Bloody Roar (video game)

Bloody Roar, known as Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel in Europe and Japan, is a fighting video game originally developed by Raizing (now Eighting) 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 and was titled Beastorizer in North America. The PlayStation version was released in Japan on November 6, 1997, in North America (under the title Bloody Roar) on October 31, 1997 and in Europe in March 1998.
Bloody Roar is the first game in the Bloody Roar video game series and was followed by four sequels on multiple platforms. The game's story centers on a group of warriors known as "zoanthropes", who have the power to transform into half-human half-animal "Beasts", and the Tylon Corporation, an underground organization that seeks to use zoanthropes as mind-controlled weapons. The game received generally positive reviews from critics for its originality and graphics, while the audio received mixed opinions. The game's success resulted in its re-release for The Best range on October 14, 1999. The game was re-released on the PlayStation Network in North America on August 20, 2009.
== Description ==
Bloody Roar is a fighting game with a twist. At the press of a button, the player character changes into a beast of unique strength and ability over the character's normal attacks. Each character has their own beast to transform into, and most battles come down to how the player uses this transformation to their advantage.
The game features over-the-top special moves and combos in a 3D-like atmosphere.
== Gameplay ==
Screenshot of the arcade version
At the beginning of each stage, both players have a set amount of energy that is used to activate "Beast Mode", which causes the character to change into a Beast. Players may transform at any time after the letter "B" appears in the "Beast Indicator" below the players' life energy indicators. The Beast Indicator appears blue when storing the energy needed for transforming. When the Beast Indicator is fully charged, the word "BEAST" appears, and the player can activate Beast Mode by pressing a certain button. During Beast Mode, the amount of fighting moves available to the character increases, the character becomes heavier, 3% of the character's life energy recovers and the character's jumping ability increases. While in Beast Mode, the Beast Indicator turns yellow. The yellow area decreases according to damage sustained by the character. The yellow area does not recharge during the current round. When the yellow area completely depletes, the Beast Mode will negate when the character is hit by an effective technique from the opponent.
== Story and characters ==
"The unrelenting call of the wild courses through my body. The tremble of these fingers cannot be stopped. The real me...The facade of﻿ a man crumbles and my true self awakens with a primal scream."
There are people known as Zoanthropes that have the ability to transform themselves into animal hybrids at their will. Tylon, a bio-corporation, experiments on Zoanthropes in an attempt to turn them into military weapons. The multinational organization uses its creations as advanced troops in global military invasions.
Yugo, a wolf Zoanthrope, is trying to avenge his father who was previously killed in a war against Tylon. In his journey, he meets Gado, an old comrade in the arms of his father. Together they promise to destroy Tylon, liberate all the hostages, and put an end to Tylon's brutal experiments.
However, It's not counting on Uriko, the secret weapon of Tylon. Uriko is a young girl who was brainwashed by the corporation and with the power to transform herself into a powerful Zoanthrope, the Chimera. The battle against Uriko has proven difficult but Yugo was not only supported by Gado but, also, Alice, a previous hostage of Tylon who knew Uriko before her brainwashing, and Mitsuko, Uriko's mother. As they teamed up, Yugo, Gado, Mitsuko, and Alice succeed to restore Uriko's conscience and freeing her.
Following this victory, Gado annihilates the Tylon HQ and reveals to the world their experiment but also the existence of the Zoanthropes, introducing the humanity into a new era.
Yūgo Ōgami (大神勇吾, Ōgami Yūgo) is a young wolf zoanthrope on a quest to uncover the circumstances of his father's death. His father, Yūji Ōgami (大神勇二, Ōgami Yūji), was a mercenary said to have died in combat in a South American country. Yūgo also seeks the mercenary Gadou, the sole survivor of Yūji's combat unit. Yūgo and Gadou eventually meet in a secret Tyron Corporation laboratory, where Gadou reveals that Yūji was a zoanthrope who fought against the Tyron Corporation's mind control experiments and conversion process. Yūgo then promises his father that he will destroy their enemies with the powers that he inherited from him.
Alan Gadou (アラン・ガドウ, Aran Gadō) is a French lion zoanthrope, a professional mercenary and military genius who took part in a mission with his best friend and Yūgo's father, Yūji, years ago. On that day, his union of armies was crushed by a combined force of superior zoanthropes and a hostile army that appeared out of nowhere. Gadou was seriously injured in the battle and lost his sight in one eye. Afterward, he went off to search for Yūji and discover the identity of the enemy. At the end of the game, he destroys the Tyron Corporation, finally exacting revenge for Yūji. After Gadou's arrest, police discover the Tyron Corporation's secret lab and accumulate enough evidence against the Tyron Corporation to drop charges against Gadou. Afterward, desiring the thrill of battle, Gadou returns to the battlefield and promises Yūji that they will meet again in the heavens.
Bakuryū (バクリュウ, Bakuryū) is a mole zoanthrope and a self-styled master of the traditional ninja arts. His personal details are veiled in secrecy and his existence is a mystery. An expert in assassination, he was enlisted in an infamous underground organization and put in charge of sabotage and the abduction of zoanthropes for experimentation. After the events of the story, Bakuryū's molecules destabilize, causing his body to completely decompose. As a result, the scientists of the Tyron Corporation decide to concentrate their efforts on a new conversion process.
Mitsuko Nonomura (野々村光子, Nonomura Mitsuko) is a wild sow zoanthrope and everyday housewife with a massive body and generous nature. After her daughter (who is also a zoanthrope) was abducted, she went on a quest to find her, the only clue being the kidnapper's steely eyes and insanely sardonic grin. At the end of the game, she discovers her daughter Uriko and brings her home, where they lead a peaceful life.
Jin Long (進龍, Jin Ron) is a Chinese tiger zoanthrope who curses his fate and zoanthrope blood. When he was a child, his mother and younger sister died one after the other. Neglected by his workaholic father, Long ran away from his home. Afterward, his great skills in the martial arts and zoanthrope powers brought him recognition, and he was enlisted by an underground assassination unit. After the events of the story, Long seals himself away from the world due to his zoanthrope blood.
Alice Tsukagami (塚神アリス, Tsukagami Arisu) is a rabbit zoanthrope who was kidnapped as a child by a secret research institution that conspired to use zoanthropes as weapons. After being subjected to physical experimentation, her latent powers were awakened, after which she was used as a test subject and given battle training. However, she managed to escape the institution before being brainwashed, earning herself the freedom she had long sought. While hiding herself to regain her composure, she began to worry about a girl that Alice befriended in the institution. Because the girl sacrificed herself by distracting Alice's pursuers during her escape, Alice decided to come out of hiding and fight against the institution. After the events of the story, Alice is adopted by her aunt Mitsuko and lives a peaceful life as a part of her family.
Gregory Jones (グレゴリー・ジョーンズ, Guregorī Jōnzu) (Greg (グレッグ, Gureggu) for short) is an American gorilla zoanthrope who, in his youth, fulfilled his hope of running away to join a circus. Having a great talent for handling animals, he later took charge of the circus after the ringmaster retired. But with the rapid changes in the entertainment industry, the circus eventually went bankrupt and its members parted ways. After the events of the story, Greg tries to talk Yūgo into joining his circus and becoming their new star performer in an attempt to avert the circus's closure, but is eventually convinced into being the star himself.
Hans Taubemann (ハンス・ターブマン, Hansu Tābuman) (nicknamed Fox (フォックス, Fokkusu)) is an English fox zoanthrope with a warped mind and heightened aesthetic sense. He is obsessed with beauty and despises ugly things, boasting of his good looks and publicly declaring all else ugly. Abandoned as a child and raised in the slums, he grew up into a well-known scoundrel. He earned the nickname of Fox from his wariness and cruelty in beating up even the very weakest. He works for the Organization in the same unit as Bakuryū and engages in such activities as kidnapping and murder. After the events of the story, Fox kills another civilian, but is shocked to discover that it is his own mother.
== Development ==
Bloody Roar was originally released as an arcade game titled Beastorizer in America, and was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo under the title. The visual design of the game was created by Mitsuakira Tatsuta (who also designed the characters of the game) and Shinsuke Yamakawa. The arcade soundtrack was composed by Atsuhiro Motoyama, Kenichi Koyano, Manabu Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata and Tomoko Miyagi, and published in 1997 by Wonder Spirits. The soundtrack of the PlayStation version was composed by Takayuki Negishi, who also would compose Bloody Roar 3. Bloody Roar was re-released on the PlayStation Network in North America on August 20, 2009.
Bloody Roar was originally developed as an arcade game. It was later adapted for the PlayStation. The arcade version was released on July 7, 1997, and was titled Beastorizer in North America. The housing in which the arcade game's hardware resided was a horizontal cabinet type.
The Arcade appears totally the same as Bloody Roar, but with simplified screens and credits and a unique mode arcade with the possibility for a second player to interrupt and oppose the first player.
The controls, however, are a slight bit more complicated and should be cell to an 8-way joystick and 6 buttons. Though some machines are said to have only 3 buttons since the original "Grab/ Throw" move was just the "P+K" combination.
Many attack properties and strings differ from Bloody Roar in Beastorizer which has also no Rave or canceling systems making it a much more straight forward and simpler game than its counterpart.
Eventually, the game did in fact change its name to "Bloody Roar", supposedly due to more proper translation purpose.
=== PS one Classics ===
Bloody Roar was later released as a PS one Classics on the PlayStation Network (PSN)  on the Japanese (on April 30, 2008) and the North American (on August 20, 2009) markets. This re-release gives the opportunity to download Bloody Roar from the PlayStation Store for play on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable (but it is not compatible with PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV like other PS one Classics).
== Reception ==
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator 	Score
GameRankings	78%
Review scores
Publication 	Score
EGM 	8/10
GamePro 	5/5
GameSpot 	7.7/10
IGN 	8/10
Next Generation	4 stars
OPM (US) 	3.5/5
PSM 	4/5
Bloody Roar received generally positive reviews from critics, and its success resulted in its re-release for The Best range on October 14, 1999.
Sushi-X of Electronic Gaming Monthly said that the game's visuals "definitely look good, but to see these characters engage in flashy combat is even more impressive." Douglass Perry of IGN noted that the graphics had "great shadows" and "detailed textures in both the background and on the characters", but added that while the character design was "cool-looking", it was not "addictive or moving". Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot stated that the game's graphics were "every bit as good as the arcade version".
Perry noted that the "high frame rates and a speedy graphic engine enable moves to be executed quickly and without wait." Gerstmann said that the game "runs fast and very smoothly" and that the game's moves are "very dynamic, resulting in a lot of oohs and aahs as a wolf bites a chunk out of his opponent's neck and blood spurts everywhere, splattering on the ground."
Perry admitted that he "actually [liked] half of the tunes, while half of them sound like they've been ripped off from forgettable '80s heavy metal tunes." On the voice acting, he noted that the only character sounds he found annoying were those from the character Alice, comparing her to both a "broken record" and Demonica from the Nintendo 64 video game Dark Rift. Gerstmann passed the music off as "typical fighting game fare", but said that the sound effects were "really great".
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Overall, Bloody Roar has solid gameplay and excellent graphics, even if it doesn't have any sense of style. And we'll take raw gameplay over style on any day."
== Legacy ==
=== Who Framed Miku Web-Media Universe ===
25 years after the game released of Bloody Roar, Since the developer went ceased and offline cultures from the Bloody Roar franchise, Long abandoned fighting game genre, Uriko The Chimera is the name of the boss characters from Bloody Roar 1, It picks up character creation became the obscure legends assets, It seems that the young adulthood figure awaited from 25 years from the secret laboratory, But she has a shapeshifting into child forms and normal forms retains of gimmicks abilities characters design, She has a pure-light and classes with electricity powers for super girl soldiers to keep her living in Matrix Reality. 
== Notes and Trivia ==
* It was the only game in the series that included characters vomiting if they took a heavy blow to the stomach.
* Uriko was only playable by using a cheat.
* Alice had a secret school girl costume, obtainable by beating arcade mode at difficulty level 6 without losing a battle.
* This was the only game that had Bakuryu (The old man version), Greg, Mitsuko and Fox as playable characters.
* In the Art Gallery, we can see some unused characters like a Blond woman cat Zoanthrope, an Native American bull Zoanthrope, ... See the Official Artwork session for the pictures in question.
* By inserting the Playstation disc into a normal CD player and skipping to the second track 2, the CD will play the Bloody Roar main theme.
== Gallery ==
Arcade Screenshot
PlayStation 1 Screenshot
== Development Crew ==
* Bloody Roar (video game) Credits Crew
** Arcade Credits
** PlayStation 1 Credits
== External links ==
* Beastorizer at the Killer List of Videogames
* Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel at the Killer List of Videogames
* Bloody Roar at MobyGames
Category:1997 video games
Category:Bloody Roar
Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games
Category:PlayStation (console) games
Category:Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Category:Video games developed in Japan
Category:Video games scored by Atsuhiro Motoyama
Category:Video games scored by Hitoshi Sakimoto
Category:Video games scored by Manabu Namiki
Category:Video games scored by Takayuki Negishi
Category:3D fighting games
Category:Hudson Soft games
Category:Virgin Interactive games
Category:Eighting games
Category:Games about shapeshifting
Category:Games about human into animals
Category:Games created past before the Who Framed Miku