Primal Rage

Primal Rage is a fighting video game developed by Atari in 1994. Its story takes place on post-apocalyptic Earth (called Urth) where humanity was returned to Stone Age among the ruins of formed civilization. The characters of the game are giant dinosaurs and apes who are revered as gods. Their battles will determine the future of the planet.

Each character is an eons-old monster that was unknown to human civilization due to slumber (such as Armadon sleeping under Earth's core) or remote location (such as Talon living on uncharted archipelago). The cataclysm has awaken or brought them to the new united continent. Fighters are divided into Destructive Beasts, who want to bring suffering and chaos, and Virtuous Beasts, who stand for harmony and peace.

Characters

The Virtuous Beasts

• Armadon: The God of life. Armadon fights to defend Urth and prevent its destruction from the hands of the Evil Gods. He's a semi-bipedal dinosaur with Styracosaurus-like head and limbs, a series of spikes in his back, and a tail whose tip is a combination of an Ankylosaurus' tail club and a Stegosaurus' thagomizer. According to the description on the package for Armadon's action figure, his species is "Tristegasauratops." Armadon has the easiest combos, but has a short reach. His domain is the Hollows and his worshipers appear dressed in light green rags.He is the triagonist.
• Blizzard: the God of goodness and virtue. Blizzard is one of two ape-like beasts. He was frozen in a glacier for millennia and was released by the meteor. He lived high up in the mountain and descended to the ground when threatened. A noble and heroic yeti-like beast, Blizzard wishes to undo the damage caused to Urth by both the meteor and the warring gods. Many of his abilities focus around the manipulation of ice and cold. Blizzard is the leader of the Virtuous Beasts, and his animal power, age-old wisdom and freezing projectile moves make him a powerful character. His domain is the Cliff, and his worshipers wear blue. He is the deurtagonist.
• Sauron: The God of hunger. Resembling a Tyrannosaurus, he can dish out the most damage of all the dino-beasts, but he's also the slowest. Sauron's immortality only lasts while he devours human flesh, as he suffers from an insatiable appetite. In spite of this, he is not evil, but the anti-hero of the group. His "Stun Roar" is an energy beam utilized in a manner akin to Godzilla's nuclear breath and his "Primal Scream" casts an energy shield as an offensive attack. His tail attacks are somewhat easier to use than his bites. His domain is the Cove, and his worshipers are clad in purple clothing.He is the main protagonist.
• Talon: The God of survival. Talon is the patriarch of a huge family of similar dinosaurs and is fiercely protective of it. It is for their sake that he plunges into the war. Talon is the fastest character in the game and an excellent jumper. Talon is also the shortest character, and numerous ranged attacks by taller enemies will simply miss him. He is also the only character in the game who does not have a projectile attack. His domain is the Strip, and his worshipers are dressed in gray.

The Destructive Beasts

• Chaos: The God of decay. The second of the two ape-beasts, Chaos was formerly a scientist/witch doctor that was transformed into his current state by accident and was forced to be imprisoned in his own filth for eons. Among the three Evil Gods, Chaos is an Evil Beast and is known as the crudest and most vile of all beasts, with moves like "Fart of Fury" and "Power Puke". His "Golden Shower" fatality (where Chaos dissolves the flesh from his victim with a jet of acidic urine) was deemed so disgusting that the game was pulled from the market and replaced with a version with this fatality censored. His domain is the Ruins and his worshipers appear dressed in yellow.
• Diablo: The God of evil and destruction. Diablo is a Tyrannosaurus. This flame-spewing demonic dinosaur wishes to reduce Urth into a nightmarish, magma-filled Hell where he wishes to indulge in his desire to torment the souls on the planet for eternity. He is nearly identical to Sauron's graphic model, albeit somewhat smaller and with a different color scheme. Diablo is quick on his feet and is an excellent distance fighter but is somewhat weak in close range. He is the leader of the Destructive Beasts, and hopes to burn the whole world in flames for all time. His domain is the Inferno, and his worshipers are covered in red clothes.
• Vertigo: The Goddess of insanity. Vertigo, a unique beast based with a body resembling that of a dromaeosaurid dinosaur and a neck and head resembling a King Cobra. She is one of the Evil Destructive Beasts and is the only female dino-beast available. She has the longest reach. The storyline of the game states that her imprisonment on the Moon forced the other dino-beasts into suspended animation until the meteor impact. Vertigo plans to enslave the entire planet forever by making stripping every single human of all individuality and free will. Her domain is the Tomb, which resembles Stonehenge, and her worshipers dress in cyan.

Legacy

Primal Rage was initially released as an arcade, like many fighting games of that time. There were versions for all major game consoles, although worse in graphics and quality. In year 2004, Primal Rage was retro-released for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, but due to original ROM encryption these versions weren't accurate either. No old or current version of Primal Rage features high-res graphics of the original and full set of moves.

During Primal Rage peak a 4-issue comic book and a toy line were produced. Atari announced Primal Rage 2, but it got canceled in 1997. Instead, the story developed for Primal Rage 2 was sold as a book titled Primal Rage: The Avatars. It revealed that the meteor that caused the cataclysm was really an egg containing a skeletal dragon Necrosan. With his great power he managed to entomb all beasts, both Virtuous and Destructive. They were forced to rely on their chosen worshipers, avatars, to fight against Necrosan. Each avatar was given power to turn into his or her totem beast and is guided by it.

Two new fighters planned for Primal Rage 2 were released as action figures. The second one was anthropomorphic sabre-toothed tiger Slashfang.

See also

• Diablo, whose fursona was inspired by the Primal Rage character of the same name.

External links

• Primal Rage group at deviantART
• Primal Rage comics at ComicVine
• Final Battle, a fanfiction illustrated with action figures photos
• I Love You, Primal Rage, retro-review at Nintendo World Report
• Primal Rage endings at Fight-A-Base