Flashback was developed by the French studio Delphine Software International and first released for the Amiga in Europe in November 1992. Paul Cuisset directed, wrote and designed it, and he has said it was first planned as a Mega Drive game. The team drew on films such as Blade Runner, Total Recall and Back to the Future.
In North America U.S. Gold published the game as Flashback: The Quest for Identity, and the Genesis version arrived there on 20 February 1993. Ports followed for MS-DOS, Super NES, Sega CD, 3DO, CD-i, Atari Jaguar and Mac OS, and they differ in cutscenes, sound and censorship.
The 2018 Remastered Edition for Switch, PlayStation 4 and Windows added a rewind feature instead of changing the difficulty. A 3D sequel, Fade to Black, came out in 1995, VectorCell released a remake in 2013, and Microids published Flashback 2 on 16 November 2023.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Flashback: The Quest for Identity | Genesis | Feb 20, 1993 | U.S. Gold | 1 |
| NA | Flashback: The Quest for Identityport by Tiertex | SNES | February 1994 | — | 1 |
| NA | Flashback: The Quest for Identityno PAL or Japanese Sega CD release | Sega CD | November 1994 | — | 1 |
| NA | FlashbackRemastered Edition; the article text gives 7 June 2018 | Switch | Jun 17, 2018 | — | 1 |
| EU | Flashbackoriginal version | Amiga | November 1992 | U.S. Gold | 1 |
| EU | Flashback | Genesis | June 1993 | — | 1 |
| JP | フラッシュバックFurasshubakkuJapanese Wikipedia says Sunsoft published the game in Japan but does not name the platform | SNES | Dec 22, 1993 | — | 1 |
| EU | Flashbackalso released in North America in 1993 | MS-DOS | 1993 | — | 1 |
| JP | フラッシュバックFurasshubakku3DO | Other | Feb 17, 1995 | — | 1 |
| JP | フラッシュバックFurasshubakkuRemastered Edition, digital only | Switch | Aug 9, 2018 | 3goo | 2 |
| WW | FlashbackRemastered Edition | PlayStation 4 | Nov 20, 2018 | — | 1 |
| WW | FlashbackRemastered Edition | Windows | Nov 29, 2018 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Flashback: The Quest for Identity NA1フラッシュバック JP2Furasshubakku JP2
Box art by region
NA Flashback: The Quest for Identity 
EU Flashback
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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ContentMS-DOSAmiga
The MS-DOS version has a longer introduction and extra short cutscenes, for example when items are picked up; on the Amiga these appear only if enabled or when the game runs from a hard drive.1
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GameplayAmigaMS-DOS
The Amiga original zoomed in whenever Conrad fired. After criticism the zoom was removed from other versions, although the PC version keeps it as an option.1
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AudioSega CDCD-ROM versions
The Sega CD and other CD-ROM versions replace the cutscenes with new pre-rendered video and voice acting. Only the Sega CD version adds voices during play and CD music for each level.1
Translations
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Spanish Official
Microids2019Windows · Remastered EditionReleased · complete
The Microids edition on Steam lists Spanish (Spain) among its languages, alongside English, French, Italian and German.3
Where to play legally today
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Steam Purchase
Flashback
Microids re-release of the original game, credited to Paul Cuisset
Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com
Reception
About 750,000 copies had been sold by 1995, and Guinness World Records listed Flashback as the best-selling French game of all time. Reviewers praised the rotoscoped graphics and animation; some criticized the short length and the long loading times of the Sega CD version.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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