The real question is does Primal Rage count as a good or bad MK rip off game?
Primal Rage was originally developed by Atari Games. Who later go on to making Mace: The Dark Age. Sometime in between both of these games, Midway Games bought Atari Games. Thus, Primal Rage goes from being like most rip off games to being more of an in company rip off game. Technically the first of a handful of them.
What I meant by that is most MK rip offs are not owned by Midway obviously lol. Only Primal Rage, War Gods, Mace: The Dark Age and Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. ended up in a rather unusual class. But only Primal Rage had short lived success. It may not last longer than a few years. Primal Rage did get some nice stuff during that period.
Stuff as toys, I recall owning one of these as a kid myself. There was also comics, oddly Mortal Kombat had a short comic book life itself. Primal Rage got directly referenced in an episode of Dexter's Lab. The same episode that became a full on Tron inspired episode. Just like Mortal Kombat, you have seven playable characters with one of them being an female.
Oh wait, it gets more interesting Probe who ported the first two Moral Kombat games to several consoles. Also ported Primal Rage to some of the same consoles too. It is no secret, one addition was added referencing Probe's president as a easter egg. Primal Rage plays heavily on a god theme. It's more of giant monsters fighting for the title as well as territories than actual gods.
Of course, just like MK series you got finishers that kills your opponent. I am still surprised Chaos was given one of the absolute most disgusting finishers in fighting game history. In more recent years, MK series has done some truly disgusting finishers themselves. But how often do you hear pee was used a weapon in a fighting game?
Not often at all, Chaos literately let it flood decaying your opponent's flesh completely. I am amazed most platforms actually kept this particular finisher in. But Nintendo had a weird history with allowing blood & violence in their video games during the 90s. On Game Boy port, Chaos' animation for it got change to him constantly spitting instead.
The single worst change was on SNES version. Where he suddenly goes his winning pose with a censor suddenly comes on your screen. However about simply replacing the finisher instead of ruining it. There's a interesting variety among the stages. I should mention, there are a few versions of this game.
This is something that gets heavily overlooked or people aren't even aware of it. Some arcade games gets an update or a couple. My point is the final version added an combo system as well as more finishers. Primal Rage almost gotten a sequel at one point. There was an author who wrote up that game's story in the form of a book.
I remembered as a kid going to a store nearby a flea market. I ended up leaving this particular store with the Genesis port. But I also recall playing the arcade version directly at a place that used to be a bowling alley. Later on, through Midway Arcade Treasures 2 I got to revisit this game. In a way, it's a huge honor being in the same compilation with Mortal Kombat 2 & 3 respectively.
Primal Rage got a mixed reception among ports with one of the biggest complaints being the controls. I haven't played enough versions to clarify how much that holds up. Clearly, most MK rip off games didn't go far at all. I'm amazed some of them got sequels. But Primal Rage was the third most successful MK rip off game behind Sega's Eternal Champion series & Rare's Killer Instinct series.
Although, I would still call WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game a MK rip off for a few reasons. Also another one I personally recommend you should give a try. Now I am not saying Primal Rage is better than MK series because it isn't. I do like the concept of dinosaurs & giant apes fighting each other.
I just felt Primal Rage for whatever reason was quickly dropped in popularity. Which eventually happened to Mortal Kombat 4 during it's arcade run. Regardless, I personally can't call Primal Rage a bad MK rip off game. For starters, it clearly got more on consoles than most of them. Also it was lucky enough to get a short lived comic book series as well as a reference on Dexter's Lab.
Also, all playable characters had to be done in stop motion. This is the same technique used to make characters like Goro, Kintaro & Shao Kahn possible in those games. Some of my favorite characters are Blizzard, Chaos and Sauron. I also liked the endings do explain more about each character. Primal Rage did use an excuse to fight all the characters again.
Originally, there was going to be a final boss but he was too big while being short on time to finish the game. They chose to going this route with the characters instead. In the arcade version, you can actually continue as much as you want during this final match. Parts of the theme doesn't come off like what you would expect from MK series.
Primal Rage is a fighting game that ultimately caught people off guard. It was a play on dinosaurs fighting each other or giant monsters in general. Back then, stuff like Rampage World Tour was close to being release a few years later. There was a case with a mom who got upset over Chaos' pee finisher.
By the way, she made it public the popularity it once had was already nearly gone. To clarify, this isn't a bad game. I felt it is a interesting piece of history. Primal Rage does surprisingly connect to the original Mortal Kombat game in a few ways. I wouldn't say it was ripping it off or change it slightly either.
The story involves a meteor that changed the world to virtually going back to the Stone Age style period. No time manipulation in any form was not used here. Mortal Kombat did get Animalities that wasn't because of games like Primal Rage. It is just mind blowing, it had a particular finisher so disgusting.
It took the MK team a long time to attempt doing the impossible. Primal Rage plays on giant scale fights that sorta plays onto MK's multiverse concept. This game was on a lot of the same platforms that had Mortal Kombat games. In that regard, I have to give it respect. Sure, it didn't go further than a game.
At the same time, Primal Rage is worthy enough to not being called a cheap knock off of MK series. I can also say you can stun during matches. I did like you see a heart as well as a brain on both sides of the screen. All the finishers are beautifully done for the most part. I wouldn't be surprised when Animalities returns they reference this game.
Final results is Primal Rage actually a good MK clone game in it's own right.
One more thing, there's a movie called Primal Rage. It has absolutely nothing to do with this video game. Just letting you know in the event you end up watching it. Especially you still hold onto your passion for this somewhat forgotten classic fighting game.
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