Once again emulation proves its worth as a necessary tool to preserving and unearthing video game history. Primal Rage 2, a fighting game that was never released and was thought to be more of an urban legend, is now fully playable via emulation.
Back in 1996, the sequel to the popular violent fighter that had dinosaurs taking on giant apes seemed like it was ready to take over arcades. However, while the game was pretty much completed, Midway had taken over Atari’s arcade developments. Since Primal Rage 2 was a direct competitor with Mortal Kombat, the project was regretfully cancelled, never to see the pleasant clink of quarters dropping into the slot. For years this game was a mystery, spoken of in whispers like many other retro gaming legends. Then it turned up as a fragmented rom on the internet in 2010.
Now, a special version of MAME called MAME4RAGE2 has been put together by talented hackers. This effort was initially held back by Primal Rage 2’s unique software and use of different arcade components. Basically, instead of running the whole image in real time, the developers were capable of running the first few frames of animation in the games RAM and key up further frames off the hard drive, all while the music and such were being streamed by the hard drive. Special hardware was created to achieve this marvel, something that few arcade machines at the time or even now have attempted. This is why it took over six years to finally replicate.
To see some gameplay footage, check out owlnonymous‘ video and commentary on the game.
Fans of Primal Rage may be a bit put off by its sequel. It’s really strange to see the dinosaur characters become transformations of humanoid giants. Filling a bar lets the player transform to their beast avatar for more devastating special moves and combos. This is all presented in a claymation style, in which the developers digitized poses of actual clay models for each frame, giving it a unique look. Even if the visuals are a little strange for my tastes, the gameplay seems to be solid as many fighting game fans have been enjoying it in the various communities I follow. If anything, the dinosaur forms are unlockable as full-playable characters.
What warms my heart is that this game’s story may never had been told, but is now playable for all to enjoy. Chris Tang, one of the lead developers of the game, even gave out some interesting information in an interview with RetroCollect. This is why emulation is so important to the history of games. There are so many worthwhile stories that need to be told and insightful games that need to be played. Knowing the history will enrich the paths of the future of gaming in ways that will make for more meaningful games.
We need that history if this medium is going to continue evolving in a way that literature and music has.
I have always been fascinated by the deepest reaches of gaming history, which is often how I come across these stories done by my fellow colleagues. Let’s keep digging! What other gems are out there, just waiting to be found? What more can we learn from our games? I will continue delivering my thoughts and findings here on Marooners’ Rock.
To play Primal Rage 2, check out this Reddit thread and this Assembler thread.
