Bloody Roar: Primal Fury

Fast and fluid hyper-beast fighting action.

The first traditional fighting game on GameCube, and this one is good fun. It’s the fourth game in the Bloody Roar series, and the first one to not be released in arcades. The series revolves around Zoanthropes, a human-like species with the ability to transform into animals such as tigers, elephants and rabbits – although they all walk on two feet like humans.

A core concept of the game is swapping between your human mode and your beast form to access different abilities, as well as using your hyper-beast mode, which is powerful but only lasts a short time. In terms of controls, Primal Fury is fairly simple, with just one button for punches and one button for kicks (unlike the usual three for each), which is probably why I can perform reasonably well at the game.

There aren’t a huge amount of modes, and still features the odd (to me) issue that you can’t select a specific fighter to be your opponent, but it’s still decent fun, and a good option for fighting games early in the GameCube’s life.

Fun

As far as platforms for beat-’em-ups are concerned, the N64 was a real stinker. Okay, so Fighter’s Destiny wasn’t too bad, and it did have a number of redeeming features, but it was still a far cry from the Soul Caliburs of this world. To add insult to injury it took over a year to make it to these shores, a sorry state of affairs that, thanks to Bloody Road, can never befall our beloved GameCube. What’s more, as luck would have it, it’s currently sitting on a shop shelf as we speak, and being the solitary fighter on launch day, it’s a good job that it isn’t half bad.

Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #68

Remake or remaster?

A Bloody Roar collection would be good.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Bloody Road: Primal Fury.

GameCube Games by Date

2001: Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

2007: Mar, Jun, Aug

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