Intro
The game begins thirty years after World War III, which begins after an explosion of unknown origin destroys the city of Tokyo. Kaneda and members of his motorcycle gang are chasing members of a rival gang known as The Clowns. Tetsuo was out in front on his bike when an odd looking person appears in front of Testuo, and his bike explodes. Kaneda tries to help Tetsuo when an Army helicopter appears. The person that Tetsuo nearly crashed into, Takashi, is summoned to the helicopter. Then Kaneda and his gang are arrested by the Army. When they realize that Tetsuo is hurt, the Army collects him into the helicopter and takes off.
Interrogation
You now sit before an Army interrogator who questions why you and your gang were present at that location. He suspects you may be part of a Terrorist organization.
- Talk: Talk to the interrogator. Kaneda will make up a story about seeing his deathly ill mom when the Clowns attacked his gang. The interrogator will be skeptical and inquire about your mom.
- Talk: Talk to him a second time to explain that your mom has recovered. The interrogator is still skeptical. Now you'll have the option to Laugh, but don't.
- Look → Gang: Look at various members of your gang. If you take too long, the interrogator will demand you return your attention him. Keep looking at your gang, particularly Kaneda (center) and the two members to the left of him until the interrogator is convinced that you're not with the Terrorists.
- Peek → List: Try to look at the list, but the interrogator will insist that you stop.
- Peek → List: Do it again anyway, and you'll discover that it's a list of suspected Terrorists, including a girl who Kaneda thinks is cute.
- Inquire: Kaneda will ask what the girl's name is, but the interrogator just tells you to shut up.
- Inquire: Next Kaneda will ask where the girl lives, with the same response.
- Inquire: Kaneda begs for the girl's phone number, and the interrogator will insist they don't have it. The lackey will conclude that the gang has no connections to the Terrorists, and you will be told to wait outside of the room.
Custody
You will be waiting on a bench outside of the interrogation room in a gymnasium.
- Check → Pick: Point the cursor at the one person on the right bench dressed in orange. Kaneda thinks he's seen her before.
- Check → Pick: Kaneda recognizes her as the woman in the interrogator's file and decides now would be a good time to try and ask her out.
- Ask out: Just when you do, a Terrorist pull a pin from his grenade. Note that any action you take at this point which deviates from the movie will cause you to die and end your game.
- Yell: Yelling is the only action which will enable the next action to work successfully.
- Take cover: Everyone will move as far away from the Terrorist as possible, and then the Terrorist's grenade will fail to explode. The Army will tackle him and begin to beat him. Kaneda's gang is free to leave, but Kaneda will wonder if he can rescue the girl as well.
- Look → Army: Kaneda notes that they are holding the Terrorist's grenade.
- Talk: Kaneda will call one of the Army men "Gramps" and inform him that the girl is with his gang. The Army man will be insulted, and throw you and the girl out of the building.
Kaneda will try to hit on the girl, but she isn't impressed. Kaneda will try to convince her that he's interested in her for more than just her looks, and the girl will thank Kaneda for helping her. Kaneda will introduce himself, and then the girl will say goodbye. An explosion in the background suggests that the grenade wasn't a dud after all.
Back at school, Kaneda's gang suffered through punishment at the hands of the P.E. teacher "Jaws". Groupies of Kaneda's gang will inquire about The Clowns. Kaneda will mention Tetsuo's accident. Kai figures he's in some hospital, and then he notices Tetsuo riding on Kaneda's bike with some girl. Kaneda jumps on Yamagata's bike to chase after Tetsuo.
Tracking down Tetsuo
To find Tetsuo, they starting by checking out the bar his gang hangs out in.
- Peek: You will notice that the bar tender is hiding pills under his right hand.
- Inquire: The bar tender will inform you that Tetsuo headed to sector X, where X can be any number from 1 to 4. Note what X is. Kaneda will ask if he can have the pills the bar tender is hiding.
- Move → X: Choose to move to the numbered sector that the bar tender mentioned.
As long as you choose the correct sector, the path forward will be the same even if the scenery is different. You have a couple of choices, but only one command matters. You will have to repeat this process as many times as it takes until you reach sector 4.
- Inquire: Whoever is present will inform you that Tetsuo went to sector Y, where Y is again a number from 1 to 4.
- Move → Y: Choose to move to the numbered sector that was just mentioned.
Eventually, you will successfully arrive at Sector 4.
- Yell: This step is entirely optional. If you do, a man will tell you to go away unless you have pills.
- Show: The man will be interested in the pills you have.
- Show: The man will thank you for the pills and notices that you're looking for someone.
- Inquire: The man reports that Tetsuo headed towards the factories.
Factories
You now chase after Tetsuo near the factories, where you find them being attacked by The Clowns gang. Kaneda jumps off his bike to confront the assailants.
- Crouch: This is the only option that does not result in you getting hit by the pipe swung by the gang member.
- Run: Again, choosing any other option will result in you getting hit and ending the game. As a result of running, Kai comes to your rescue and strikes the gang member with his iron pipe.
Having saved Tetsuo, Kaneda's gang surrounds The Clowns. Tetsuo flies into a rage attacking the gang member who attacked the girl he was with. Kaneda tries to reason with Tetsuo to stop before he kills the gang member. Tetsuo admits that he does want to kill him, and Kaneda tells him to knock it off. Tetsuo doesn't appreciate Kaneda's tone or his help and insists he could have handled it on his own. Then he storms off just before a terrible headache causes him to grab his head in pain.
He yells out the name "Akira" and begins to have psychic visions of him. Kaneda and Kai try to help, but then a black car and a Control Room Car (CRC) arrive on the scene.
- Look → Car: Kaneda will identify it as an Army car.
- Look → CRC: Kaneda will identify it as the Control Room Car.
- Look → Tetsuo: (Optional) Kaneda will cry out to Tetsuo.
- Run to: This option will only appear below "Panic" once you look at the Car and the CRC. At this time, men in lab coats exit the CRC and surround Tetsuo. They report their findings and the Doctor in charge insists they retreive him. They pick Tetsuo up.
- Look → Car: A man in black will step out of the car to protect the assistants.
- Look → Tetsuo: You will notice that it looks like they gave Tetsuo some kind of injection.
- Inquire: Kaneda will ask when the men meant by "subject".
- Inquire: Only after the previous three steps are performed will you hear the doctor refer to Tetsuo as "the experimental subject," as they bring him back to the CRC.
- Run to: This option only becomes available after you hear the doctor say that. Kaneda tries to run to Tetsuo, but is blocked by the man in black.
- Look: Kaneda will inquire if the men are from the Army, but the man in black says nothing.
- Look: Kaneda demands to know where they are taking Tetsuo.
- Any option: Choose "Yell", "Hit", or "Run to". No matter what you choose, you will be knocked to the ground by the man in black, and The Army will leave with Tetsuo.
Later that evening, Kaneda wonders where the Army took Testuo. Kai asks Kaneda what he's thinking about.
Walkway
- Inquire → Kai → About Amry: Kai recalls that they referred to Tetsuo as an "experiment".
- Inquire → Yamagata → About Kid: Yamagata observes that the Army is treating Tetsuo similar to how they treat the kid.
- Inquire → Groupie → About Akira: Upon asking the groupie about Akira, she states that she's not interested in discussing that and insults the gang.
- Inquire → Groupie → About Tetsuo: She asks Kaneda if he intends to rescue him, and decides to leave.
After the groupies leave, an explosion occurs nearby. Yamagata suggests it was the Terrorists and that they should check it out. Then Kaneda sees the Terrorists.
- Look → Terrorist: Kaneda sees 4 or 5 of them escaping the smoke and attacking the Army.
- Look → Terrorist: This time Kaneda recognizes the girl from before.
- Check: The Army chases the Terrorists.
- Inquire: Kaneda hears the Army claim they went towards the Sewers.
- Move → 2: Sector 2 leads to the sewers. If you go to sectors 1 or 3, you'll have a chance to move somewhere else, but if you visit sector 4, your game will end.
A man in sector 2 will confirm that the Army chased a girl into the sewers. Kaneda follows.
Sewers
- Inquire: Kaneda will hear a voice neabry.
- Peek: Kaneda will look and see the girl being held at gunpoint by the Army.
- Sneak: In the process of sneaking over the fence, Kaneda kicks the fence and alerts the soldier to his presence. This is the only option that will advance the scene. Talk and Ask out get ignored, and Make Noise or Hide result in the game ending.
- Dash: Again, this is the only choice that advances the scene. All the other choices end the game.
- Dive: Once again, any other choice will end the game. By diving at the soldier, Kaneda knocks both of them into the mud.
Another soldier approaches with his gun drawn. The girl fires a weapon of her own and kills the soldier. Kaneda recommends they leave. He follows the girl. They escape the Army and arrive at a Terrorist hideout.
Hideout
- Talk: Kaneda tries to hit on the girl, but she calls for Ryu.
- Talk: Kaneda tries again to engage the girl, but she calls out for Ryu again.
- Talk: Kaneda tries to ask her out, but she just calls for Ryu.
- Talk: After Kaneda tries to calm the girl down, he is held at gunpoint by other Terrorists.
- Ponder: Now you know the girl's name is Kei. Kaneda wonders about the other men.
- Check: You can check the guy on the left if you want, but don't check the guy on the right, or he'll shoot you. Check the guy in the middle, and Kaneda will recognize him from the walkway.
- Check: Check the middle guy again, and Kaneda will realize he's Ryu.
- Check: At this point, you can safely check either Terrorist, and the man on the right will ask who you are.
- Explain → Truth: You will explain what happened with Kei in the sewers.
- Rely on Kei: Kei will confirm your story.