Primal Rage
| Primal Rage | |
|---|---|
| Title Screen from Primal Rage | |
| Developer(s) | Atari Games |
| Publisher(s) | Atari Games |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | 2 players, playing simultaneously |
| Arcade system | Atari GT System Main CPU: Motorola 68EC020 (@ 25 MHz) Sound CPU: TI TMS32031 (@ 33 MHz) Sound Chips: Atari CAGE Audio System (4x) DMA-driven DAC |
| Primal Rage | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Probe Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | Time Warner Interactive |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Arcade, 3DO, Jaguar, Game Boy, Game Gear, PlayStation, 32X, Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, SNES, PC |
| Release | Early to mid-1990's |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Primal Rage is a versus fighting game developed and published by Atari Games. It was originally released in 1994 as an arcade video game. It was later ported to numerous home consoles (such as PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo) and PC. Primal Rage was also included in Midway Arcade Treasures 2. A sequel, Primal Rage 2, was put into production but was later cancelled. Toys, comics, and other merchandise were also produced.
Storyline
In Primal Rage, a meteor strike has devastated the earth. Mankind has been reduced to tribes of Stone Age dwellers and now seven god-like dinosaur and ape beasts wage war for control over the new Urth. They are torn between those who wish to keep peace on Urth and those who attempt to plunge the world into chaos. The story, as reprinted in the various instruction manuals of the home versions, is as follows:
Eons ago, before humans walked the planet, there was rage. Life on Earth was complex, as were the instincts of the planet's life-forms. In order to grow and multiply, there was a delicate balance between the desperate need to protect one's own life and the need to feed on the life energy of the others. As these instincts evolved so did the gods.
These gods embodied the spirits of Hunger and Survival, Life and Death, Insanity and Decay, and especially, Good and Evil.They took the form that most suited their needs and fought countless battles on the primordial frontiers of the Earth. Life on Earth slowly multiplied, and the gods became more powerful and their battles more intense. When life on Earth had spread to all corners of the Earth, the skies shook and the Earth trembled with the fevered pitch of the god's [sic] battles.
Dinosaurs were the dominant animals on land, and great forests covered almost all available space. New lifeforms evolved at a rapid rate, and civilizations emerged.
Then the delicate balance was disrupted. Balsafas, a great wizard from a parallel dimension, recognized the threat Earth would soon pose to the rest of the galaxy. To stop the threat, he planned to destroy the balance between the gods. Lacking the power to kill a god outright, he instead banished one to an isolated rock tomb in the center of the moon. This caused an immediate disturbance in the balance of power, followed by a huge explosion that blanketed the Earth with a huge cloud of volcanic dust. Most of the life on the planet died, and the remaining gods were sent into suspended animation.
Now, millions of years later, a meteor collides with Earth, and its destructive fury rearranges the continents and destroys the cities. Humans survive, but technology is wiped out. The fury of the Cataclysms is enough to awaken the imprisoned gods. The gods emerge to find the Earth they knew is gone. It is now the new Urth. The gods are awake and they are angry. get ready for Rage!
Gameplay
Primal Rage is a traditional two-dimensional fighting game in which two players select characters to battle each other in one-on-one combat or a single player finishes a campaign of fights against the CPU over increasing difficulty. A total of seven characters are available for players to select from (as listed below). Each dinosaur has his or her own specialized set of attack moves and abilities. In the game, the object is to deplete the opposing character's health meter as fast as possible.
After the opponent is defeated, a brief moment is allowed for the player to perform a fatality that finishes the adversary in a more dramatic fashion.
While fighting, human tribesman will move in the background and worship their gods during battle. This allows for the dinosaurs to toss them around or devour some to regain strength.
Unlike most fighting games, where "special moves" are performed by moving the joystick, followed by pressing one or more buttons, Primal Rage features a system where the player holds down certain buttons, then performs the joystick movements.
Characters
- Armadon: A ceratopsian dinosaur, and the God of Life, Armadon fights to defend Urth and prevent the dino-beasts utterly destroying it. His genetic makeup appears to be part Chasmosaurus and Ankylosaurus. The tail tip is a combination of the ankylosaurus tail club and stegosaurus tail spikes.
- Blizzard: Blizzard is one of two ape-beasts, the God of Good. A noble and heroic yeti-like beast, Blizzard wishes to undo the damage caused to Urth by both the meteor and the warring gods.
- Chaos: The second of the two ape-beasts, and the God of Decay, Chaos was formerly a scientist/witch doctor, transformed into his current state by accident. Chaos is the crudest of the dino-beasts, with moves like Fart of Fury and Power Puke. His Golden Shower fatality (where Chaos dissolves the flesh from his victim with a geyser of acidic urine) was deemed so disgusting that the game was pulled from the market and replaced with a version lacking this fatality.
- Diablo: Diablo is one of the two T-Rex dino-beasts, and God of Evil. This flame-spewing demonic dinosaur leads the evil dino-beasts and desires to transform Urth into a nightmarish hell.
- Sauron: The second of the two T-Rex dino-beasts and God of Hunger, Sauron's immortality only lasts whilst he devours human flesh, as he suffers from an insatiable appetite. In spite of this, he is one of the Virtuous Beasts and not evil. He shares his name with the Dark Lord Sauron
- Talon (Primal Rage): Talon is based on Deinonychus; he is supposed to be the God of Survival. One of the good dino-beasts, Talon is the patriach of a huge family of raptors, fiercely protective, it is for their sake that he plunges into the war. Talon is the fastest character in the game and a fan favorite among some. see Talon (Primal Rage)
- Vertigo: Vertigo is a unique beast based on a King Cobra and a Sellosaurus, Goddess of Insanity. The only female dino-beast, the storyline of the game states that it was due to her being imprisoned in the moon that the dino-beasts were forced into suspended animation until the meteor struck.
Controversy
As with other bloody U.S. based fighting titles of the time (most notably Mortal Kombat), Primal Rage sparked considerable controversy due to its extreme violence, depicting gory fatalities and the live devouring of humans. The game has been withdrawn, re-programmed and re-released numerous times. According to Victar's Primal Rage FAQ (section 7.4) the June 1996 issue of GamePro confirms that Ellie Rovella of Gilbert, Arizona became incensed when her 11-year-old son bought and played Genesis' Primal Rage, using GamePro's strategy guide to execute Chaos' golden shower fatality. Rovella was so outraged she not only returned the game, but also launched a grass-roots campaign. As part of this, the finishing move was famously censored on the Super Nintendo version by placing a large "censored" bar over the screen when it was performed.
Sequels
Primal Rage 2
By 1995 Atari had began production of Primal Rage's sequel, simply titled Primal Rage 2. The game however was never released, due to the feeling it wouldn't make enough sales and other production problems. Details from the production and early in-game footage suggest the game would include the ability of the dinosaurs to morph into their human counterparts. The characters from the original Primal Rage were set to reappear, as well as new gods such as Slash Fang, a prehistoric fighter taking the form of a Smilodon, and Necrosan, a living dragon skeleton, who was previously axed from the first game.
The storyline follows closely on the events chronicled in the first game, as it is revealed that the meteorite that once struck earth is in fact an egg holding the dragonbeast Necrosan, a terrible monster bent on destroying Urth. To protect their world the gods unite against Necrosan, but are defeated in the ensuing battle and subsequently imprisoned in a state of semi-suspended animation. The gods then form human avatars for themselves and fight the minions of Necrosan to release them from their prison and battle Necrosan (this plot is used for the book Primal Rage: The Avatars.
Primal Rage: The Avatars
When Primal Rage 2 was cancelled, Atari alledgedly felt it necessary to somehow present the story for the sequel in one form or another. Thus, in 1997, Primal Rage: The Avatars, written by John Vornholt, was published by Boulevard Books. The book's plot tells about what happened to the dino gods 65 million years ago, and then moves into the main story of the gods' reign on Urth renewed, but then the beast Necrosan appears. The book focuses as well on fleshing out the world of Primal Rage, and does so by bringing "the Avatars" to the forefront of the story, they being the humans chosen by their respective gods to channel their awesome might. Each human character has his or her own personalities, often reflecting the gods themselves.
A number of details to the backstory of Primal Rage are made clear in The Avatars. According to John Vornholt's novel the events in Primal Rage take place in the year 1000 AC (After Cataclysm) or about the year 3000 AD according to the Gregorian calendar. The battles of the dinosaurs are referred to as "The Primal Rage". In the novel, the spell used to imprison the dinosaur gods is called the Bonds of Forbidding. Necrosan the skeletal dragon (who is referred to as Necronus on the introductory page) reactivates the Bonds of Forbidding to entrap the gods.
Trivia
- In an intended upgrade of the game, Atari originally planned to include Necrosan as a final boss character.
- The gods are often portrayed as being either on the side of good and led by Blizzard or as being on side of evil and led by Diablo. This is mostly due to the toys but in the actual canon of the video game only two gods, Armadon and Blizzard, are determined to preserve life and liberty for the peoples of Urth, and only two are determined to enslave life on Urth or destroy it: Vertigo and Diablo. While the other three gods can be viewed as heroes or villains, they are neutral in terms of absolute good and evil. They are either compelled to fight out of a sincere love for family that is tempered with total disregard for human life (Talon), the hope of personal redemption at the expense of others if necessary (Chaos), or personal survival, (Sauron).
- While the gods are called dino-gods and dinobeasts, the correct term for them is Draconians. The gods are collectively called Draconians in the introductory cut scenes in the arcade version.
- In many of the gods' endings we are told that their reign will be happy "until the newcomers arrive" and that they will be "challenged by a traveller from across the great sea." More information than this is not given and it is assumed that the unmade Primal Rage 2 would have revealed more. Typical fan speculation dictated that this challenger would have manifested as Slash Fang, with Necrosan then playing a role against the eight beasts.
- Because of this portrayal in various novels, comic books, and toylines, it is assumed that Chaos was a human scientist before one of his experiments backfired, turning him into a monster. However, he was originally said to have been "the mightiest witch doctor" on an Atlantis like "first continent" whose spells backfired, turning him into a monster. In the game, he is said to have struck a deal with Throshti, god of carrion, for release whereby he will be made human if he defeats all his enemies.
- When we see it suspended from space in screen shots, the world of the new Urth is portrayed as a single Pangaea like supercontinent. The super continent, stretching from pole to pole, is shaped like a fire breathing Tyrannosaur skull, with peninsulas as the teeth, a smaller volcanic continent as the blast of fire, and huge lakes forming the eye holes and other openings of the "skull." What is beyond the Panthalassa like Great Sea surrounding the continent is unknown though we are told that one day newcomers would come from across it.
- More recently, toy molds of both the Ape characters (Blizzard & Chaos) & the Tyrannosaur characters (Diablo & Sauron) have been given new life, being both re-painted and re-used for the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line, as a generic Yeti & T-Rex, respectively, each packaged with an individual turtle in a playset.
References
- Primal Rage Instruction manual
- Victar's Primal Rage FAQ (Site does not allow direct links to individual FAQs.)
External links
- Primal Rage at the Coin-Op museum - Features info on the original arcade release
- Primal Rage at Mobygames - Info regarding all console releases of Primal Rage