Mortal Kombat was released by its makers NetherRealms studios in 1992 that became the highest-grossing media fighting franchise of all times. It topped graphic violence, Fatalities, and enough controversies to leave their audience wanting more.
Now, Primal Rage, produced in 1994, became the trendiest prospect available then but did its demise have anything to with the competition generated between it and Mortal Kombat?
Primal Rage worked on the already popular premises of Mortal Kombat; imitating their fighting style and spectacle, introducing a minor twist through their cast by making an appearance of gods, dinosaurs, and apes, fighting for a post-apocalyptic Earth called “Urth”.
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Primal Rage walked smoothly on the path laid down by Mortal Kombat and featured digitized fighters but unlike Mortal Kombat, their fighters were not martial artists but airbrushed armature models, brought to life through animation.
Primal Rage was an immediate success and was on the top of 1994’s arcade games with its merchandise selling everywhere in demand. They were also signed to be featured in an animated series and live-action movie.
Primal Rage 2 was announced but never released to the disappointment of the fans despite the maker of the game trying its best.
Primal Rage was ready to come out with a bang with a massive change in the cast featuring gigantic humans called Avatars, standing in for original’s gods; the gods were still playable though for the sake of the huge success of the first part. the number of playable characters was increased to which turned out to be a problem. Each character demanded a large amount of data which had to be met at all costs.
This arcade version was supposed to be released by 1996, but due to the lack of time and excess efforts to be put into the creation of every character, the market feedback turned out to be very poor. It failed at the hands of corporate machinations and was bought by the makers of Mortal Kombat thus putting a stop to the future of Primal Rage.
Primal Rage was not something new, innovative and appealing to the company that had already produced Mortal Kombat and Killer Instincts. They, instead, focused on eliminating competition and never initiated that development of a beloved show.
