-feeds just like the anime. It's all beautifully done and I could watch the opening sequence all day. I'm not kidding either, each cutscene you see gets added to a list you can play back at any time by going to the options menu on the front end of the game, for somewhere around 10 minutes of footage, according to this review at GameSpot.
In addition to the fun game and gorgeous gameplay, this game also includes an awesome techno soundtrack with some energetic beats that fit perfectly with the game and sound good on their own as well. If you can find it, it's definitely worth your money if you like techno... the game itself's well worth the cash too, but an extremely rare find, as I came across it at a pawn shop and have seen it nowhere since, it still had the rulebook, but the original case seems to be long gone, that's alright though, I still have the important part ^_~
With the big deal that is GitS: Standalone Complex, I suppose it's no big surprise that it got a game to go with it. After being smooth-talked into preordering the game, I traded in some games and scraped together the cash to get this one, while letting the other newer Shirow releases languish a bit longer :/ Anyhow, my thoughts on the game...
Visuals(9/10) - This game looks great, the cutscenes are gorgeous for 3D work, the in-game graphics are very solid, though occasionally bland, and I never noticed any framerate drops. Unfortunately, we only ever get to see rendered versions of Motoko, Batou, and the Tachikomas, with little faded headshots of everyone else popping up in dialogue overlays(I know you all wanted to see Aramaki's hair all rendered up in 3D too, just gonna have to wait on the upcoming PSP game for that).
Audio(6/10) - The soundtrack is reminiscent of the first game, with some of the same artists participating, though its somewhat less energetic, but I like it on the whole. Sound effects are solid as well, if not spectacular. Voiceovers are a big disappointment though, as Bandai opted to only include an English dub for the US release, even though it also comes with subtitles and the demo had the Japanese audio. This will probably be a dealbreaker for some of you, particularly from the preformances for the Tachis(which have all the annoying and none of the cute of the Japanese VA) and Motoko(whose VA seems to do a better job here than what I've heard on the show, but still isn't near as rich and sexy a voice as the Japanese audio).
Gameplay(8/10 for Motoko and Batou, 5/10 for the Tachikoma) - Things are solid here, though not as robust as I was hoping it would be, and need to be gone into with more depth. Given the trailer footage of this game, I was hoping Motoko'd play like a better version of Oni's Kotoko(a game paying very obvious homage), but while the weapon system is better, the fighting system is nowhere near as involved(just a few combos apiece) and the evasion moves(while nice to look at) are rather ineffectual, but at least she moves around well outside of that. Batou's even worse on the melee side of things, just slugging people with one fist and the occasional drop kick, he's better hanging back and shooting things, and his evasion is even more laughable than Motoko's, doing little rolls in whatever direction you want him to, compared to her sky high flips, though to make up for it, he get to carry around some heavier firepower from time to time. Then there's the much-anticipated Tachikoma, which is a total letdown for anyone who played the first game. First off, it shows up for one arena combat-style mission, you can't go on the walls at all, targeting is slow and often dodged, and the controls are nowhere near as elegant as they were in the original game.
There's a variety of weapons at your disposal(holding two at a time max), a couple submachine guns, a couple assault rifles, a shotgun(very much recommended), a sniper rifle, a grenade launcher, a few different flavors of rocket launchers, Motoko gets some knives, and there's a couple flavors of grenades, along with miscellany like body armor, health packs, and some short-lasting thermoptic camo on occasion. Another option you have, and need to take advantage of in the higher difficulties, is the ability to hack certain enemies and gain control of them for a breif period of time. This is accomplished by a sort of timing minigame, matching up a 1-3 pairs of etched rings as they spin about within a set time limit, while occasionally frustrating on the 3-pair ones, its not too big a concern as you can just keep trying until you get it. The difficulty of the enemies themselves depends mostly on how many and what kind of them there are. Basic grunts with machineguns aren't too big a deal, those with shotguns, sniper rifles, and explosives can be quite annoying, the robots aren't too bad, and the armored suits and tanks are a pain without explosives on hand, especially as you up the difficulty. I also need to mention that this has a 4-way split-screen multiplayer mode for those of you with friends and multitaps, unfortunately I lack the former since I moved and haven't gotten a chance to try this mode out.
Story/Plot/Length(7.5/10) - This plays out like it could be a 2-part SAC episode, though I don't want to spoil it for you here. Without really going into detail about it, you're hunting down some terrorists and discover along the way that they are using 'tainted' artificial rice in a massive blackmail scheme. The plot and writing are pretty well on par with that of a Stand Alone episode, but unfortunately, playing the whole game on normal doesn't take much longer than watching a few episodes of the show for anyone with a decent amount of skill. This was a major disappointment at first, but every time I go through it on a higher difficulty, it seems to unlock another mode more difficult than the last(recently found out its based on getting X number of points in a level and there's Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, Aggressive, Dangerous, Execution, Hopless, Victor, and Champion availible). Beating it on various difficulties with unlock a variety of things, from characters for multiplayer, to costumes, to infinite ammo and access to the different weapons right at the start of a level. Additional replay is also provided through 10 little fans to find in each mission, unlocking yet more items once you collect all of them, something that I am also still working on since they have done a good job of hiding them.
Overall(7/10) - Don't let my complaints get you down, this game is still worth picking up if you're a fan of GitS, and fairly good as far as licensed-property games go, but I just can't recommend paying more than $35-40US for it. The story is solid, the visuals and audio are solid, and the gameplay is solid, but being dub only, short(particularly if you're not into replaying it), and lacking in some spots on the gameplay keep me from wholeheartedly recommending this one at full price, and you'll probably be able to pick it up used at your local video games shop on the cheap after a little while(particularly as there's no extra goodies to get).
This is an old side-scrolling action game, similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. There's a pile of cutscenes throughout the game, with lots of Japanese dialogue, and I wish I knew what they said, but as I don't, I can only screencap them, and save them for a time when I can read them or find someone to translate. Judging by the imagery in the cutscenes, it seems to focus on the 'spider' tank that was prominently featured in the anime. At the start of each mission/level, you choose either "Briareos Hecatombcales" or "Dunan Nut," what you main weapon will be(typically just a pistol), and what your special weapon will be(either a machine gun or a rocket launcher), along with grenades, all with unlimited ammo.
Once that's all chosen, it's time to start playing. As I mentioned, the game is a side-scrolling shooter, and as such, it's mostly a matter of mastering the controls, and learning how to avoid getting hit. Both characters seem to have a pile of health, Briareos moreso than Deunan, of course, though there is no HP/Life meter visible anywhere. You have to go and destroy certain bits of the level in order to get past obstacles and get to the level bosses. As I've only gotten to the second level thus far, I really can't say a whole lot more about it at this point.
I had some info, and have a ton of the character art, I just don't know what I did with the info at the moment, and don't feel like picking out some images at random right now. For the time being, take a look at this Sampaguita FAQ, used with permission from its author, Andreas Simmer, granted, it's incomplete and fairly old, but it's there.
A guncon shooter, from what I understand, might be amusing to play, but then again, according to this GameSpot review of the US release, maybe not.
This was covered in some detail in Intron Depot 2, and runs in the vein of a Monster-raising game like Monster Rancher. Of note however, is that it seems the intent of the game is just to be watching the different slimes interact and refrain from making any disruptive changes to their world, kind of like a fancy ant farm, I guess. At any rate, it's certainly a title I'd love to get my hands on, given how non-traditional the work is for Shirow, plus those slimes are rather cute ^^; Not to mention that I have an urge to bring apocalyptic doom to some slimes.
