The Bloody Roar series
ブラッディロア
Today we’re taking a look at the Bloody Roar series of fighting games created by Hudson Soft (later absorbed by Konami in early March 2012, and developed together with Eighting (Raizing at the time before Shinobu Yagawa, the programmer for Shoot ’em ups, left the company). The series has been published by multiple companies including Activision, Konami, and Virgin Interactive (now defunct). The series began in 1997 under the name Beastorizer. The game incorporates anthropomorphism as its main feature and theme, where the playable characters are Zoanthropes (the name comes from the clinical term, ‘zoanthropy’, which is similar to lycanthropy), humans who can transform into half-human, half-animal hybrid creatures (anthropomorphic animals). This form is called a beast form.
Bloody Roar / Beastorizer (NA arcade) / Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel (PAL/Japan PSX)
- Released on July 7, 1997 (Japan, arcades), Halloween 1997 (NA PSX), November 6, 1997 (Japan PSX), and March 1998 (PAL PSX)
- Composed by Atsuhiro Motoyama and Kenichi Koyano (arcade), Takayuki Negishi (PSX)
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.
Characters in this video game
- Yugo Ogami is a young wolf zoanthrope on a quest to uncover the circumstances of his father’s death. His father, Yuji Ogami, was a mercenary said to have died in combat in a South American country. Yugo also seeks the mercenary Gado, the sole survivor of Yuji’s combat unit. Yugo and Gado eventually meet in a secret Tylon Corporation laboratory, where Gadou reveals that Yuji was a zoanthrope who fought against the Tylon Corporation’s mind control experiments and conversion process.
- Alan Gado is a French lion zoanthrope, a professional mercenary and military genius who took part in a mission with his best friend and Yugo’s father, Yuji, 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. Gado was seriously injured in the battle and lost his sight in one eye. Afterward, he went off to search for Yuji and discover the identity of the enemy.
- Bakuryu I, real name Ryuzo Kato, is a mole zoanthrope and a self-styled master of the traditional ninja arts. His 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.
- Mitsuko Nonomura is a wild boar 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. She only made one playable appearance in the first game.
- Jin/Shin Long 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.
- Alice Nonomura (Alice Tsukagami in the first game) 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.
- Gregory Jones (Greg 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. He has not made any appearances after this video game.
- Hans Taubemann (nicknamed Fox) 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 has not made any appearances after this video game; the PAL versions use she/her pronouns, as opposed to the NA/JP versions where the character uses he/him pronouns since LGBTQ+ characters in media were frowned upon at the time.
Bloody Roar 2 / Bloody Roar 2: Bringer of the New Age (PAL/Japan) / Bloody Roar II: The New Breed (NA)
- Released in late 1998 for the Japanese and North American arcades, January 28, 1999 (Japan PSX), May 25, 1999 (NA PSX), and July 1999 (PAL PSX)
- Composed by Manabu Namiki, Kenichi Koyano, Masaharu Iwata, and Jin Watanabe (arcade), Takayuki Negishi (PSX)
Bloody Roar 2 is the sequel to the first Bloody Roar and the second installment of the Bloody Roar series. Just like its predecessor, every character has a beast form that can be used to initiate new attacks, recover some lost health, and generally be faster and/or more powerful with their attacks. In addition, the sequel introduces “Beast Drives”: super attacks that initiate a cutscene and inflict substantial damage towards the opponent, with each Beast Drive varying in uniqueness depending on the character.
New characters in this video game
- Bakuryu II (Kenji Ogami): A mole zoanthrope and successor to another mole zoanthrope with the same name. A ninja assassin formerly employed by Tylon Corporation as a weapon, he was found by Yugo Ogami during the events of the first game and adopted as his younger brother, being given the name Kenji.
- Uriko Nonomura: A cat zoanthrope half-beast. When she was a little child, she was kidnapped and brainwashed into a prototype of Uranus the Chimera by Tylon Corporation, where she served as the first game’s final boss. Although she was freed by her mother, Mitsuko, the experiment conducted on her had produced a weakening side effect, preventing her from turning into a full cat beast form. (Note: All of her outfits in BR3 and BR4 have Numbuh 3/Kuki Sanban-inspired oversized sleeves).
- Stun: An insect zoanthrope. A human named Steven Goldberg was employed as a scientist at Tylon Corporation alongside Hajime Busuzima but quit upon learning that his experiments used live zoanthrope subjects. Subsequently, Busuzima captured and turned him into a “man-made zoanthrope.”
- Jeanne “Marvel (Japan)/Shina (overseas)” Gado: A leopard zoanthrope. She is Alan Gado’s adopted daughter and follows his footsteps in becoming a mercenary. She was renamed Shina in the overseas versions possibly to avoid legal actions with Marvel Comics (both pre- and post-Disney).
- Jenny Burtory: A bat zoanthrope and a freelancer (Note: She predates Rouge the Bat from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise).
- Hajime Busuzima: A chameleon zoanthrope. He is a scientist intrigued by the power of zoanthropes.
- Shenlong: A tiger zoanthrope. He is a clone of Long used by Tylon Corporation as a weapon.
Five years after the events of the first game, the zoanthropes who had gotten involved in the conflict against the fallen Tyron Corporation have since resumed their normal and peaceful lives. However, the peace does not last long as a new threat emerges. With the revelation of the zoanthropes’ existence being made and known full well to the world, tensions and hostilities between humans and zoanthropes start to rise at an alarming and dangerous rate. The conflict gives birth to an organization called the Zoanthrope Liberation Front, or ZLF for short, which espouses zoanthrope supremacy, threatening both humans and non-member zoanthropes alike. Meanwhile, Alan Gado, a figure known for promoting understanding between zoanthropes and humans, becomes a fugitive for an unclear reason. Several rebel zoanthropes are thrown into a battle with the ZLF and Gado with the fate of the world at their hands.
Eventually, it is revealed that the ZLF’s supposed “leader”, Shenlong, is a puppet under the control of Hajime Busuzima, who masquerades as the group’s right-hand man. Although he manages to flee, the rebels can subdue Shenlong and disband the ZLF. Subsequently, the rebels are tasked by Gado, who became a fugitive merely to escape attention, to band together, and to create a movement to achieve peace and reconciliation between the zoanthropes and humans.
Bloody Roar 3 + Extreme/Primal Fury
- Released in December 2000 (arcades), March 1, 2001 (Japan), June 26, 2001 (North America), and August 24, 2001 (Europe)
- Composed by Takayuki Negishi, the same composer as the previous games (Hiromichi Furuya for Extreme/Primal Fury)
- The first game not to be composed by other people in the arcade version, and in the case of Extreme/Primal Fury, the first game to not be released on the PlayStation 2 and also not on the arcades
- The first game to be published by Activision in North America (including Extreme/Primal Fury) and the now-defunct Virgin Interactive in Europe (third game only)
- Extreme/Primal Fury was released on March 28, 2002 (North America), April 25, 2002 (Japan), and November 28, 2003 (Europe)
Bloody Roar 3 is the first of the Bloody Roar series to appear on the Sony PlayStation 2. The main feature of Bloody Roar 3 is the ability to transform into beasts, which is involved in all of the Bloody Roar games. Once the character transforms, they regain part of the health they have lost and become much stronger than before. Three new characters were added to the roster:
- Xion the Unborn is a cold and reserved Swedish man who plots to exterminate all other Zoanthropes. His Zoanthrope is the Unborn.
- Kohryu is a relentless machine modeled after the first Bakuryu, Ryuzo Kato. His Zoanthrope is the Iron Mole. (Unlockable)
- Uranus is a perfected clone of Uriko known as the strongest Zoanthrope. Her Zoanthrope is the Chimera. (Unlockable)
For Extreme/Primal Fury, while prior entries in the series were on Sony consoles, the decision was made to move to Nintendo’s GameCube primarily because of its hardware specifications. Kenji Fukuya, the series creator and the game’s director, cited the lighting and shading capabilities in particular as reasons that Extreme could become the best-looking Bloody Roar game. However, while the GameCube is capable of displaying games with progressive scan this feature ultimately was not included.
Extreme includes seven new arenas and three remodeled levels from Bloody Roar 3. In addition, all characters have different character models. While the controls largely remain the same, some characters have slightly altered move sets and combos so that players do not have to press two face buttons at the same time.
Bloody Roar 4
- Released on November 11, 2003 (North America), November 28, 2003 (PAL), and May 27, 2004 (Japan)
- ⚠️ WARNING! This game may not be suitable for anyone under 17/18 years old
Bloody Roar 4 is the fifth and final of the Bloody Roar games as well as the second game in the series to appear on the PlayStation 2. It is also the first game to have an “M” (mature) rating by the ESRB in North America as the characters speak during cutscenes. Like the previous games in the series, characters can transform into beasts during battle, using the beast gauge, slightly increasing their power. Unlike the other games, however, the beast gauge acts as its separate health meter. Four new characters are added to the roster:
- Nagi Kirishima, the Spurious: A human who becomes entangled with the zoanthrope conflict when Xion stabs her during his rampage on the dragon temple. The incident not only bequeathed her with Xion’s essence, thus branding her his clone, but also the power of Gaia, the Earth’s will who opposes Xion.
- Reiji Takigawa, the Crow: A former member of the Yatagarasu, a clan of crow zoanthropes protecting the dragon temple. He went fugitive after killing his father and became a hedonist who messes around with zoanthropes for fun.
- Ryoho and Mana: Two guardians of the dragon temple. Ryoho, whose real name is Rao Mamurasaki, is a priest who is secretly a vessel for Gaia’s dragon, whereas Mana is a young nine-tailed fox tasked to keep the dragon’s seal. In gameplay, the two work in tandem, with Mana serving as the zoanthrope transformation.
- Ryoho, the Dragon: The character is Ryoho after he is possessed by the dragon. He is no longer accompanied by Mana and instead has his zoanthrope transformation. No matter which difficulty the player chooses, Ryoho’s dragon form is very difficult to defeat normally without any chance to continue fighting him and requires tactics to defeat him in Arcade Mode.
The Japanese voice cast includes Akimitsu Takase as Yugo, Ruri Asano as Alice, Akira Ishida as Bakuryu, Yuki Hamano as Uriko, Kenji Hamada as Shenlong, Ayaka Kodama as Jenny, Akio Ōtsuka as Gado, Tōru Ōkawa as Stun, Shōto Kashii as Busuzima, Mitsuaki Madono as Xion, Nao Takamori as Nagi, Masakazu Suzuki as Reiji, Naomi Kusumi as Ryoho, Ema Kogure as Mana, Naoki Bandō as Long, Atsuko Tanaka as Marvel/Shina, Takeshi Aono (deceased April 9, 2012) as Kohryu and Eriko Fujimaki as Uranus.
The English voice cast includes Rob Narita as Yugo, Rumiko Varnes as Alice, Raj Ramayya as Bakuryu, Lynn Harris as Uriko, David Schaufele as Shenlong, Alison Noonan as Jenny, Murray Johnson as Gado, Ward Sexton as Stun, Micheal Rhys as Busuzima, Walter Roberts as Xion, Erica Ash as Nagi, Eric Kelso as Reiji, Angus Waycott as Ryoho, Helen Morrison as Mana, Chris Wells as Long, Karen Lee as Shina, Greg Irwin as Kohryu and Donna Burke as Uranus.
After this game, there were no more Bloody Roar games in development as some of the former Hudson Soft and Eighting employees have moved on. Konami Corporation, holding 53.99% of all Hudson stock, became Hudson’s majority shareholder and parent company. Hudson Soft continued to publish video games while working closely with Konami, who became Hudson’s distributor in Japan. Hudson Soft officially ceased to exist in March 2012 following a merger with Konami Digital Entertainment, as Konami now holds almost everything that Hudson Soft made. The main reason for the dissolution of Hudson Soft was the consolidation of the operations of Hudson and Konami into a single company.
That ends this article. While Konami still owns the Bloody Roar IP, the company has no intention of resurrecting the series, though Eighting still owns the Raizing era of video games.
