Shadowrun on Sega Genesis: Every Kind of Johnson Job and Why This System Was So Damn Good

Shadowrun on Sega Genesis: Every Kind of Johnson Job and Why This System Was So Damn Good I have talked about how much I love the Genesis Shadowrun, and this is one of the biggest reasons. You could stop pushing the main story for a while and just be a shadowrunner. Find work, get paid, improve your character, buy better equipment, and go after something harder. The people handing out those contracts are Mr. Johnsons. When I was talking about the jobs before, that was the name I was trying to remember. Fixers and other contacts are part of the same world, but the repeatable contracts covered here come from the game's Johnsons. There are seven main job types: courier, bodyguard, ghoul bounty, enforcement, Matrix, acquisition, and extraction. Here is how they fit together, what changes between runs, and what you actually have to do to finish them. What the game randomizes These jobs use recognizable templates with changing details. A courier job still means collecting a package and delivering it, but the pickup and destination can change. A corporate acquisition still means retrieving an item, but the target corporation and objective location make a difference. Matrix work varies the system, the target node, and the action you are supposed to perform. The Johnson matters too. They do not all draw from the same selection of work. Their available jobs and difficulty levels shape what they can offer, and Negotiation affects the money. That does not mean every contract creates a new building layout, a new story, or a completely unique mission. You learn the locations and reuse that knowledge. The variation gives familiar systems different combinations of problems. Job-template overview: https://t.co/uzPjQ1ptQ2 I have not verified the game's source code or the exact random-number probabilities. I am not going to invent percentages for how often a particular employer selects a particular target. This guide covers the documented job pools and what the player does with them. Taking a job and getting paid Find the Johnson in the relevant bar or restaurant and ask for work. Read the offer. You can reject it and ask again; you do not have to accept the first thing offered. You can have one active repeatable contract at a time. Other Johnsons will not give you a second one while that contract is active. If you change your mind, return to the Johnson who hired you and cancel it through the work conversation. These standard contracts do not impose a general countdown that forces you to finish within a certain number of minutes. That does not make them impossible to fail. Losing a package, losing a protected client, or triggering a job-specific failure still matters. Courier and bodyguard jobs pay at the destination. For the other types, return to the Johnson to collect the reward and close the contract. Short-term hired runners may leave when the job is settled, so check your team before treating the next job as if the same group is still with you. The quoted payment is not automatically reduced again because the dialogue talks about splitting the take. Your actual expenses are still worth tracking: hiring, medical supplies, ammunition, travel, and any equipment you bought for the job. Contract and completion rules: https://t.co/g3X9ZF9wNL Where to find the work Mr. Gunderson: Jump House, Redmond Barrens Gunderson is the place to begin. He offers local courier work, bodyguard work, and ghoul bounties. His base offers are small: roughly 35–55 nuyen for courier work, 45–55 for bodyguard work, and 10–20 per ghoul. The benefit is that the local delivery and escort jobs let you learn Redmond without turning every payment into taxi money. Those short runs remain an option when you want manageable work rather than a corporate fight you are not ready for. Small rewards delivered consistently are better than repeatedly failing the impressive-looking contract. Mortimer Reed: Big Rhino, Penumbra District Reed offers courier, bodyguard, ghoul bounty, enforcement, and simple Matrix, acquisition, and extraction jobs. Useful base-price examples are 425 for a simple Matrix run, 550 for a simple acquisition, and 450 for a simple extraction. His ghoul rate starts at about 40 per kill. He also provides the contact for Alesandro Hobbs, whose equipment access can make later corporate work easier. Meeting a Johnson can be worthwhile even when you do not intend to spend the rest of the game doing his contracts. Julius Strouther: Matchstick, Downtown Strouther bridges street work and more demanding jobs. His documented work includes courier, bodyguard, enforcement, moderate Matrix, and simple/moderate corporate assignments. Examples include 2,600 for a moderate Matrix run, 600 for a simple acquisition, and 1,000 for a moderate acquisition. Compare the job type and the target, not just his location in a different district. Caleb Brightmore: Icarus Descending, Downtown Caleb is the higher-end option. Speak to Boris Errascoe about Michael to open the relevant introduction. He offers moderate and expert Matrix and corporate work. Base examples include about 6,000–6,100 for expert Matrix work, 3,850 for an expert acquisition, and 3,500 for an expert extraction. Those numbers look a lot better than Gunderson's. The jobs also expect much more of your character and equipment. Do not mistake being allowed to accept one for being ready to complete it comfortably. Vigore & Jarl: Wanderer, Puyallup Barrens They offer enforcement, all three Matrix tiers, moderate/expert acquisitions, and expert extractions. Their base pay is often higher: examples include 6,350 for expert Matrix, 4,500 for expert acquisition, and 4,000 for expert extraction. The tradeoff is important: their contracts award one less Karma than the equivalent job from another Johnson. Decide whether you need the extra cash or the character growth more. A story warning without getting into the whole plot: they leave after the confrontation with Ito. If you want their contact Max, obtain it before that point. Max's corporate badges are relevant to infiltration work. Johnson locations, job pools, and base-price listings: https://t.co/g3X9ZF9wNL 1. Courier jobs The job: Collect the package from the named location, then take it to the named destination. What changes: Pickup and drop-off. The route determines how much travel and street exposure you are taking on. How to finish: Go to the pickup first, confirm you have received the package, then travel to the destination and complete delivery. You are paid there; do not add an unnecessary trip back to the Johnson. How it goes wrong: Getting knocked out while carrying the package can lose it and fail the job. Wandering to the destination without collecting it first obviously does not count as a delivery. How I would approach it: Start with Gunderson's local routes while learning the district. Avoid picking fights unrelated to the job. On contracts that require taxis, subtract the fares before deciding how attractive the offer is. This is straightforward work, but that is useful at the beginning. You are learning the city while earning enough to keep going. 2. Bodyguard jobs The job: Meet a client, have them join you, and escort them to the destination. What changes: The meeting point and destination, much like a courier run. The major difference is that you are transporting a person who can die. How to finish: Reach the pickup, make sure the client is actually following, and get them to the destination alive. Payment is made there. How it goes wrong: The client's death fails the contract. Your own defeat can also end it. Even when enemies are focusing on you, stray fire or your own explosives can create a problem. How I would approach it: Treat this as transportation, not a chance to test grenades. Keep the client with you, take the route you know, and avoid adding unnecessary fights. The extra body following you is the objective. 3. Ghoul bounties The job: Go to the assigned abandoned building and kill ghouls for a per-kill payment. What changes: The assignment location and negotiated rate determine where you work and what each qualifying kill is worth. How to finish: Hunt in the assigned location, then return to the Johnson to claim payment. Other creatures are not interchangeable with ghouls for bounty credit. What to watch: This pays by qualifying kills rather than one fixed delivery reward. The RPGClassics reference lists a maximum of 20 credited ghouls, so do not assume you can stay forever and cash in an unlimited total. It also reports a completion-recognition glitch. If a contract will not resolve, verify the assigned building and enemy type rather than automatically assuming you need another hour of kills. How I would approach it: Bring enough protection and ammunition to make the hunt worthwhile, but calculate the expenses. A higher gross payout does not help if getting it costs most of the reward in supplies and recovery. Ghoul cap and reported completion issue: https://t.co/uzPjQ1ptQ2 4. Enforcement jobs The job: Visit the named gang and deal with the problem the Johnson describes. What changes: The gang target and employer. The actual resolution is a gang fight rather than a branching negotiation quest. How to finish: Reach the correct hideout, trigger the encounter, defeat the group, and return for payment. What to watch: Expect several enemies together. A character who handles one street attacker comfortably can still struggle when surrounded by four or five armed opponents. How I would approach it: Go in with a combat-ready party, not whatever half-healed group happened to be nearby. Finish the fight, recover, and collect the reward before doing anything else that makes it harder to keep track of the contract. The documented Karma reward is 2, or 1 through Vigore & Jarl. 5. Matrix jobs The job: Enter the specified system and perform the requested operation. The four documented objectives are download data, upload data, delete data, or crash the CPU. What changes: Difficulty, system, target node, and required action. “I entered the system” is not the same as “I completed the job.” How to finish: 1. Read the contract and check the cyberdeck's CyberInfo for the exact objective. 2. Select your decker and use a terminal to enter the required system. 3. Reach the target data store or CPU. 4. Perform the requested action, not merely a similar action on another node. 5. Leave the Matrix and return to the Johnson for payment. What to bring: A Datajack, a functioning deck, suitable programs, and a runner with Computer skill. Tougher systems can damage more than your pride; do not take expensive equipment into expert work without understanding its defenses. The tiers: Simple jobs use low-level systems. Moderate jobs are a step up and may involve named local organizations. Expert jobs target major systems and expect a much stronger setup. Standard Karma rewards are 2, 3, and 5 respectively; Vigore & Jarl reduce each by one. How I would approach it: Build a reliable decker through the easier work before chasing the highest offer. Once you finish the objective, selling additional data can make the trip more profitable, but do not keep pushing a failing run solely because there might be one more file to grab. One of the conveniences is the lack of physical travel to a corporate building. You can accept work, use a nearby terminal, and come back to settle it. That is a different rhythm from the infiltration jobs, and it is part of why the system has so much variety. 6. Acquisition jobs The job: Enter the target corporation and retrieve the assigned package from a wall safe. What changes: Corporation, difficulty, branch where applicable, and the objective's location inside the building. How to finish: Find the package, receive the confirmation that it is the contract item, leave with it, and return to the Johnson. Ordinary loot is not a substitute for the actual target. The tiers: Simple corporate jobs target Fuchi or Mitsuhama. Moderate jobs target Ares or Lone Star. Expert jobs target Renraku. The detailed FAQ lists standard Karma rewards of 2, 4, and 6, with Vigore & Jarl paying one less where they offer the corresponding tier. The important work starts before you find the safe. You need to get through doors, handle cameras and alarms, and figure out where the objective is. A good gun alone does not solve all of that. 7. Extraction jobs The job: Find the employee who is changing employers and get that person out of the building alive. What changes: The corporate target and location of the person. The same simple/moderate/expert corporate grouping applies. How to finish: Find the client, approach so they join you, and escort them out through the entrance. If they do not respond, carefully select the person and approach; do not turn that into an attack. After getting out, settle the contract with the Johnson. The critical difference: Leaving the building before finding the client can fail an extraction. Do not treat it like an acquisition where you can casually step outside and resume searching later. The client's death also fails it. How I would approach it: Get the building under control before collecting the person when you can. Identify the way back out. Once the client joins, the priority is extraction, not exploring every remaining room or starting another fight. Standard documented Karma is 2, 4, or 6 by tier. The expert version from Vigore & Jarl gives 5. All seven job types, corporate targets, completion rules, and tier rewards: https://t.co/g3X9ZF9wNL Getting through corporate security Bring a way through maglocks A good Maglock Passkey is useful. Electronics gives you another route and also supports security-terminal use. They are related tools, not perfectly interchangeable ones. Hobbs can sell a Level 5 passkey for 20,000 nuyen in the detailed equipment reference. That is a large purchase early on, but repeated corporate work is exactly where a reusable tool earns its keep. Do not buy it before you can afford to survive the building itself. Find a security terminal early The paired-monitor terminals let you work with building security through Electronics. They can help shut off alarms and cameras and identify the floor containing your objective. If you keep searching room after room without a plan, this is the part to improve. A Matrix terminal is different. With a capable decker you can use the corporate system and CPU to affect security, but that is not the same skill check as operating the local paired terminal. Be careful with the elevators An alarm can lock down movement and bring security after you. Find the terminal route before you desperately need it. Some upper floors are split into disconnected sections served by different elevators. If you are on the correct floor but cannot find the objective, it may be on a section reached from another lift. You have not necessarily missed a tiny door in the section you already searched. Make your weapons fit the job Unsilenced firearms are a bad match for avoiding alarms. Put a silencer on a suitable pistol or a suppressor on a suitable SMG. Even then, a guard who survives long enough to react can ruin the quiet approach. Corporate badges and Charisma can help when questioned, but neither is a guarantee that every encounter becomes harmless. I would not advertise badges as a permanent pass with no risk; old accounts disagree about when they are consumed or stop being useful. Learn the buildings rather than expecting new maps every time Fuchi and Mitsuhama are easier places to learn the process. Ares and Lone Star add more awkward navigation and security. Renraku is the jump where a half-finished setup becomes much more obvious. Renraku's first floor is especially awkward because the first useful security-terminal route takes you up to the next floor. Go in knowing you may need to deal with security before reaching that terminal. Do not assume every corporation puts the solution beside the entrance. If Joshua is knocked out inside a corporation, revive him before trying to move through doors with another runner. A documented transition bug can turn that situation into a party failure. Corporate infiltration mechanics and known quirks: https://t.co/g3X9ZF9wNL Money, Karma, and choosing the next run I would start by choosing what I need from the run. - Need safe early progress? Local deliveries and escorts are easy to understand and do not require a corporate setup. - Need to fund a decker? Start with manageable Matrix jobs and improve the operator as well as the equipment. - Need corporate practice? Learn simple acquisitions before treating Renraku as routine work. - Need Karma more than cash? Remember the reduced Karma from Vigore & Jarl. - Already have a strong party? Choose work that uses it instead of taking a contract that demands skills you have ignored. A note about the numbers: these are historical guide values, not a new emulator test. Sources disagree on some minor payouts, including the Karma for non-Gunderson delivery/escort work and one of Caleb's moderate extraction prices. I have left those disputed figures out rather than pretend the disagreement does not exist. Your actual offer and completion screen are the final check. Negotiation also changes cash payments, so base-price comparisons are not promises of a particular quote. Why I keep coming back to this The jobs gave the game somewhere to keep going between the story beats. You were not just looking for the next cutscene. You could decide that you wanted a better deck, needed money for cyberware, wanted to build a different runner, or simply felt like doing another job. And the systems made those decisions matter. Contacts could get you equipment. Equipment could make harder work practical. Harder work could pay for the next improvement. Knowing the city and knowing the buildings became useful in its own right. That is the part I cannot praise enough. The story is there, but there is also room to spend time in the world and do the work. For me, that is a huge part of why the Genesis Shadowrun has meant so much for so many years.