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Bloody Roar Extreme

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2002 video game

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2002 video game
Bloody Roar Extreme/Primal Fury
North American GameCube cover art
Developer(s)Eighting
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Kenji Fukuya
Producer(s)Hiroshi Igari, Masato Toyoshima
Designer(s)Tetsu Ozaki
Composer(s)Hiromichi Furuya
SeriesBloody Roar
Platform(s)GameCube, Xbox
ReleaseGameCube
  • NA: March 19, 2002
  • JP: April 25, 2002
  • PAL: May 3, 2002
Xbox
  • NA: May 27, 2003
  • JP: July 17, 2003
  • PAL: November 28, 2003
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Bloody Roar Extreme, or Bloody Roar: Primal Fury as it is known outside of its Japan release for the GameCube, is a fighting game developed by Eighting released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was later ported to the Microsoft Xbox under the original moniker of Bloody Roar Extreme in 2003.

Gameplay

Each character has a set of moves spread across a punch, kick, beast and block button, which is also used for throws. Special moves are primarily performed using quarter-circle or half-circle motions and a face button, though several exceptions exist. Attacks can be blocked with either a light guard, performed by not pressing forward or backward, or a heavy guard by holding back or the block button. Various attacks in the game can break through and stagger opponents using a light block. Various characters also have light block counters, which work against certain high or mid-level punches and kicks.

Players start each fight with a full life bar and a Beast Gauge, which allows them to transform into a stronger half-animal fighter. This gauge fills as the player performs moves or gets attacked. It fills with either a blue bar, indicating the player cannot switch to beast form, or a yellow bar with the words "BEAST CHANGE!!" appearing above it, meaning the player can transform. While in beast form, both the life bar and the Beast Gauge deplete. An emptied life bar results in a knockout, but emptying the Beast Gauge and knocking the opponent down reverts them to human form. Also, it reverts the Beast Gauge to the blue bar, preventing them from transforming again until it is refilled.

While in beast form, the player gains various effects, such as:

  • An extra set of moves, performed using the beast button.
  • Higher damage for attacks.
  • 30 percent of any damage taken can be regenerated, shown as a blue bar extending from the life bar.
  • Access to Beast Drives, powerful cinematic attacks unique to each character which deal a large amount of damage. Every character has at least two. Characters revert to human form whether the Beast Drive hits or not. Missed Beast Drives tend to replenish a bit of health.
  • Additional cancel points, allowing for part of one move to quickly transition to another.
  • Various additional effects. For example, the effects of some throws (e.g. damage, position relative to opponent, combo potential) change. Alice's beast form greatly increases her jump height. Bakuryu's regular punch attacks include claw slashes.
  • Different victory animations, should the player stay in beast form as the fight ends.

Players can also enter a stronger, faster version of beast form called Hyper Beast for a short period of time, displayed by the Beast Gauge slowly draining, before reverting to human form. While in prior entries a full Beast Gauge was required to do this, in Extreme this form can be accessed at any time. However, engaging this form with a less-than-full bar will drain part of the character's life bar. While in Hyper Beast form:

  • The timer freezes.
  • Cancel points greatly increase, allowing for faster and more unpredictable sequences of attacks.
  • Beast Drives do not revert a character to human form, unless the Beast Gauge empties.
  • Any damage taken recovers faster than in regular beast form.

Between rounds the state of each character and their Beast Gauge is preserved. For example, if a character finishes a round in beast form with a near-empty Beast Gauge, they will start the next round that way.

Extreme's modes of play include Arcade, Versus and Training mode, as well as:

  • Time Attack - Finish the Arcade mode fights as fast as possible.
  • Survival - Win as many fights as possible in a row against computer opponents, earning slight life refills by winning matches quickly.
  • Team Battle - Choose between three and five characters and fight opposing teams, switching characters as each gets knocked out. This mode has a multiplayer equivalent.

Story

With human-Zoanthrope relations still unstable, a place called the Kingdom of Zoanthropes is founded to help end oppression and conflict. Roughly 80 percent of its residents are Zoanthropes, though both Zoanthropes and humans are considered equal. This new land, however, relies heavily on Zoanthrope soldiers and mercenaries as a source of income, selling their service to various foreign countries. Rumors also persist that the Kingdom is conducting some sort of experiments on Zoanthropes, all while some citizens object to its authoritarian rule, threatening the ideal of peace for all Zoanthropes. In an effort to demonstrate their mercenaries' strength to foreign powers and train additional soldiers, the Kingdom holds a Zoanthrope fighting tournament, with the winner earning the title of "Strongest Zoanthrope" and a large cash prize.

Development

Extreme's development began shortly after Bloody Roar 3 was completed. While prior entries in the series were on Sony consoles, the decision was made to move to Nintendo's GameCube primarily because of its hardware specifications. Direction Kenji Fukuya cited the lighting and shading capabilities in particular as reasons that Extreme could become the best looking Bloody Roar game. However, while the GameCube is capable of displaying games with progressive scan, this feature ultimately was not included.

Extreme includes seven new arenas and three remodeled levels from Bloody Roar 3. In addition, all characters have different character models. While the controls largely remain the same, some characters have slightly altered move sets and combos so that players do not have to press two face buttons at the same time.

While Fukuya stated in a prior interview that Extreme was "always destined for the GameCube," a port for the Xbox released roughly one year later. While ostensibly the same game, the Xbox version changed the animated cutscenes at the beginning and end of the game to computer-generated ones created by a separate team of animators. In addition, a hidden character previously only accessible in the Japanese version (Fang, the Wolf, a character from the Bloody Roar manga) was left in the North American and European releases.

The Gamecube version is backwards compatible with earlier models of the Wii, while the Xbox version is incompatible with the Xbox 360.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GCXbox
Metacritic75/10061/100
Review scores
PublicationScore
GCXbox
Electronic Gaming Monthly6/104.33/10
EP Daily8/10N/A
Famitsu32/40N/A
Game Informer8/106.5/10
GameRevolutionC+C
GameSpot7.2/106.5/10
GameSpy78%
GameZone8.5/106.8/10
IGN7.7/107.3/10
Nintendo Power2.8/5N/A
Nintendo World Report8/10N/A
Official Xbox Magazine (US)N/A8.3/10
The Cincinnati EnquirerN/A
MaximN/A

The GameCube version received "generally favorable reviews", while the Xbox version received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave the former console version a score of 32 out of 40.

GameSpot's Greg Kasavin said of the GameCube version's accessibility, "you wouldn't be lying if you tried to reassure them that it's easy to get into and get good at Bloody Roar: Primal Fury." On using the GameCube controller, he noted "Whether the GameCube controller would be good for other fighting games is still an open question, but it's perfectly fine for use with Bloody Roar: Primal Fury." Matt Casamassina of IGN praised the game's Beast Gauge system in the website's early review, describing it as "a careful dance of knowing when to change and when to stay put ensues, and thus deepens the fighting experience. It's challenging to be sure, intuitively set up and a lot of fun." On the controls, he added "The control setup, which has always come into question with the GameCube pad, works triumphantly whether one chooses to go with the analog stick or the admittedly pint-sized D-Pad."

Reviews were often critical of the game's sound design and simplicity. Kasavin said the game's soundtrack, "consisting of completely uncool guitar riffs, is perhaps a suitable match for its anime-influenced character designs, though it can also get rather irritating." Casamassina echoed the sentiment, saying the game's sound design "falls somewhere between average and "why are they using this 80's guitar riff?" Indeed, some of the musical selections are downright aged, with a dusty sound that could only be used nowadays in a Japanese 3D fighter or a Sonic the Hedgehog update." Kasavin would add "if you've ever wondered what the pejorative expression "button masher" really refers to, you'll find out when you play Bloody Roar: Primal Fury," saying that overall Primal Fury "isn't as good as any of the latest installments in the major 3D fighting game series out there, though it's totally competent and quite appealing in some ways." Star Dingo of GamePro said of the game, "As the only real 'traditional' fighter available for the 'Cube (no, Super Smash Bros. Melee doesn't count), it works just fine for now---though it probably won't be long before you're wishing Soul Calibur 2 [sic] were here."

On the change from animated to computer-generated cutscenes for the Xbox version, Kasavin said, "For some reason, Bloody Roar Extreme replaces Primal Fury's anime intro and ending sequences with prerendered CG cutscenes that look OK at best. Bloody Roar's in-game graphics are actually better..." Other reviewers stated that the fighting system was starting to feel outdated, the graphical change and addition of a few new moves and characters wasn't enough to differentiate it from prior entries, and Hudson needed to stop recycling material from older titles.

Notes

  1. Ported to Xbox by Konami Software Shanghai.
  2. Three critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the GameCube version each a score of 6/10, 7/10, and 5/10.
  3. Two critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Xbox version each a score of 4/10, and the other gave it 5/10.
  4. GamePro gave the GameCube version 4.5/5 for graphics, 3.5/5 for sound, and two 4/5 scores for control and fun factor.

References

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  2. Karlie Yeung (April 8, 2002). "GameCube Takes On Europe". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  3. "Konami Smashed into the Ring with the Release of Bloody Roar Extreme". GameZone. May 27, 2003. Archived from the original on February 21, 2006. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  4. Tom Bramwell (December 1, 2003). "What Was New?!". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on December 13, 2003. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  5. Ken Schmidt (2002). Bloody Roar: Primal Fury - Official Fighter's Guide. Indianapolis: BradyGames. ISBN 074400165X. OCLC 51879689.
  6. Instruction Booklet, pg. 18-23.
  7. Instruction Booklet, pg. 6-10
  8. "New Characters". Bloody Roar Extreme. Archived from the original on June 7, 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  9. "Bloody Roar Primal Fury: Prologue". Bloody Roar. Archived from the original on June 7, 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  10. ^ IGN staff (February 15, 2002). "Interview: Bloody Roar: Primal Fury". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 27, 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  11. "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (Video Game 2002) - Full Cast & Crew". IMDb. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  12. "Hidden Characters". Bloody Roar (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 5, 2004. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  13. ^ "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  14. ^ "Bloody Roar Extreme for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  15. James "Milkman" Mielke; Shane Bettenhausen; Che Chou (April 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 153. Ziff Davis. p. 137. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  16. Paul Byrnes; Shawn Elliott; Ken "Sushi-X" Williams (July 2003). "Bloody Roar Extreme" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 168. Ziff Davis. p. 122. Archived from the original on January 31, 2004. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  17. Marc Saltzman (April 8, 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions Ltd. Archived from the original on February 23, 2003. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  18. ^ "ブラッディロア エクストリーム [ゲームキューブ]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Archived from the original on July 26, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  19. Andrew Reiner (April 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury". Game Informer. No. 108. FuncoLand. p. 78. Archived from the original on July 8, 2004. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  20. "Bloody Roar Extreme". Game Informer. No. 123. GameStop. July 2003. p. 116.
  21. G-Wok (April 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  22. Johnny Liu (June 2003). "Bloody Roar Extreme Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  23. ^ Greg Kasavin (March 22, 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
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  25. Bryn Williams (March 26, 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (GCN)". GameSpy. GameSpy Industries. Archived from the original on June 10, 2002. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  26. Christian Nutt (June 6, 2003). "GameSpy: Bloody Roar Extreme". GameSpy. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  27. Tha Wiz (April 14, 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 29, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  28. Rob Watkins (June 10, 2003). "Bloody Roar Extreme - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
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  32. Andres Rojas (September 15, 2002). "Bloody Roar: Primal Fury". Nintendo World Report. NINWR, LLC. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  33. "Bloody Roar Extreme". Official Xbox Magazine. Future US. July 2003. p. 81.
  34. Marc Saltzman (June 17, 2003). "Xbox action times 3[:] New fighting games storm console system". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on March 12, 2005. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
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