Brutal: Paws of Fury

Brutal: Paws of Fury is a fighting game containing anthropomorphic characters. It was published by GameTek in 1994. Brutal: Paws of Fury was released for the Sega CD, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, PC, Amiga, and Amiga CD32. An enhanced version, Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw, was made for MS-DOS and the Sega 32X in 1995. In 2000, a fan remake, Brutal: Paws of Fury Remix, was released.

The storyline in Brutal: Paws of Fury was typical for a fighting game of its time: Under the watchful eyes of the malicious Dali Llama, fighters come to Brutal Island to fight for prize money, fame, and recognition.

Characters
Chung Poe: A male mole whose martial art is sabbbaal. Chung Poe has three special attacks (Fists of Death, Space Warp, and Makron Overpower) and four katas (Hate of the Ancients kata, The Dark kata, Winter Storm kata, and The Faminewind kata).

Dali Llama: He is evil, a llama, and his martial art is "divine"; that is about all that is known about Dali Llama. Dali Llama has two special attacks (Headbutt and Smoke Attack) and two katas (Mind of the Gods and Apocalypse!).

Foxy Roxy: The only female fighter in the series, Foxy Roxy is a fox who is a master of Penjat Silat. She was also notable in that only her backstory indicated her 'real world' name (Idhra Prashmet). Additionally, her story indicated that she had human parents. She wants to use the prize money from the tournament to help children in her home of India. Foxy Roxy has three special attacks (Whiplash Kick, Spinning Attack, and Rolling Attack), and three katas (Kuntao kata, Call of the Lotus kata, and Pentjak Silat Mind Throw).

Ivan the Bear: Performing the roles of both the strong guy and little guy, this bear is nothing more than a brawler and a soldier -- a very strong brawler and soldier. Ivan the Bear has two special attacks (Big Belly Attack and Earthquake) and three katas (Strength of the North kata, Jab Al Nar kata, and Rage of the World kata).

Karate Croc: Although he knows karate and is a crocodile, even less is known about Karate Croc than is known about Dali Llama. Karate Croc has three special attacks (Tail Whip, Torpedo Attack, and Flying Tail Whip) and three katas (Escrima kata, The Swallow kata, and The Path of the Empty Hand).

Kendo Coyote: Student of Tai Cheetah, already well-versed in kenjutsu, Kendo Coyote was a playboy until Tai came into his life. While Kendo is still a bon vivant, and less serious about his studies than Tai would like, Tai believes Kendo will be the one to pass on his legacy. Kendo Coyote has four special attacks (Slam Punch, Headbutt, Cannonball!, and Spinball!) and three katas (The Five Rings kata, Ki Force kata, and Hapkido kata).

Kung-Fu Bunny: After spending over a decade in a Shaolin temple, Kung-Fu Bunny became a master of his martial art. He participates in the tournament for the sake of his monastery. His martial art is relaxed paw kung-fu. Kung-Fu Bunny has four special attacks (Flash Kick, Hi Flash Kick, Double Flash Kick, and Scissors Kick) and three katas (Dance of Death kata, Iron Fist kata, and Devil's Kiss kata).

Pantha: Very similar to Dali Llama in fighting style, Pantha is a cloaked demonic panther. His martial art is Chin Na. Pantha has three special attacks (Fireball, Energy Drain, and Cloak Attack) and three katas (The Gentle Path kata, Serpent's Kiss kata, and Summon Chi kata).

Prince Leon of Kenya: An African lion, Prince Leon of Kenya enters the tournament to avenge an insult upon him by Kendo and Tai. One of Leon's signature moves, and one of the few ranged attacks in the series, involves him playing a guitar; by summoning speakers to him, he assails opponents with a wall of sound. Leon's other ranged move is a roar. Prince Leon of Kenya has four special attacks (Bite, Swim Attack, Roar!, and Powerchord) and three katas (Wild Side kata, Rage Within kata, and Leon Experience kata).

Psycho Kitty: Psycho Kitty is a cat who fights mostly because he loves to fight. "Cat fight" is his martial art. Psycho Kitty has three special attacks (Fur Ball, Catfight, and Toshidan) and four katas (Too Much Whiskers kata, Face Gouge kata, Nine Lives kata, and Hacker kata).

Rhei Rat: Rhei Rat is the most self-centered of the fighters to be involved in the tournament, being a master of Thai kickboxing who wants a cross-discipline challenge. His sole goal is to live well off of the tournament's prize money. Rhei Rat has four special attacks (Knockout Punch, Frenzy Attack, Face Pull, and Neck Choke) and three katas (Tsumai kata, Lightning Fury kata, and Berzerk! kata).

Tai Cheetah: Although a hermit for most of his life, Tai Cheetah finally struck out to find someone worthy enough to pass his knowledge onto. Instead, he found Kendo Coyote. His martial art is tai chi. Tai Cheetah has three special attacks (Fire Punch, Fire Kick, and Fire Run) and three katas (The Way of the Crane kata, Fist of the North kata, and Divine Wind kata).

Gameplay
The gameplay is generally inspired by Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, but with a twist: Players begin with only 'basic' moves (movement, three attack types, grapple), and characters have to 'learn' new moves during the single player mode. Every two opponents the player defeats, he or she will go to a tutorial stage to learn a new technique (the first is a taunt that recovers their character's health, followed by a special move or kata in subsequent revisits). By the time the player has fought all the way to the final boss (Dali Llama), he or she may have the character's full repertoire of moves.

Version Differences (Brutal: Paws of Fury)
Sega CD

- 10 characters (Dali Llama, Foxy Roxy, Ivan the Bear, Karate Croc, Kendo Coyote, Kung-Fu Bunny, Pantha, Prince Leon of Kenya, Rhei Rat, and Tai Cheetah).

- 10 arenas (Aboard the Boat, In the Courtyard, On the Battlements, The Cavern, The Dojo, The Idol, The Landing, The Mountain, The Screen Room, and The Waterfall).

- Two gameplay modes (single player and versus).

- Three speed settings (Normal, Turbo, and Turbo Nutter; Turbo is selected by default).

- Animated cutscenes.

- CD audio soundtrack.

- 10 character specific post-fight screens.

- Exclusive 'Fun Room' feature containing both the 'Brutal Band' to listen to fourteen CD audio tracks and an 'Out-Takes' section with animation tests and deleted characters.

- Input commands for various special moves are different between the Sega CD and Sega Genesis versions (such as the command for Kung-Fu Bunny's Double Flash Kick).

- Passwords are required in order to use special techniques (taunts, special moves, and katas) in both single player and versus modes; each password is thirteen characters long.

- Characters are fought in the following pre-determined order in single player mode: Tai Cheetah, Rhei Rat, Ivan the Bear, Prince Leon of Kenya, Kendo Coyote, Foxy Roxy, Kung-Fu Bunny, Pantha, Karate Croc, Dali Llama.

Sega Genesis

- 8 characters (Karate Croc and Pantha have been removed).

- 10 arenas (same as the Sega CD version in name and visual design).

- Two gameplay modes (single player and versus).

- Three speed settings (Normal, Turbo, and Turbo Nutter; Turbo is selected by default).

- New soundtrack.

- New voice-overs have been added.

- Foxy Roxy's voice has been removed.

- The animated cutscenes from the Sega CD version have been removed.

- The character specific post-fight screens from the Sega CD version have been removed.

- Pressing the Start button with a six-button controller will pause the game (the Sega CD version could not be paused during fights).

- Music has been added to the 'tutorial' stage.

- A new ending screen has been added.

- Passwords are not required to use special techniques in versus mode.

- Characters are fought in the following pre-determined order in single player mode: Tai Cheetah, Rhei Rat, Ivan the Bear, Prince Leon of Kenya, Kendo Coyote, Foxy Roxy, Kung-Fu Bunny, Tai Cheetah (again), Rhei Rat (again), Dali Llama.

SNES

- 8 characters (same roster as the Sega Genesis version).

- 9 arenas (six of the arenas (Aboard the Boat, On the Battlements, The Cavern, The Idol, The Landing, and The Mountain) are graphical updates to the Sega CD and Sega Genesis versions; three of the arenas (In the Courtyard, The Dojo, and The Waterfall) are completely different designs from their counterparts in the Sega CD and Sega Genesis versions).

- Characters can no longer fall off of the sides in 'The Mountain' arena (no ring outs).

- Two gameplay modes (single player and versus).

- Two speed settings (Normal and Turbo; Turbo is selected by default and the 'Turbo Nutter' speed setting has been removed).

- New soundtrack with seven music tracks.

- New sound effects have been added.

- New graphics for the title screen, character select screen, and character ending screen.

- Most of the voice-overs have been removed, with the exception of Foxy Roxy (an audio clip has been added for Prince Leon of Kenya's 'Roar!' technique as well).

- The animated cutscenes from the Sega CD version have been removed.

- The character specific post-fight screens from the Sega CD version have been removed.

- All special techniques are available from the start in single player mode (the player is still instructed on how to perform them during the 'tutorial' segments).

- The original 'tutorial' stage from the Sega CD and Sega Genesis versions has been removed (The Dojo arena is used instead).

- Passwords are not required to use special techniques in versus mode.

- Input commands for special techniques are similar to the Sega Genesis version.

- Characters are fought in the following pre-determined order in single player mode: Tai Cheetah, Rhei Rat, Ivan the Bear, Prince Leon of Kenya, Kendo Coyote, Foxy Roxy, Kung-Fu Bunny, Tai Cheetah (again), Dali Llama.

Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw
Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw (often shortened to Brutal Unleashed) was an enhanced version of the original Brutal: Paws of Fury for MS-DOS and the Sega 32X. As well as improvements in timing and notable improvements in sound, new characters and arenas were introduced, and all of the characters from the previous game were made playable by default.

A version of Brutal Unleashed was in production for the Atari Jaguar, but that version was cancelled when the system was discontinued.

Version Differences (Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw)
Sega 32X

- 12 characters (Chung Poe and Psycho Kitty have been added).

- 12 arenas (six new arenas (Beach, Bridge, Pass, Point, Swamp, and Volcano) have been added; seven arenas use visual designs similar to the SNES version of Brutal: Paws of Fury; one arena (Screens) is a redesigned version of 'The Screen Room'; two arenas from Brutal: Paws of Fury (The Landing and The Mountain) have been removed).

- Four gameplay modes (single player, versus, and the two exclusive 'Battle' and 'Practice' modes; Battle mode can be played with one or two players, while Practice mode requires two players).

- Three speed settings (Normal, Turbo, and Turbo Nutter; Turbo is selected by default and the game's overall speed has been slightly increased).

- New graphics for the title screen and the character artwork on the character select screen (the character select screen background is new as well).

- New soundtrack with five music tracks.

- Foxy Roxy's voice has been removed.

- The original 'tutorial' stage from the Sega CD and Sega Genesis versions has been removed (the Courtyard arena is used instead).

- Passwords are not required to use special techniques in versus mode.

- Input commands for special techniques are similar to the Sega Genesis version of Brutal: Paws of Fury.

- Characters are fought in the following pre-determined order in single player mode: Pantha, Psycho Kitty, Ivan the Bear, Karate Croc, Tai Cheetah, Prince Leon of Kenya, Kung-Fu Bunny, Kendo Coyote, Foxy Roxy, Rhei Rat, Pantha (again), Chung Poe, Chung Poe (again), Dali Llama.

MS-DOS PC

- Keyboard and four-button controller support.

- 12 characters (same roster as the Sega 32X version).

- 14 arenas (four of the six new arenas (The Point, The Ridge ('Pass' in the Sega 32X version), The Swamp, and The Volcano) from the Sega 32X version are included; nine arenas use visual designs from the SNES version of Brutal: Paws of Fury (the PC version includes the two arenas that were removed from the Sega 32X version of Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw); one arena (The Screens) is a redesigned version of 'The Screen Room').

- Two gameplay modes (single player and versus).

- Three speed settings (Normal, Fast, and Turbo; Normal is selected by default).

- New voice-overs before the fight (new voice for 'Round' and the round number (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine)).

- Foxy Roxy's voice has been removed.

- All special techniques are available from the start in both single player and versus modes.

- The 'tutorial' stage has been removed.

- Characters are fought in the following pre-determined order in single player mode: Kung-Fu Bunny, Tai Cheetah, Prince Leon of Kenya, Rhei Rat, Pantha, Kendo Coyote, Foxy Roxy, Karate Croc, Ivan the Bear, Dali Llama, Psycho Kitty, Chung Poe, Pantha (again), Dali Llama (again).

Brutal Remix
In 2000, a version of Brutal for the MUGEN game development system was created. Several features (many taken from Marvel Vs. Capcom) were added, including team battles, special moves, custom counters, enhanced attack graphics, and in general, raising its quality to that of a Dreamcast game.

Although these versions of the characters can no longer be found, copies of the original Brutal: Paws of Fury characters are available from various sites.

((EDIT:)) The characters CAN BE FOUND here: http://brutal.harmlesslion.com/