Primal Rage (Genesis)

[Melf]

Normally, it would seem that nothing could top dinosaurs and other massive beasts fighting each other to the death. Heck, it's what made all those Godzilla movies so great! Time Warner attempted to capitalize on this success with Primal Rage, but the results were less than satisfying. Clumsy gameplay and difficult control left it far short of the animalistic Street Fighter many gamers were hoping for. We have a full review of the Genesis version, so read on for all the beastly details.

[Cornholio857]

Call me crazy, but I actually enjoyed the Genesis version. Though IMO the 32X version is better. I rented this game multiple times back in the day. Not a bad game for what it is. Chaos' piss Fatality still cracks me up to this day.

[NeoVamp]

One of the rare cases where Probe did a pretty good job on a port.

Then again, I never really played Primal Rage all that much.. so who knows what they cut out?

[Aarzak]

The Genesis and 32X ports were considered amongst the worst PR ports BITD, because they were based on an earlier revision of the coin-op, while the other home ports (including the SNES version) were based on a later revision which changed up a lot of things, gameplay-wise. PR aficionados didn't touch the Sega ports.

The 32X port follows the same approach as MKII 32X: 32X does the sprites, HUD and some of the sfx, Genesis handles the backgrounds, music and some of the sfx.

As quoted by Guntz, my sealed copy of PR 32X, bought for $10 back in January 2008, has been passed around like a cheap hooker here amongst Sega-16 denizens in the last year.

[NeoVamp]

The 32X port follows the same approach as MKII 32X: 32X does the sprites, HUD and some of the sfx, Genesis handles the backgrounds, music and some of the sfx.

Not sure about Primal Rage, but i remember that in 32X MKII the 32X did the BG's,
and the Genesis did the Sprites.

[Aarzak]

Well, MKII 32X's sprites sure have a higher color count (can make out the details on Sub/Scorpion's costumes now)......I'm wondering if that was a result of more of the Genesis' color palette being dedicated to it or the 32X adding color to them. The BG's on the other hand don't look much different color-wise from the Genesis port. Otherwise the sprites had the same animation count and sprite size as on the Genesis.

PR 32X's sprites look noticeably different (and better) than on the Genesis as they are bigger......not sure about added animation.

[Cornholio857]

On the 32X version of MK2 the Genesis did handle the backgrounds while the 32X handled the sprites. 100% sure of this.

[NeoVamp]

Well, MKII 32X's sprites sure have a higher color count (can make out the details on Sub/Scorpion's costumes now)......I'm wondering if that was a result of more of the Genesis' color palette being dedicated to it or the 32X adding color to them.

Now i'm not sure anymore, the backgrounds do indeed look drab but that might be the result of the lower resolution.

And the fighter sprites do look better, but i clearly remember getting 32X MKII to work in an emulator that allowed for layer disable/enable.
and the 32X layer turned off the backgrounds.

Cant check with my current setup, since GENS GS does not seem to support 32X MKII.

Now i'm going to bed, hope to come here tomorrow and find out what was really going on in 32X Primal Rage/MKII.

[Cornholio857]

I've tested this. I've hooked up the 32X BUT ran the AV out through the Genesis. Not the 32X. All that appeared was the backgrounds, sound effects and music. No character sprites. Same with PR 32X. On the story screens for both, they are handled by the 32X. Thus, when I did this test, the screen went black when the story screens should have appeared.

[Cornholio857]

One of the funiest Fatalities ever at 1:06

[Guntz]

As quoted by Guntz, my sealed copy of PR 32X, bought for $10 back in January 2008, has been passed around like a cheap hooker here amongst Sega-16 denizens in the last year.

And here I am to leave a post in this thread so everyone can see your quote and perhaps even read through that original thread (though there isn't much to see).

I notice this review is for the Genesis version of PR. Does this mean the 32X version is still up for grabs?

[Myrkwood]

Just as a note the picture on the homepage still shows Chuck Rock as apposed to Primal Rage.

[Obviously]

I've tested this. I've hooked up the 32X BUT ran the AV out through the Genesis. Not the 32X. All that appeared was the backgrounds, sound effects and music. No character sprites. Same with PR 32X. On the story screens for both, they are handled by the 32X. Thus, when I did this test, the screen went black when the story screens should have appeared.

I thought the sprite layer was missing for all games if you don't have the cable attached.

[Cornholio857]

I thought the sprite layer was missing for all games if you don't have the cable attached.

For most games, yes. Most of the games I've done this test on yields alot of the same results. Genesis handles BGs while the 32X handles the character sprites. When I did that test on MK2 32X, it was like "Invisible Kombat". Everything "worked" as usual. But the character sprites were missing.

[shinobimusashi]

I am a fool for claymation(especially in the movie Evil Dead!), the clay characters in the MK games were awesome, with Primal Rage we got an entire cast of awesome looking claymation beasts fighting each other, which was very awesome to look at, but not all that much fun to play.

I do remember when Primal Rage was the shit in the arcades, very popular in my region in skating rings, malls, and convenient stores.

I wish claymation wouldve been used more often in 2d video games.(for the record, I do think clayfighter sucks)