is a series of
fighting games
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attac ...
created by
Hudson Soft
was a Japanese video game company that released numerous games for video game consoles, home computers and mobile phones, mainly from the 1980s to the 2000s. It was headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo ...
, and developed together with
Eighting
, stylized as 8ing, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formerly known as . It is known for its shoot 'em ups and its licensed fighting games.
History
Raizing and Eighting were formed in part by former staff of Compile, ...
. The series has been published by multiple companies, including
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...
,
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, and
Konami
, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...
. Konami holds the rights to the franchise after Hudson Soft was absorbed into the former company in 2012.
The series began in 1997 under the name ''
Beastorizer''. The game's theme incorporated
anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
, 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
Clinical lycanthropy is a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is, an animal. Its name is associated with the mythical condition of lycanthropy, a supernatural ...
', which is similar to that of
lycanthropy
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...
). The game would appear under the name "''Bloody Roar''" when ported to the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
in 1998, which would become the permanent title thereafter.
Games
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 the original ''Bloody Roar'' only).
The ''Bloody Roar'' series is a 3D fighting game in the same vein as ''
Tekken
is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The ...
'', ''
Dead or Alive'', ''
Soulcalibur
is a weapon-based fighting video game franchise by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
There are seven main installments of video games and various media spin-offs, including music albums and a series of manga books. The first game in the series, '' ...
'' and ''
Virtua Fighter
is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
''. Although some of the characters have remained almost identical through all four 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.
in ''Bloody Roar'' have command moves and standard moves. Standard moves are the combination style moves from games such as ''
Tekken
is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The ...
'', 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
, commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...
''. Each character has around fourteen "suggested" combination techniques listed in the manual, most of these can be varied into many different ways, allowing nearly forty to seventy combination techniques with each character. Every character also comes with at least eight 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 twenty to forty in each character's combo palette. These cancel points, when utilized with command moves, can then be cancelled once more, allowing the player to begin a new strategy with adequate timing. As well as this, the combat system has three types of dodging techniques: a heavy and light block that spans over three parts of the body, instead of the typical two in most fighting games; and "Scratch" techniques, which can break guards from dead angles and is 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 seventeen characters, and the ability to earn more moves by earning experience in "Career Mode".
Characters in the ''Bloody Roar'' series include:
* Introduced in ''
Bloody Roar
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. Konami holds the rights to the franchise aft ...
'': Yūgo, Alice, Long, Gado, Bakuryu (Ryūzō), Fox, Mitsuko, Greg, Uriko
* Introduced in ''
Bloody Roar II'': Stun, Shina, Jenny, Busuzima, Bakuryu (Kenji/Kakeru), Shenlong
* Introduced in ''
Bloody Roar 3
''Bloody Roar 3'' is a 2000 fighting arcade video game developed by Eighting and Hudson Soft. It is the first of the '' Bloody Roar'' series to appear on the Sony PlayStation 2.
Gameplay
The main feature of ''Bloody Roar 3'' is the ability t ...
'': Xion, Uranus, Kohryu
* Introduced in ''
Bloody Roar Primal Fury/Extreme'': Cronos, Ganesha, Fang
* Introduced in ''
Bloody Roar 4
''Bloody Roar 4'' is a fighting game developed by Eighting and Hudson Soft in 2003. It is the fifth of the ''Bloody Roar'' games as well as the second game in the series to appear on the PlayStation 2.
Gameplay
Like the previous games in the ser ...
'': Nagi, Reiji, Mana, Ryōhō
Other media
''Bloody Roar'' was adapted into a
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
drawn by Maruyama Tomowo. It was originally published in
Monthly Shōnen Jump
was a shōnen manga magazine which was published monthly in Japan by Shueisha from 1970 to 2007 under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. It was the sister magazine to ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''.
History
The ''Monthly Shōnen Jump'' magazine started ...
. 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
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
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
Eiffel 65 is an Italian music group that was formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin record company Bliss Corporation, consisting of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina and Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their singles " Blue (Da Ba ...
include Bloody Roar along with several other popular PlayStation titles in the song's lyrics.
Yūgo appears as a playable character in the 2003 crossover fighting game ''
DreamMix TV World Fighters
is a crossover fighting video game developed by Bitstep and published by Hudson for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 18, 2003. The game features characters from Hudson and Konami's video game series and Takara's toy lines.
G ...
''.
References
External links
Eighting site
{{Konami franchises
Video games about ninja
Video games about shapeshifting
Fighting games
Video game franchises
Konami franchises
Video game franchises introduced in 1997