Bloody Roar
Encyclopedia
is a series of fighting games created by Hudson Soft
, and developed together with Eighting. The series has been published by multiple companies, including, Virgin Interactive
, Activision
and Konami
.
Hudson Soft
later became a subsidiary of Konami
.
, but not just with the mind-set of a wolf). The game would appear under the name "Bloody Roar" when ported to the PlayStation
in 1998, which would become the permanent title thereafter. There are three Bloody Roar sequels, plus a game based on a sidestory set between 3 and 4 on the Nintendo GameCube
which was later ported to the Xbox
.
The following is a complete list of the games in the series:
The gameplay experience of Bloody Roar is a combination of classic and current style side scrolling fighting games. such as Tekken
, Soul Calibur
, Guilty Gear
and Street Fighter
. Although some of the characters have remained almost identical through all 4 games others have changed completely. For example Yugo has a completely different move set in the fourth title compared to his original in the first and Bakuryu has stayed almost the same apart from a few extras which are relevant to the games evolution over time and generations.
Characters in Bloody Roar have command moves and standard moves. Standard moves are the combination style moves from more simplistic games such as Tekken, where the player must press different buttons to create "combos", sometimes pressing the directional pad in one of the eight directions at the same time. Command moves are special moves that require a rolling technique and inputting certain commands with the directional pad, like Street Fighter
. Each character has around 14 "suggested" combination techniques listed in the manual, most of these can be varied into many different ways, allowing nearly 40 - 70 combination techniques with each character. Every character also comes with at least 8 command moves, which can be incorporated into cancel points in these standard moves or combos. These cancel points from character to character can be around 20 - 40 in each character's combo palette. These cancel points, when utilized with command moves, can then be canceled once more, allowing the player to begin a new strategy with adequate timing. As well as this, the combat system has 3 types of dodging techniques, a heavy and light block that spans over 3 parts of the body, instead of the typical 2 in most fighting games, and "scratch" techniques, which can break guards from dead angles and a series of command counters, throws and vanishing attacks. Bloody Roar 4, the latest game in the series, may be the most complex of the series, with the largest fighter roster of 17 characters, and the ability to earn more moves by earning experience in "Career mode". However, since the Bloody Roar games have a steep difficulty curve and tend to lack any tutorials, this depth is largely unknown, and the games have drawn criticism as "button mashers".
drawn by Maruyama Tomowo. It was originally published in Monthly Shōnen Jump
. A few themes were used from the games but the scenarios and characters in Maruyama's version were completely new, though a few of his characters looked a lot like the original game characters. The main stars of the manga were a loner wolf zoanthrope, Fang, and a rabbit girl named Mashiro. Their adventures had them fighting out of control beast men and trying to stop an evil creature being released by the gathering of talismans. The manga was released in two volumes during 2001.
In the first three games, artwork by artist
Naochika Morishita
, also known as CARAMEL MAMA, was used for concept artwork and in game cut scenes.
For their 2000 single "My Console," the Italian eurodance group Eiffel 65
include Bloody Roar along with several other popular PlayStation titles in the song's lyrics.
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
, and developed together with Eighting. The series has been published by multiple companies, including, Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
, Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
and Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
.
Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
later became a subsidiary of Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
.
Information
The series began in 1997 under the name Beastorizer. The game's theme incorporated anthropomorphism, where the player has the ability to transform into a half-human, half-animal creature known as a Zoanthrope (The name came from the clinical term, 'zoanthropy', which is similar to that of lycanthropyLycanthropy
Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...
, but not just with the mind-set of a wolf). The game would appear under the name "Bloody Roar" when ported to the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
in 1998, which would become the permanent title thereafter. There are three Bloody Roar sequels, plus a game based on a sidestory set between 3 and 4 on the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
which was later ported to the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
.
The following is a complete list of the games in the series:
| Title | Year | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Beastorizer/Bloody Roar/Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel Bloody Roar (video game) , known as Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel in Europe, is a fighting video game originally developed by Raizing as an arcade game. It was later adapted for the PlayStation by Hudson Soft and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. The arcade version was released on July 7, 1997... |
1997 | Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... , PlayStation PlayStation The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000... |
| Bloody Roar 2 Bloody Roar 2 Bloody Roar II, is a brawler arcade game developed by Eighting/Raizing in 1999.... |
1999 | Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... , PlayStation PlayStation The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000... |
| Bloody Roar 3 Bloody Roar 3 Bloody Roar 3 is a brawler arcade video game developed by Eighting and Hudson Soft. It is the first of the series to appear on the PlayStation 2... |
2000 | Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... , PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... |
| Bloody Roar: Primal Fury/Bloody Roar: Extreme Bloody Roar: Primal Fury Bloody Roar: Primal Fury, also known as Bloody Roar: Extreme on the Xbox and the Japanese GameCube version, is a fighting video game developed by Eighting and published by Hudson Soft in 2002, and later the same year by Activision in North America and in the PAL region... |
2002 | GameCube Nintendo GameCube The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia... , Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... |
| Bloody Roar 4 Bloody Roar 4 Bloody Roar 4, is a fighting game developed by Eighting/Hudson Soft in 2003. It is the second game in the series to appear on the PlayStation 2 and the only game in the series to have received an M rating by ESRB due to the blood effects.-Gameplay:... |
2003 | PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... |
Gameplay
Bloody Roar has kept somewhat the same controls over the series. A button each for both punch and kick, the beast (transform/attack) button and a fourth button that has been either a throw button, a block button, an evade button (Introduced for some characters in Bloody Roar 4) and a rave button (An early version of the hyper beast in Bloody Roar 1 only)The gameplay experience of Bloody Roar is a combination of classic and current style side scrolling fighting games. such as Tekken
Tekken (video game)
Tekken is a fighting game and is the first of the series. It was released at arcades in late 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995. A simplified "arcade" version of the game was later released in Tekken 5s Arcade History mode. It was developed and published by Namco...
, Soul Calibur
Soul Calibur
is a 3D, weapons-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and produced by Namco. It is the second game in the Soul series, preceeded by Soul Edge. It was released in arcades in 1998, and it ran on the Namco System 12 hardware. In 1999 it was ported to the Dreamcast with improved graphics and...
, Guilty Gear
Guilty Gear
is a series of sprite-based competitive fighting games by Arc System Works and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. It is popular with fans for its detailed anime-style graphics, original characters, hard rock/heavy metal soundtrack, unique gameplay, and its numerous references to rock and heavy...
and Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
. Although some of the characters have remained almost identical through all 4 games others have changed completely. For example Yugo has a completely different move set in the fourth title compared to his original in the first and Bakuryu has stayed almost the same apart from a few extras which are relevant to the games evolution over time and generations.
Characters in Bloody Roar have command moves and standard moves. Standard moves are the combination style moves from more simplistic games such as Tekken, where the player must press different buttons to create "combos", sometimes pressing the directional pad in one of the eight directions at the same time. Command moves are special moves that require a rolling technique and inputting certain commands with the directional pad, like Street Fighter
Street Fighter
, commonly abbreviated as SF, is a series of Fighting Games developed in Japan in which the players pit the video games' competitive fighters from around the world, each with his or her own unique fighting style, against one another...
. Each character has around 14 "suggested" combination techniques listed in the manual, most of these can be varied into many different ways, allowing nearly 40 - 70 combination techniques with each character. Every character also comes with at least 8 command moves, which can be incorporated into cancel points in these standard moves or combos. These cancel points from character to character can be around 20 - 40 in each character's combo palette. These cancel points, when utilized with command moves, can then be canceled once more, allowing the player to begin a new strategy with adequate timing. As well as this, the combat system has 3 types of dodging techniques, a heavy and light block that spans over 3 parts of the body, instead of the typical 2 in most fighting games, and "scratch" techniques, which can break guards from dead angles and a series of command counters, throws and vanishing attacks. Bloody Roar 4, the latest game in the series, may be the most complex of the series, with the largest fighter roster of 17 characters, and the ability to earn more moves by earning experience in "Career mode". However, since the Bloody Roar games have a steep difficulty curve and tend to lack any tutorials, this depth is largely unknown, and the games have drawn criticism as "button mashers".
Characters
The following is a complete list of available characters in each game.| Bloody Roar | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | PF | EX |
| Alice | ||||||
| Bakuryū | ||||||
| Busuzima | ||||||
| Cronos | ||||||
| Gado | ||||||
| Ganesha | ||||||
| Greg | ||||||
| Fang | ||||||
| Fox | ||||||
| Jenny | ||||||
| Kōryū | ||||||
| Long | ||||||
| Mana | ||||||
| Mitsuko | ||||||
| Nagi | ||||||
| Reiji | ||||||
| Ryōho | ||||||
| Shenlong | ||||||
| Shina | ||||||
| Stun | ||||||
| Uranus | ||||||
| Uriko | ||||||
| Xion | ||||||
| Yūgo |
Other media
Bloody Roar was adapted into a mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
drawn by Maruyama Tomowo. It was originally published in Monthly Shōnen Jump
Monthly Shonen Jump
is a now defunct monthly shōnen manga magazine published in Japan by Shueisha from 1970 to 2007 under the Jump line of magazines. It was the sister magazine to Weekly Shōnen Jump.- History :...
. A few themes were used from the games but the scenarios and characters in Maruyama's version were completely new, though a few of his characters looked a lot like the original game characters. The main stars of the manga were a loner wolf zoanthrope, Fang, and a rabbit girl named Mashiro. Their adventures had them fighting out of control beast men and trying to stop an evil creature being released by the gathering of talismans. The manga was released in two volumes during 2001.
In the first three games, artwork by artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
Naochika Morishita
Naochika Morishita
Naochika Morishita is a freelancer illustrator, also known as CARAMEL MAMA. Most of his famous artworks are Bloody Roar , Gundam products, Rangers Strike illust cards and some more.-External links:...
, also known as CARAMEL MAMA, was used for concept artwork and in game cut scenes.
For their 2000 single "My Console," the Italian eurodance group Eiffel 65
Eiffel 65
Eiffel 65 is an Italian three-piece group formed in the late 1990s and best known for pioneering in pitch-correction and autotune, and for their international hit "Blue ". Their other hit singles include "Move Your Body" and "Too Much of Heaven", all of which appeared on their album Europop,...
include Bloody Roar along with several other popular PlayStation titles in the song's lyrics.