Treasure wanted to make a game that had the player holding the left side of the controller instead of the right which was typical across the system's library.

Since the game was not released in the West, it grew a cult following among import gamers, and it became one of the most demanded titles for the Wii Virtual Console after its announcement.

It was ported to the iQue Player in China in 2004, and a sequel was released for the Wii in 2009, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor.

The game features a score system which grants bonuses the more hits the player can make without losing all their health.

Items can be picked up to refill the player's health gauge, increase the time, and provide bonus points.

Normal and Hard mode feature extra bosses and enemies in addition to being generally more difficult.

Another group, led by a mysterious woman with unusual powers named Achi, rises up to defend Japan against the Ruffians and Armed Volunteers.

In response, Achi places Airan into a dream sequence, set ten years in the future in Long Island, New York.

Achi reveals that she is not from Earth, and that the war between the Ruffians and the Armed Volunteers was her ploy to groom Saki into an ultimate warrior to use in a cosmic battle with extraterrestrial beings.

In the early days of the system's lifespan, Nintendo had suggested two ways of holding the controller, a left and right position.

Due to the success of Super Mario 64 which released alongside the console in 1996, many games followed in its trails and featured the same right positioning it used.

Treasure president Masato Maegawa began discussing with his team how the left positioning was underutilized and could make for an interesting game.

In retrospect, Satoru Iwata commented that Treasure was able to accomplish a large amount despite the small size of their team.

Maegawa agreed, saying that a small team reduced conflict, and let them stay focused on making the game how they each personally envisioned.

[8] Nakagawa had troubles programming the aiming and shooting mechanics since the reticle moved in two dimensions but the game world was in three.

Yamagami understood that the level of difficulty was a characteristic of Treasure's games, but still thought it needed to be reduced.

[8] Maegawa believed that the difficulty was in players being unable to understand the game's unique control scheme.

[8] The soundtrack to Sin and Punishment was composed by Toshiya Yamanaka who was employed as a subcontractor before joining Treasure later in his career.

[8] To help the game stand out, Yamagami wanted to create a new title written in kanji, another Japanese writing system.

[15] The game was first released exclusively in Japan on the Nintendo 64 on 21 November as the console's life cycle was approaching its end.

[18] Sin and Punishment grew a cult following in western territories among import gamers, and was regarded as one of the best Nintendo 64 games to never see localization.

[6] The game was later re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in North America on 27 August 2015, in PAL regions on 3 September, and in Japan on 25 April 2016.

[1][29][5] Fran Mirabella III of IGN found it to be a "tour de force" of arcade-style shooting action, and praised Treasure for their excellence at developing games in the genre.

[1] Both reviewers believed that the game had excellent graphics, full of flashy explosions and lots of onscreen items.

[1][5] In retrospective reviews for the game's Virtual Console release, critics praised Nintendo for making the moves to re-release Sin and Punishment and finally localize it for western audiences.

[2][3][6] Frank Provo of GameSpot found the release to be a bargain, seeing as the original Nintendo 64 cartridges were uncommon and approaching US$100 in price on the used game market.

[33][34] Todd Ciolek of GameSetWatch described it as one of the best games in the sparsely populated shooting gallery genre along with Wild Guns (1994).