Primal Rage
A FAQ for the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Version
by Patrick Coffman
(
[email protected])
--Fourth Update--
Legalese: Don't spread this stuff around without my consent, alter it any
way, stuff like that. It's copyrighted to me and not for use by anyone
else, I suppose.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------
I. Introduction
A. Why?
B. Common Questions
C. Glitches & Fatal Errors
D. An Apology to OrochiJin
II. The Basics
A. Controls
B. Glossary
C. Combo Theory 101
D. Tiers (just to be silly)
E. Scoring
III. Moves Lists
A. Armadon
B. Blizzard
C. Chaos
D. Diablo
E. Sauron
F. Talon
G. Vertigo
IV. Strategies
A. Armadon
B. Blizzard
C. Chaos
D. Diablo
E. Sauron
F. Talon
G. Vertigo
V. Epilog (note ultra-modern "Streets of San Francisco" spelling)
VI. Quick Reference Appendix
================
I. INTRODUCTION
================
--------
A. WHY?
--------
Hello. Thank you for viewing my FAQ. It isn't a FAQ, really; that's a
list of frequently asked questions (hence the abbreviation--clever, eh?),
not just a moves list. However, for decades now, video game FAQs have
been "walkthroughs" and moves lists and such en verite' (pretention
intended), so, I suppose you should already be used to the misnomer.
I am Patrick Coffman. Some of you may know me as ThePatrick, Ryled, Max,
The Oblong, Mysterious Lion, or Reptile.
Or maybe not. You could, if you went on GameFAQs message boards.
Some of you may remember my other FAQs, such as the translations for Soul
Calibur, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, or all that other crap I've
obsessively turned out all these years.
Or maybe not. Probably not. You've got better things to do than sit
around, reading FAQs all the time. Yeah. Why do I think I am, anyway?
But maybe I digress. I dunno. I ramble around so much, I guess I don't
have a main point--or do I? (Insert cliche' soap opera chord here)
Oh wait--I do this time. I wrote this FAQ because I am one of the "old
school" video-game wizards, and I got Midway Arcade Treasures 2 in a fit
of nostalgia. On a side note, one should do well not to give in to such
things. But I digress again. As all you other millions of Primal Rage
fans out there noticed (yes, I'm sarcastic--pish! and tosh--yes, tosh!),
this one game turned out pretty far from the arcade. What a surprise,
since all three previous home releases of this game had been mangled in
one way or another.
This time, it wasn't for load times, or missing animations, however.
The game has had nearly of all its special moves replaced. I'll assume
that you were one of the college kids or middle schoolers who would hang
around in all the various places that housed fighting games in their hey
day, sitting around sighing and waiting for enough money to play them
again, or that you're one of the "new blood" who think that 2D fighting
games are all "retro" and such, so you know what special moves are.
There already is a FAQ for the special moves of this new version of
Primal Rage by OrochiJin. However, that moves list, at least right now
as I ramble out this FAQ, is incomplete and incorrect. That's probably
because, like me, Mr. OrochiJin has to pay for stuff in his life like
housing and food and insurance and what-not, and so, he and I both need
to work. See, it's hard for you young'uns to understand this, but it's
very hard for one to write and maintain FAQs when you don't have all day
to sit around and complain about needing to write one five-page paper
that's due in three months.
So forgive us. For now, all I can do is bring you this verbose FAQ
sans fancy ASCII art.
--------------------
B. COMMON QUESTIONS
--------------------
Q: Hey, you said this wasn't a FAQ, and yet there's a list of frequent-
ly asked questions right here. What gives?
A: Ha-ha! Yes! I have caught you in my evil trap!
Q: Why did Midway re-vamp the moves list?
A: I don't know. Supposedly, there were "errors" in the Primal Rage
code...to which one may ask, aren't there really errors in the Midway
Arcade Treasures 2 code, since it's just meant to be an emulation of
all these different games? Oh well, at least they did include ways to
perform all the moves. At first, I thought that they'd just left most
of the moves out. That wouldn't have been a good version of the game,
at all.
Q: Did they add anything to Primal Rage?
A: No.
Q: Why is the blood all screwy?
A: It's been a while, so my memory is cloudy, but I seem to recall that
the blood was an odd color unless you hit with heavy attacks in the
arcade version of Primal Rage also. I could be wrong, and it could be
that there was a DIP switch that would change it all to the deep red
color enjoyed in heavy attacks originally, and Midway left said switch
out of the options for Primal Rage. So, I guess I didn't really answer
your question. I feel so much like a U.S. president, now.
Q: Must I hold the buttons down to do the moves?
A: In the older arcade versions of Primal Rage, players were, indeed,
required to hold down whatever buttons and then do a joystick motion in
order for special moves to happen. In the "final" version of the game,
version 2.3 (from which the version in Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is
derived), you could do the motion and end it with the button tap a' la
every other fighting game in the universe save Weapon Lord as well as
do it the gimmicky Primal Rage way. But then, apparently, you wouldn't
be as primal, or something. Rarrgh! *Ahem*
Oh yeah, there are three exceptions. For some reason, Talon's finishing
move, "Heart Wrenching," does not work with the buttons held down. So,
for that one, you *don't* want to hold the buttons down. You must hit
the buttons with the last "forward" command; a' la every other fighting
game in the world, just about.
The other two must be done holding the buttons down. They are Diablo's
finishing move, "Infernal," and Blizzard's finisher, "Redemption." I
dunno why that is.
Q: How does one rage?
A: It's like, when you rage, you just gotta feel it, man. You may look
at the controller for a "rage" button--there is none. It's like, when
you put your leftovers in the microwave, and then when you take them
back out and it feels kinda warm, but it's still cold in the middle,
it's like, "Rage!"
Or when you go to button up your shirt, but then, you feel funny and you
mutter to yourself in inner discourse, "Did I miss a button?" But then
you find that a button was liberated at the laundrette and you're like,
"Rage!"
I know it's hard to convert this to the fighting game style, and you're
like, "I don't get it! It's--it's overwhelming me!" like you were trying
to finish Mozart's Requiem after his death in "Amadeus," but trust me,
with time and patience, you, too, will be able to hold your ground. One
day, you'll just turn the game on, pick a big, old, stupid-looking monster
at random, and go through it all on one credit. Then, you'll spot me a
ghostly, see-through apparition in the corner watching you, with my hands
resting on my belt in my weird Jedi robes, and we'll exchange knowing
nods.
Q: Why do those silly extras from History of the World Part I keep walking
in and bowing?
A: You may eat them for health. They offer themselves when their dubious
icon has landed a big combo or when he's been stunned.
Q: Are those damage figures in your moves list correct, without a shadow
of a doubt?
A: Not at all; these were just calculated out from messing around with the
game. I fear that the scale is actually not 150 damage points, but maybe
300; it would explain some funny business such as with Vertigo's standing
quick punch attack, which I think probably does 15/300 rather than 7.5
of 150. In most cases, the number is a half-step or so up or down, and
I haven't really bothered to go through and change all of them, yet. It
took some time to finagle those numbers, and much more time experimenting
is required, I fear.
Q: Why did my character freak out and do a bad loop of animation, make a
weird noise, and start flashing with some word under his name?
A: If one plays against a human opponent ("versus" battle, as it is
commonly called), and one of the characters is knocked down to under
25% health and gets knocked off their feet, this "rage" state will
occur. The name for the state is different for each character, and
they do enjoy invulnerability while "freaking out." During this state,
which is not permanent, they enjoy an added 20% to attacks and about
a 10% defensive boost.
Q: Are there finishing moves (a.k.a. "fatalities") in Primal Rage?
A: Yes. Just after you defeat a character, there should be a small window
of time in which to do it. Unlike the 2D Mortal Kombat games, you do not
have to stand at specific distances to do them; your character shall walk
over to the appropriate spot to kill the enemy or do whatever silly
nonsense they're supposed to do.
Q: When a move is listed as "down, forward," can I perform it as
"down, diagonally between down and forward, forward" like in Street
Fighter, etc?
A: Yes. Most moves in this version have been simplified, removing any
diagonals they may have had. This means that you can perform them as
half-circle or quarter-circle motions if you wish. Not sure why it's
like this; I remember only some of the moves were like that in the
arcade. But what good is memory, anyway?
Q: What are "named" combos?
A: Certain combos were named by Atari when they made this game, and upon
performing them, you shall see said names on the top of the screen in
red letters.
Q: Do some characters have health bonuses?
A: In some fighters, characters are either assigned different amounts of
health (such as in Tekken) or have the amounts of damage they normally
take modified (as in Street Fighter) depending on how "tough" they are
supposed to be. Heihachi in Tekken Tag Tournament has 138 health as
opposed to the standard 150, for instance, and Gouki takes extra damage
in Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
However, this kind of "balancing" doesn't happen in Primal Rage, which
can make little guys like Talon and Chaos quite obnoxious at times.
Q: Why are there so many different ways to jump?
A: That was en vogue at the time in fighting games. Capcom games such as
the so-called "versus" series (X-Men vs. Street Fighter et al.) had high
jumps, and games like the King of Fighters series and Shin Samurai Spirits
(known in the U.S. as "Samurai Shodown 2") had hop abilities.
The only one that seems to have stayed is the "high" jump, which has
appeared in the Street Fighter III series, the Street Fighter Zero series,
the King of Fighters series, the Vampire series (known in the U.S. as
"Darkstalkers"), and Xing Yi Quan (known in Japan as "Shin'iken" and
the U.S. as "Martial Masters"). There are probably many others.
Jumping is to a 2D fighter as sidestepping or 3D movement is to a 3D
fighting game, and so there have always been all sorts of ways to do it.
Q: Why does lightning strike sometimes?
A: The lightning effect happens when someone does a combo that does more
than 35% damage or so.
Q: How do I choose alternate colors?
A: You can select what color palette they've assigned to your character by
holding down one of the attack buttons when you choose them with quick
punch. For instance, a purple Sauron can be selected by holding down
the fierce kick button, and while you're holding it, pressing the quick
punch while he's highlighted.
Q: What is that weird, "non-cheese" picture? Do they hate French people?
Are they dairy-intolerent?
A: No, and they don't hate people from Wisconsin, either. If you try and
perform certain moves that disable your opponent after you've already
hit them with one, you'll get this. For instance, if you were to use
Vertigo's "Voodoo Spell," and stun the opponent, and then try and use
her "Come Slither" attack, which drags them forward and stuns them again,
you'll get this "no cheese" sign, and the second move won't hit.
Also, if you play a "versus" game (against another human-controlled
opponent), there are a few other conditions when your move won't hit and
you'll get that symbol. The most common is if you try and use the same
heavy attack more than once in a combo--but this does not apply to all
of the heavy attacks.
Q: Isn't this game, well, goofy?
A: Yes. Fighting games are all "goofy," but this one is especially so
at times. Western-developed ones tend to have lame jokes and what-
not thrust into them. People are always telling me to give up on this
game because the Mortal Kombat series is so much better. Well, I hate
to break it to them, but that series is goofy. It may even be some
higher stratum of goofiness than Primal Rage.
Q: Do you mention Suikoden III, Vampire Game, and other such manga as
shameless plugs of your work?
A: Why, it was you who mentioned my translations, my imaginary reader.
Q: I hate you so much!! Should I mail you concerning this?
A: No, not really. If you do, it will be duly un-noted. Also, if you
must, please make it entertaining in some way. Even in an Andy Kaufman,
I-only-amuse-myself way.
Well, maybe not in that way, after all.
---------------------------
C. GLITCHES & FATAL ERRORS
---------------------------
After playing this version many times, I came to remember the fatal
bugs and the odd glitches of this game. I had thought, originally, that
they were because of the emulation, but then, I remembered some of them
existing in the arcade version, unfortunately.
The biggest "error" in the program--the one that sticks out like a
sore thumb--is the inability to use the "Eat A Worshipper" move during
the bonus stage. In this stage, the point is to eat your worshippers to
prepare for the "endurance match" at the end there (the "Final Battle").
Well, unfortunately, this means that you cannot gain the larger health
bonus that the Eat A Worshipper move gives you.
What you will need to do is to use your character's normal move that eats
a person, labeled in their moves list as "Eat." Unfortunately, neither
Talon nor Vertigo have such normal moves. Another bug in the game has rendered
these moves useless during normal rounds, for some reason. That's right, only
the "Eat A Worshipper" move will actually work during normal gameplay in the
Midway Arcade Treasures 2 version.
Also, during the bonus match, if your attacks strike a pteranodon, you will
eat it. It's a bit difficult to strike them appropriately, but you may want
to even focus on doing so rather than eating your clan. You would get a better
score for not eating people in general, but I think that the score penalty
didn't apply to the bonus stage, anyway.
This error actually existed in the earlier arcade version of the game,
but was removed during the version 2.3 upgrade. Why, then, does it
exist in the Midway port? Good question....
The biggest problem in the game's code besides the omission of the Eat
A Worshipper during the bonus stage is a fatal error. That's right, there
is a fatal error in Primal Rage, which *will* cause your game to crash.
If Vertigo does the "Shrink and Eat" finshing move on Armadon, when she
lifts him up into the air and starts to swallow, the game will get caught
in an infinite loop. I think the problem had to do with the sound effects.
There are other reported incidents of this finisher causing problems, but
I seem to remember that they'd fixed many of them from version 1.7 to the
newer updates. That's right, the arcade game had this error, too. I know
that it happens 100% of the time fighting Armadon, whether as a computer
opponent or another player, and on both player one and two sides.
It's really a pity, because if you play Vertigo, you'll undoubtedly get
tired of the "la Vache qui Rit" finisher fast, and her "Petrify" one will
wear itself out as well. I still recommend using it sparingly, although
as I write this I just did it a couple dozen times in a row without any
glitches save Armadon.
There are other issues, mostly involving the two tyrannosaur types.
More common with Sauron, they will sometimes start floating inexplicably
in an air quick kick attack. Sometimes, they hover in place, and other
times, they float off into the far corner--below the ground, even. I'm
not sure what prompts this, but it has something to do with the cheat
the computer pulls where it pretends like it was jumping a certain way
when it wasn't. It's not very noticeable, nor is it very common, but
you can sometimes visibly see them start a slow jump, and then suddenly
get junted forward a bit at its peak. The jump will usually transform
into a long jump. This is why it is sometimes mysteriously better than
a human at getting over projectiles, but it's also so rare a cheat that
I think the computer actually just got confused and the programmers
may not have done this intentionally. Once again, it was like this in
the arcade version, not just on the Midway port. I remember it not
existing in version 2.3 either, but I dunno, maybe I'm wrong about that.
There are graphical problems with the game, but again, these existed
in the arcade, unlike the glitches in the Mortal Kombat ports. Diablo
will sometimes stay the blue color after he's been frozen by Blizzard.
His "Inferno" finisher usually leaves the opponent layered in front of
the ground rather than behind it--I seem to recall it had something to
do with what stage you performed it on. The top of Sauron's head will
become solid if you're fighting his ghostly form in the Final Battle
when he attempts his Neck Throw.
Another strange bug will appear if you are Talon and you are facing
Chaos in the Final Battle. Occasionally, if he blocks a Pounce & Flip
and then counters quickly with a fart and Talon is stunned, then he'll
start flying down constantly like the V-hold is broken. This will
only last until you get back up, but it's really strange to see.
You may also notice that the little "finishing move" chime does not
play. There was a short fanfare for a finisher in the arcade, that
sounded a lot like the music when "New Urth" forms during the intro.
That is apparently missing from the game.
Other than that, they've changed all the moves, just about, if you
didn't notice. I think it had something to do with the "up" directions;
most of the moves with that had it changed. Not quite sure why they
simplified so many button presses to just one button, but actually, I
can't complain too much. This makes it a little easier to do on a
gamepad, if you play on such a thing.
---------------------------
D. AN APOLOGY TO OROCHIJIN
---------------------------
I didn't make this FAQ as an affront to you, man. Please don't see it
as such. Yours will still be better, anyway, since it won't be all
lengthy and filled with annoying language.
Nice handle, by the way. I wonder, will Namco ever make Jin become
his "devil" self, playable such a way? Could it be any better than the
Jins of the past? Or, have you named yourself after Jin from Cyberbots?
He did have the best taunt of any character ever in history, perhaps.
**NOTE: This was originally written before the arcade release of Tekken
5, which apparently will have Devil Jin in it.**
===============
II. THE BASICS
===============
------------
A. CONTROLS
------------
How to control your kaijuu-like giant monster-y thingie:
f = Press forward; towards your opponent. Right if they're to the right,
and left if they're to the left.
df = Press diagonally between towards your opponent and down on the pad
or stick.
d = Press down on the pad or stick.
db = Press diagonally between away from your opponent and down on the pad
or stick.
b = Press back; away from your opponent. Note the difference from "f."
Here comes the tricky part: press to the left if they're to the right,
and to the right if they're to the left.
ub = Press diagonally between away from your opponent and up on the pad or
stick.
u = Press up on the pad or stick.
uf = Press diagonally between towards your oppoent and up on the pad or
stick.
f = Press...wait, I've come full circle.
1 = Quick Punch. Refer to the giant controller that shows up when the
game is loading. It'll be the "Quick High" button. Why did I
change it to "punch?" It's because "high" and "low" refer to areas
you get hit in fighting games, and the "high" and "low" in this
game don't always even hit high or low, so their name is pretty
much useless.
2 = Fierce Punch. Refer to the giant controller that shows up when the
game is loading. It'll be dubbed the "Fierce High" button. Why
did I change it? To avoid confusion with the "high" and "low" used
to describe where the attack hits.
3 = Quick Kick. Again, refer to the giant controller that shows up when
the game is loading. It'll be called the "Quick Low" button. Again,
changed to avoid confusion.
4 = Fierce Kick. Again, refer to the giant controller that shows up when
the game is loading. It'll be called the "Fierce Low" button. Again,
I changed it so that you wouldn't be thinking, "now, did he mean,
the character will throw out attacks that'll hit me low, or that it'll
start throwing out attacks with this button?"
Here is a brief run-down:
1 = X-Box: X PS2: Square GameCube: B
2 = X-Box: Y PS2: Triangle GameCube: Y
3 = X-Box: A PS2: X GameCube: A
4 = X-Box: B PS2: Circle GameCube: X
() = Hold down whatever button is in the parantheses. NOTE: You may do
the moves by doing the joypad / joystick motion first, then hitting
the button(s) afterwords, if you prefer, for nearly all moves.
So, "(1+2+3), d,d,d" would mean that one should hold down the quick punch,
fierce punch, and quick kick buttons, and hit down three times while doing
so. You could also, of course, hit down, down, down, and then hit the
three required buttons.
------------
B. GLOSSARY
------------
Also, I will sometimes throw out this jargon willy-nilly:
air, aerial = While your character is jumping through the air.
anti-air = A good move to hit a jumping opponent with. The computer will
rely upon these to hit airborne opponents, but it is not guaranteed to
counter air moves 100%.
anti-low = This move is designed to go through most opponent's low
attacks; meant to stop pokers. These are only listed because the
computer will generally use these to try and use them in such a way.
However, they are not really guaranteed to go through low attacks.
anti-projectile = This is a move that projectiles will pass straight over.
Usually, they also easily go through other attacks, but some, such as
Vertigo's Come Slither, are quite useless to that end. Usually, the
appropriate way to counter such moves is with a low attack.
cancel = All normal attacks in Primal Rage may be "cancelled" into a
special attack. If the move strikes the opponent, guarded or not,
the lucky attacking monster can then go into a special move without
having to wait for the rest of the animation of the normal move to
play. Also, weaker normal moves may be cancelled into stronger ones;
see "chain."
chain = You can string normal attacks together into a "chain" (hence the
name). A quick punch or quick kick may be chained into a fierce punch
or fierce kick, which may then, in turne, be chained into a heavy punch
or heavy kick.
close = While standing close to your opponent.
combo = Combination, like in boxing. In fighting games, a combo is a set
of attacks that will link together in such a way that if the first one
hits, the hapless victim will be unable to defend for the duration.
combo-able = Can be used in a combo. This is only used when something is
not combo-able, such as Talon's Face Ripper. It will not hit when an
opponent is recovering from an attack, so it's not combo-able. See?
crouch = When you're not in the air from jumping about, but you're planted
firmly on the ground, hit any of the down directions to crouch. This
goes under some high attacks.
crouch guard (or block) = A crouching version of guarding, that nicely
guards against low attacks.
guard (or block) = Press away from the opponent for most moves to guard
them.
heavy attack = 1+2 or 3+4.
heavy kick = 3+4.
heavy punch = 1+2.
high = An attack that you may crouch under, and it'll go over your head.
high jump = When you press d,u or db,uf or df,ub, you will can jump faster,
farther, stronger...(?)
juggle = Keep 'em bouncing in the air by "juggling" them. When an opponent
is reeling from a hit in the air, you can sometimes follow it up with a
hit or two, depending on what attack you've used to render their defenses
useless.
jump = When one presses u or uf or ub, they will jump into the air in which-
ever direction.
link = Sometimes, the recovery time suffered from an attack is so much
greater than the time it takes for the assailant to be ready to attack
again, that he may perform another attack, and it will also hit, even
though it hasn't been cancelled or chained. This is a link. Almost all
quick attacks may be linked into other quick attacks, for instance,
but other things work, too--Blizzard may link a crouching fierce kick
off of his standing, far heavy punch.
low = A low attack; an attack while crouching, usually. Hits low on the
opponent, and cannot be guarded high, normally.
overhead = Just like the "mid" attacks of 3D fighting games, you can't
crouch guard against it. Jumping attacks are all overheads, for
instance.
priority = Just as it sounds, this is the quality of a move to "go through"
other moves.
punished = Some moves require you to hold buttons down in order to make
them last on the screen. If you simply tap the buttons, or if you use
the simplified commands given them by the Midway Arcade Treasures 2
staff, you will get a strange, punished version. I think that Atari
actually was punishing you for doing these moves, but it's not certain
if it was successful, as the attacks will still hit--even if it'll be
at the very end of the attack animation, for some reason.
quick jump or hop = When you press f,df,uf or b,db,ub, you can do a quick
little hop forward or backward.
unblockable = You can't block it. Don't try. Don't! OK, try if you
must, but you will fail. Ha! I warned you!!
----------------
C. COMBO THEORY
----------------
This game, like most fighting games, hinges greatly on whether or not
you can get in your combo. That's just like boxing, again, except that
when just one clean combo hits in boxing, it can really wrap things up
right there.
So, you'll need to understand the combo system in order to rage properly,
I guess. As I mentioned in the Glossary, you can link attacks, chain them,
or cancel them in order to hit the hapless victim before he recovers from
the stun of the first hit, or so that he stays trapped by blocking an attack,
thus making it so he has to block the rest of them. Chains are similar to
the ones in Street Fighter Zero; you can hit a quick attack, fierce attack
(which is really the medium attack in this game), and then a heavy attack
(which is performed by pressing quick and fierce at the same time). It
does not have the so-called "Hunter" chain from Vampire Hunter, where you
could chain a punch of the same strength into a kick of the same strength,
but most quick attacks may be linked into each other so easily, it may as
well be a chain for them.
If you do hit a successful attack and follow it up with a combo, the
damage is modified. It's a rather heavy modification, actually. The first
hit does 100% damage, of course, but then the second will do about 60%, the
third 50%, and it seems to stay at 50% for at least a few more hits. It
does seem to drop again, but pretty far into the combos; you'd only really
have to consider it when calculating Blizzard's Punching Bag combo damages.
That move, however, is pretty useless, so don't worry about it. If you're
in doubt about how much damage your combo has done, it'll show it as a
percentage, anyway.
Usually, combos will be one or two air hits, followed by two or three
ground hits, followed by a special move. You'll want to opt for the more
damaging hits, therefore, to capitalize. For instance, try and use fierce
and heavy hits as opposed to quick ones, where you can.
Unfortunately, this is an emulation of an arcade game, and as such, there
is no practice mode. The only ways to practice will be against another
player, the computer, or by just playing against a "dummy" human opponent.
The bad part is that they won't get their health back ever, so you'll have
to keep selecting your characters over and over and watching all the victory
poses and all that other annoying nonsense.
Well, that's enough rambling for now! On to the moves:
---------
D. TIERS
---------
I know that this isn't a Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter or anything, but
there are still "tiers" for the characters--just sort-of a fighting game's
"who's-better'n-who."
Versus: Ease of Defeating Computer:
Upper Tier Ungodly Easy:
1. Chaos 1. Chaos
2. Talon 2. Sauron
Mid Tier Fairly Easy:
3. Sauron 3. Diablo
4. Armadon 4. Armadon
5. Blizzard 5. Blizzard
Lower Tier A Bit Harder:
6. Diablo 6. Talon
7. Vertigo 7. Vertigo
That's my opinion, and of course, doesn't mean anything, really. If
you're new to fighters, well, tiers are mostly a bunch of hot air, but I
thought it would be funny to make one for this game.
-----------
E. SCORING
-----------
To score big in Primal Rage, you will need to do things such as get
"Quick Kill" and "Total Domination" bonuses. To get a great score, you'll
also need to play through the entire game without continuing. This,
unfortunately, means that you cannot even defeat players in versus games,
as to do so counts as continuing to the game. This is, undoubtedly, to
avoid having high scorers simply challenge themselves as they are about
to lose to the computer.
Guess what, though? There is a way around this. If you defeat a human
opponent with a character you've just chosen for the first time, you can
continue on and fight for the other six lands and still get the bonus. It's
because they programmed it so that if you choose the same character more
than once in a row, it considers it continuing. I don't know why they did
that....
Scoring seems to be as follows:
Victory = 10,000 points per round
(Bring opponent's health down to zero.)
Time Over Victory = 1,500 points per round
(Have more health than the opponent after the timer runs out.)
Total Domination = 30,000 points per round
(Finish the round unscathed; get a "perfect" in most other games.)
Quick Kill = 20,000 points per round
(Finish the round in the first 10 seconds.)
Finisher = 50,000 points per finisher
Combos = Bonus as follows (per combo):
2 = 1,100 points + points for final hit
3 = 2,100 points + points for final hit
4 = 4,200 points + points for final hit
5 = 6,200 points + points for final hit
6 = 8,100 points + points for final hit
7 = 10,000 points + points for final hit
8 = 12,100 points + points for final hit
9 = 14,000 points + points for final hit
10 = 16,100 points + points for final hit
11 = 18,000 points + points for final hit
12 = 20,100 points + points for final hit
(You can get higher combos...generally, just add 2,000 points per hit
to the total.)
Eating own worshipper after combo = -1,900 to -4,600 points
(Yes, it is a penalty. Does not apply during bonus stage.)
Eating own worshipper after being dizzied = 0 points
Eating opponent's worshipper = 10,000 points per worshipper
Normal move bonus = (varies depending on move)
(To get this, this must be the final hit of a combo or the only hit
after making an opponent dizzy.)
Special move bonus = (varies depending on move)
(Points will be awarded for each time the move hits outside of a combo
or if the move hits as the final hit of the combo.)
World Domination = 100,000 points per world
(Conquer all seven lands; even in versus matches.)
Continuing = 1 point
(NOTE: Even applies to simply choosing the same character if a human
opponent continues against you.)
Defeat game (with continues) = 1,000,000 points
Defeat game, including Final Battle, without continuing = 5,000,000 points
(NOTE: As stated before having a human opponent play you and then going
on to beat the game will not give you this award.)
So, to recap, you only get points for moves if they hit as the final hit of
a combo, generally. Special attacks will give you the bonus if they are
the only hit, also. If you dizzy someone and then hit a single move after-
wards, that move's points will be awarded to you. Some moves don't give
any points (friggin' misers). To get a high score, you'll generally want
to stay healthy and combo your opponent. If they get dizzy, you can opt to
eat one of their worshippers before trying to assault them.
With the bonus for defeating the game, it's much easier to get a high score
against the computer than against humans. Oh, well....
=================
III. MOVES LISTS
=================
-----------
A. ARMADON
-----------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 10/150 damage.
2 15/150 damage.
1+2 23/150 damage.
close 1+2 23/150 damage.
3 10/150 damage.
close 3 10/150 damage.
4 13/150 damage.
close 4 15/150 damage.
3+4 23/150 damage.
close 3+4 23/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 11/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 16/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 24/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 10/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 12/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 23/150 damage.
crouch 1 12/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 13/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 23/150 damage.
crouch 3 Overhead. Eat. 9/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low. 12/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 23/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Bed o' Nails: (2+3),d,u (hold the buttons for longer effect)
18/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Bed o' Nails (punished): (2),d,u or (2+3),d,u (barely tap the buttons)
18/150 damage.
Iron Maiden: (3),b,d,db or (3),b,d,b
34/150 damage. Overhead.
Mega Charge: (3)b,d,f
13/150 damage.
Gut Gouger: (2+3),f,b
18/150 damage. Unblockable.
Hornication Uppercut: (1),f,d,df or (1),f,d,f
16/150 damage. Unblockable.
Spinning Death: (4),f,d,b
18/150 damage.
Flying Spikes: (2),d,f
12/150 damage.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Gut Fling: (1+2+3),d,d,d,d,d
Meditation: (1+2+3+4),f,d,b,f,f
The Impaler: (1+2+3+4),f,b,f
------------
B. BLIZZARD
------------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 9/150 damage.
close 1 9/150 damage.
2 13/150 damage.
close 2 17/150 damage.
1+2 20/150 damage.
close 1+2 22/150 damage.
3 9/150 damage.
4 Anti-air. 16/150 damage.
3+4 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 14/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 14/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 20/150 damage.
crouch 1 10/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 15/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 22/150 damage.
crouch 3 Low. 9/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low, anti-low, eat. 14/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 20/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Mega Punch (short): (3),b,f
18/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Mega Punch (long): (4),b,f
20/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Mega Punch (quick): (1+2+3+4),b,f Anti-projectile.
18/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Mega Punch (fake): (3),d,d
No damage; not a true attack.
Freeze Breath: (1),f,f
7/150 damage.
Ice Geyser: (2),d,u
3/150 damage.
Punching Bag: (1+4),f,b Unblockable.
Then:
Jab: 1 during Punching Bag
3/150 damage.
Uppercut (far): 2 during Punching Bag
20/150 damage.
Uppercut (mid): 3 during Punching Bag
20/150 damage.
Uppercut (close): 4 during Punching Bag
20/150 damage.
Air Throw: 2+3 in air versus aerial opponent
20/150 damage. Unblockable.
Throw: (2+3),f,b
25/150 damage. Unblockable.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Brain Bash: (1+2+4),d,d,b,b,f
To Da Moon: (1+2+3+4),d,d,d,d,f
Redemption: (1+2+3+4),b,b,b,b,b
---------
C. CHAOS
---------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 9/150 damage.
close 1 9/150 damage.
2 15/150 damage.
close 2 16/150 damage.
1+2 20/150 damage.
close 1+2 20/150 damage.
3 9/150 damage.
4 Overhead. 13/150 damage.
3+4 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 12/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 18/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 13/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
crouch 1 9/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 12/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 18/150 damage.
crouch 3 Low. 9/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low, anti-low, eat. 14/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 16/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Grab 'N' Throw: (2+3),f,b
22/150 damage. Unblockable.
Power Puke (slow): (1),d,f
9/150 damage.
Power Puke (fast): (2),d,f
9/150 damage.
Fart of Fury: (3),f,d,b
0/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Ground Shaker: (3),d,d
22/150 damage. Low.
Flying Butt Slam: (4),d,d
23/150 damage. Overhead.
Battering Ram: (3),f,f
13/150 damage.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Golden Shower: (1+2),d,d then (1+2+3+4),b,f,b,f
-OR- (1+2+3+4) d,d,b,f,b,f
Cannonball: (1+2+3+4),db,uf,df
The Churl: (1+2+3+4),f,f,f,b,b,b
----------
D. DIABLO
----------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 9/150 damage.
2 15/150 damage.
close 2 18/150 damage.
1+2 23/150 damage.
close 1+2 23/150 damage.
3 8/150 damage.
4 15/150 damage.
3+4 24/150 damage.
close 3+4 23/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 15/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 8/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 13/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
crouch 1 9/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 15/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 23/150 damage.
crouch 3 Low, anti-low, eat. 9/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low. 12/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 23/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Fireball (slow): (1),d,f
12/150 damage.
Fireball (fast): (2),d,f
12/150 damage.
Torch: (1+3),d,b (hold for longer torch)
22/150 damabe. Next hit is not damage-modified.
Torch (fake): (1),d,b or (1+3),d,b (barely tap the buttons)
Not a true attack; no damage.
Hot Foot: (2+4),ub,df
22/150 damage. Low.
Mega Lunge: (4),b,d,f
15/150 damage.
The Pulverizer: (4),b,d,db or (4),b,d,b
29/150 damage. Overhead.
Inferno Flash: (3),d,d
22/150 damage.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Incinerator: (1+2+3+4),ub,db,df
Fireball: (2+3+4),f,f,f,f,f
Infernal: (1+3+4),b,b,d,d,d
----------
E. SAURON
----------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 9/150 damage.
2 15/150 damage.
close 2 19/150 damage.
1+2 23/150 damage.
close 1+2 19/150 damage.
3 10/150 damage.
4 15/150 damage.
3+4 18/150 damage.
close 3+4 23/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 15/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 23/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 10/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 15/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 22/150 damage.
crouch 1 9/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 15/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 19/150 damage.
crouch 3 Low, anti-low, eat. 10/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low. 13/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 22/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Stun Roar: (1),b,f
7/150 damage.
Primal Scream: (1),d,u
18/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Cranium Crusher: (4),d,u
23/150 damage.
Earthquake Stomp: (4),d,d (also may be done in air)
18/150 damage.
Leaping Bone Bash: (2),d,u
35/150 damage. Overhead.
Air Throw: (2+3) in air versus air opponent
23/150 damage. Unblockable.
Neck Throw: (2+3),f,b
23/150 damage. Unblockable.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Carnage: (1+2+3+4),b,f,b,f,b
Flesh Eating: (1+3),d,d then (1+2+3+4),ub,ub
-OR- (1+2+3+4),d,d,ub,ub
Grape Crusher: (1+2+3+4),d,d,d,d,d
---------
F. TALON
---------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 9/150 damage.
2 12/150 damage.
close 2 14/150 damage.
1+2 Overhead, anti-air. 18/150 damage.
3 9/150 damage.
4 12/150 damage.
3+4 20/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 11/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 18/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 11/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 17/150 damage.
crouch 1 9/150 damage.
crouch 2 Anti-air. 12/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 Anti-air. 21/150 damage.
crouch 3 Low. 9/150 damage.
crouch 4 Low. 11/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 15/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Frantic Fury: (1+4),d,f (hold 1+4 to keep spinning)
15/150 damage.
Frantic Fury (punished): (1),d,f or (1+4),d,f (barely tap the buttons)
15/150 damage.
Brain Basher: (2),b,d,db or (2),b,d,b
12/150 damage. Overhead.
Pounce & Flip: (2),f,d,df or (2),f,d,f
7/150 + 7/150 + 7/150 damage (3 hit combo; around 15/150 on its own)
The Slasher: (1+3+4),d,t
18/150 damage. Anti-projectile.
Face Ripper: (2+3),f,b
19/150 damage. Unblockable. Not combo-able.
Jugular Bite: (2),b,t while combo-ing opponent
12/150 + 12/150 damage (2 hit combo; usually adds 12/150 to combo total)
Run: (1+2), f or b (simply hold these buttons to make him run quickly)
No damage; not an attack.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Heart Wrenching: f,d,b,f+2+3+4 <--must be tapped; DOES NOT WORK HELD DOWN
-OR- f,d,b,f+1+2+3+4 <--again, buttons must be pressed with the last f
Shredder: (1+4),f,d,b,f
Stampede: (1+2+3+4),f,b,f
-----------
G. VERTIGO
-----------
NORMAL ATTACKS
1 7/150 damage.
2 12/150 damage.
close 2 14/150 damage.
1+2 20/150 damage.
3 9/150 damage.
4 12/150 damage.
3+4 20/150 damage.
air 1 Overhead. 9/150 damage.
air 2 Overhead. 14/150 damage.
air 1+2 Overhead. 20/150 damage.
air 3 Overhead. 7/150 damage.
air 4 Overhead. 12/150 damage.
air 3+4 Overhead. 20/150 damage.
crouch 1 9/150 damage.
crouch 2 14/150 damage.
crouch 1+2 20/150 damage.
crouch 3 7/150 damage.
crouch 4 12/150 damage.
crouch 3+4 Low. 22/150 damage.
SPECIAL ATTACKS
Venom Spit (slow): (1),f,f
14/150 damage.
Venom Spit (fast): (2),f,f
14/150 damage.
Voodoo Spell: (2),b,b
0/150 damage. Unblockable. (counts as hit; damage is modified afterwards)
Come Slither: (3),b,b Low. Anti-projectile.
0/150 damage. Low. Anti-projectile. (as in Voodoo Spell, counts as hit)
Scorpion Sting: (4),f,f
18/150 damage.
Ground Teleport: (4),d,d (can be done in air)
Not an attack; no damage.
Air Teleport: (4),d,u (can be done in air)
Not an attack; no damage.
Eat A Worshipper: (1+2+3+4),f,d,df or (1+2+3+4),f,d,f
5/150 damage.
FINISHING MOVES
Petrify: (2+4),b,b,b then (1+2+3+4),f,f
-OR- b,b,b,f,f+1+2+3+4 <--tap the buttons; holding will give "La Vache"
Shrink and Eat: (2+4),b,b,b then (1+2+3+4),d,d
-OR- b,b,b,d,d+1+2+3+4 <--tap the buttons; holding will give "La Vache"
La Vache Qui Rit: (1+2+3+4),b,b,b
===============
IV. STRATEGIES
===============
-----------
A. ARMADON
-----------
Slow on the ground, Armadon's air attacks chain rather fast. All in all,
his slower moves are moves with far reach. Armadon is primarily a close
fighter, therefore. His Bed o' Nails has a rather high priority, and his
Spinning Death is a nice, high-priority, far-reaching, relatively fast move.
Your main focus with Armadon on most characters will be to get in long-
reaching crouching 4's and such, then cancelling them into combos, while
forcing people to jump into Bed o' Nails attacks and Hornication Uppercuts
and the like, because people can hold him at a distance where it's difficult
to utilize the quick, close chaining he has.
NOTES ON ATTACKS:
- The Iron Maiden is a very damaging move. If the opponent jumps, it is
easily defeated, but if they do manage to guard it standing and not get
hit by its overhead property, they will not be able to recover and retaliate
before Armadon has recovered, which can be annoying.
- The Bed o' Nails is a great attack, which is sort of like Blanka's
electricity, but easier to activate. It's nice to instantly activate upon
people trying to reach in with their quick attacks, because it comes out
very quickly.
- Though the Spinning Death moves far across the screen and is fairly hard
to pass through, it is best used at a close range. Most characters can
retaliate and strike you after they guard against it.
- The Hornication Uppercut is very much like a Shouryuuken--the vulnerable
ones from Super Street Fighter II X: Grandmaster Challenge and such. So,
beware; it may appear invulnerable, but there are ways to hit him during
it.
- The Mega Charge can be followed by a little juggling fun. Also, most of
the time, if you hit with something like a crouching 4--something that
hits from a long distance--like the Spinning Death, it is fairly easy to
combo. Also like the Spinning Death, however, it can be punished if
blocked successfully.
- His air 4 and 3+4 tend be linked into ground attacks better than the
2 or 1+2.
- Armadon can link two air 2, air 1+2 chains together on tall characters
such as Sauron or Vertigo.
- Armadon's crouching 4 overhead can be used to eat worshippers.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
- Air 2, air 1+2, standing 2, 1+2, Mega Charge, 1+2, Hornication Uppercut.
"Train Wreck." 71/150? (47%)
- Air 2, air 1+2, standing 2, 1+2, Gut Gouger. "Gut Buster." 60/150? (40%)
- Air 2, air 1+2, standing 2, 1+2, Mega Charge, 1+2, Spinning Death.
"Super Steamroller Combo." 70/150? (47%)
TRAP GAMES:
The usual trap the computer will try and set up is to fire Flying Spikes and
then follow with the Iron Maiden attack. However, the Flying Spikes move
isn't quite the right speed to set up traps a' la Guile from Street Fighter,
or anything, so this isn't a desirable trap, unless you know that the person
is turtling. If you knock the opponent down, you'll want to approach and
probably perform a Bed o' Nails, until they guard it or are hit by it. It
can be a little frustrating to the opponent. You may want to use his Gut
Gouger when you force people into the defensive; mixing it up with Bed o'
Nails attacks and crouching 3 overheads.
VS. COMPUTER:
--Armadon: From a certain distance, you can rely upon the his Spinning
Death hitting a good percentage of the time. It's a bit tricky, but you
will need to stand just at the right range, so that the computer is
finessed into doing a Hornication Uppercut imediately, which will miss.
Other than that, you should probably hang back and do crouching 4's to
hold him at bay. Keep in mind that he will Iron Maiden a lot, so you may
want to jump straight up to get the best chance of comboing him while he
recovers. He tends to fall for the old "knock 'em down and Bed o' Nails
right next to him" bit.
--Blizzard: This is usually quite easy. If you've ever played Street
Fighter II, you may remember the way to defeat Zangief. You'll do
a similar routine here. For some reason, he tends to want to respond
to a jumping attack with his backhand. A jumping 4 from the right
distance will thwart such a thing. Once you get the hang of it, he's
really not hard.
--Chaos: From the right distance, which is possibly farther than you think,
you can continually throw out low 4's until he gets hit, and then do a
Spinning Death or, if close enough, a Mega Charge, followed by a small
juggle. This is because he will rarely throw out low 4's as a response.
He'll usually try and sweep or do a crouching 1 or some other such
nonsense, that will open him up. You have to distance it properly,
however; it's easy for Chaos to open up on you. Don't be afraid to use
the Bed o' Nails attack to go under Farts and other such nonsense.
--Diablo: Pressure him. He's one of the easiest for everyone to defeat.
Just jump in and combo like nuts.
--Sauron: Sometimes, he gets all jumpy and tries to get away from you.
You can usually jump in at him and try and hit him with 2's and 1+2's.
He will start doing Cranium Crushers every now and then, so beware.
As in most cases, Sauron tends to "turtle" up a lot and just retreat
into his defense shell. He's very annoying at this time. Don't try and
counter his crouching 1's, and don't charge him much--he'll block more
often than not, and can easily retaliate.
--Talon: Knock him down, and walk towards him, and do the Bed o' Nails.
If he gets to the proper distance from you, you should start to crouch
and guard. He'll do one of two things as an overhead: the Brain Basher
or his 1+2. If you distance the 1+2 right, you can answer it easily with
a Spinning Death--just don't be too hasty with it. If he does the Brain
Basher, or starts to hop around like a loon, it's time to resort to the
Bed o' Nails again.
--Vertigo: Bed o' Nails. When she jumps away from you, pursue with a
jumping 2, jumping 1+2. Don't be afraid to poke at her with crouching
1's; she's quite slow.
------------
B. BLIZZARD
------------
Blizzard is a fairly slow character, but his attacks all have good range
and, like Chaos, he enjoys a fiarly high priority on the ground. He's
obviously the Sub-Zero (of Mortal Kombat fame) of Primal Rage. Unlike
Sub-Zero, however, he doesn't get punished heavily for trying two ice
moves together--the combo ends rather than leaving him frozen (remember
the old "Double Freeze Backfire" message?)
With Blizzard, it's pretty much all about throwing out crouching punches
and standing backhands to trap the opponent into a certail zone, and then
unleashing a sweep when they're open. This can, of course, be followed
by freezing them in the air, then jumping up, and slamming them.
Even with his ice power, his slow movement makes him fall to characters
like Talon or Chaos, but he's still a bruiser and definitely can be a
hard match for some people.
NOTES ON ATTACKS:
--The Ice Geyser looks like an anti-air, and it can function in such a
way, but it tends to be an easy hit for long-range jumpers because if
it misses, he is left open for quite some time.
--During the Freeze Breath, Blizzard is, for some inexplicable reason,
considered airborne. This is nice because it doesn't leave him set up
for combos like normal projectiles do. Strange things can happen be-
cause of this property (bug?), such as Sauron's ability to throw a
Freeze-Breath-spouting Blizzard should he be jumping over him at the
time.
--The only truly useful Mega Punch versions are the "long" and "quick"
ones. This is because you will probably use them on people spouting
projectiles on the opposite side of the screen or opponents jumping
away from you (that's the "long" one), or during a combo on someone
really far away (with the "quick"). Beware; the "quick" version has
a long recovery. The other versions have a long wind-up.
--The Punching Bag just isn't too great of a move at all. Opponents
can easily shake free of your grasp during it, and the computer will
simply jump up in the air to avoid it, even when it seems like you're
comboing it. It's not too reliable to combo, anyway, and it is
considered a "cheap" move by the computer, so if you freeze an opponent,
you won't be able ot follow up with the Punching Bag hold.
--Blizzard's crouching 1 is very good at interrupting opponent's moves.
It's not as good as Chaos's, but it's still pretty good.
--His standing 4 is a decent anti-air.
--His sweep (crouching heavy kick) is one of his best attacks, and can
almost always be followed with an Ice Geyser, which leaves them open
to his Air Throw.
--The best way to counter a jumpy opponent is to jump up with 2 and then
Air Throw them.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Air 4, air 3+4, crouching 2, crouching 3+4, Ice Geyser, air 3+4, Air
Throw. "It's the Only Way to Fly." 60/150? (40%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, close 1+2, Throw. 53/150? (35%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, crouching 2, crouching 3+4, Mega Punch (far or quick).
51/150? (34%)
--Standing 2, 1+2, crouching 4, crouching 3+4, Ice Geyser, air 3+4, Air
Throw. "It's the Only Way to Fly." 57/150? (38%)
--With opponent's back to the "corner" of the stage: air 4, air 3+4,
standing 4, standing 3+4, Ice Geyser, air 4, air 3+4, standing 4,
3+4, Throw. "Super Jack Hammer." 83/150? (55%) (!)
--Blizzard's far 1+2 (a backhand similar to Guile's from the Street
Fighter games) can often be followed up a combo, because it stuns
longer than his recovery time. Usually, if you're close enough,
you can follow up with a close 1+2 and everything will be kosher,
but if you are the right distance, you can land another far 1+2.
Atari must have figured this would be an infinite combo, because they
will give you a "no cheese" sign in this instance and the second
backhand will not hit.
TRAP GAMES:
As I said before, you will mainly be keeping an opponent at bay, and then
sweeping them, followed by an Ice Geyser and an Air Throw. As they are
getting up from an Air Throw or other such knockdown, spouting a Freeze
Breath will force them to guard.
Don't forget that you can Freeze Breath them, however. If they are
focused on interrupting you as you try and hold them at bay with quick
attacks, go ahead and fire one off. You'll probably only really be
able to follow with a sweep and Mega Punch, since they'll be pretty far
away, but this is a fairly safe tactic since it's difficult to combo
a Freeze Breath-ing Blizzard.
The old "walk up and throw 'em" thing doesn't work too well with
Blizzard, since he's very slow. Sometimes, though, after one blocks a
Mega Punch, they'll hesitate long enough for you to do it. Usually,
however, trapping into a throw with Blizzard will be very hard--unless
you count Air Throws.
VS. COMPUTER:
--Armadon: Armadon doesn't fall for many of Blizzard's cheesy, anti-
computer patterns. Standing 2's do well against him; outboxing him
would be a good plan. Blizzard's 1 and 2 have good reach and are
relatively quick, at least, compared to Armadon. Hopping away from
him doesn't do too much, but if you can get him jumping at you, he
seems to get kind of stuck in that routine.
--Blizzard: Hop away from him, then Freeze Breath. He'll usually
try a Mega Punch, fail, and get frozen. Sometimes, you'll take a
trade-off. If you're far away and he's frozen, sweep, then Mega
Punch. Similarly, you can block the Mega Punch if you're too
close, and then throw him or do a quick combo.
--Chaos: Get the full screen's length away and start Freeze Breathing
him. Sometimes, he'll start spitting and farting, and you'll have
to guard. If you get him just right all the way across the screen,
he'll go into some kind of weird, punching routine, and get frozen.
Then, walk forward a bit and sweep, Mega Punch, or just do a far
Mega Punch.
--Diablo: Besides the fact that you can practically just jump all
over Diablo and make him block like mad, and hopefully get hit by
some attacks, Diablo can also be frozen easily by sweeping him
from the right distance. You can also do the hop backwards, Freeze
Breath nonsense. Should he start jumping at you, why, jump up,
attack, and throw.
--Sauron: Quick hopping away from him and doing an attack will
usually get him stuck in a routine. He will obsess about completing
said routine, and usually get hit by a Freeze Breath. It's crucial
that he be jumping around or biting like made in the corner; if he's
free, he'll generally hit you with a Leaping Bone Bash. You don't
want that.
--Talon: This battle is pretty hard, but you can sometimes get him
to respond like other people by quick hopping away and attacking,
then following with a Freeze Breath while he messes around. Other-
wise, you'll want to stand away and hit 2's and 1's a lot to box
him from a distance. Be careful, as he will slide under things
and combo you. You can also back up and crouch guard his slides,
then throw him or do a jab combo--if he'll let you.
--Vertigo: Get close to her, jump above her, and strike her as she
tries to jump and strike you, then throw her down. Be careful not
to do it from too far away, as it will make it easy for her to
hit you with a jumping 2 or jumping 1+2. Another pattern that
seems good is to get across the screen with a quick hop, then as
she does some attack or other, throw out a Freeze Breath. She'll
usually teleport a bit late if you catch her freaking out over
your jump and doing a Scorpion Sting or other such nonsense, and
then you can combo her as she appears. Be careful, as she will
occasionally do an Air Teleport and fall with a 3, which won't let
you crouch jab her like crazy.
---------
C. CHAOS
---------
Chaos...where to start? Chaos is the best character, perhaps, which I
must begrudgingly admit, since his bathroom humor isn't exactly my cup
of tea. That's probably because I'm not ten years old. I do watch
professional wrestling, however. Alas....
Anyway, I think the idea behind Chaos was that the designers sat
around and said, "Hm, what if we had a Blizzard-like character who
couldn't freeze people? I know! Then, he'd be faster--but maybe
less damaging." So, they fashioned a smaller, faster version of Blizzard.
But was he less damaging? No. In fact, he may be smaller than
Blizzard, but he inexplicably has just slightly less range to most
of his attacks. His sweep will still hit from very far away, and his
shoulder charge is very easy to combo out of it. Also, he recovers much
faster than Blizzard from his lunge attack, and can actually juggle an
opponent for more hits.
Did I mention that his increased speed has left his attacks with an
amazing priority? He can interrupt almost anything with his crouching 1,
and his Battering Ram goes through many attacks.
On top of that, he has an "earthquake"-like move that pops opponents into
the air (which may also be done in the air a' la Sauron, btw) and a stun move
(Fart of Fury), which acts as a slow projectile like Guile's weak punch Sonic
Boom attack in Street Fighter.
Sound overpowering? Well, he can be. It's not as overpowering as,
say, Gill in the Street Fighter III series, or Kazama Jin in Tekken 4, but
still, he does outclass just about everyone at most tactics.
NOTES ON MOVES:
--The Fart of Fury does go under projectiles, and is a slow-moving, large
projectile that stuns upon successful hit.
--The fast Power Puke should be used to help keep people at bay, especially
turtles.
--Chaos's crouching 1 has an amazing priority and is relatively safe to
throw out.
--Chaos's crouching 2 or 1+2 are both great anti-air attacks.
--Chaos's crouching 3+4 hits from farther than it should; sometimes, the
sprites don't make contact at all. It can generally be followed by a
Battering Ram, which can be followed by a crouching 2, 1+2 chain.
--The Battering Ram sets up one or two more hits. The most lethal and
quickest way to dispatch an opponent felled to the Batter Ram is to
do a crouching 2, 1+2 chain.
--The Ground Shaker can sometimes go under projectiles, if timed correctly.
After being popped up, the opponent is vulnerable to a crouching 2,
crouching 1+2 chain.
--For some reason, like Sauron and Diablo, Chaos seems to be able to link
a deep air combo with another jump-in combo. If you strike with an
air 1+2, he can jump towards them again immediately and hit with an air
4. This is more difficult than his normal, sweep-based combos, and
yields similar damage. Whereas the tyrannosaurs get punished for their
abuse of this by not being allowed to use the same air heavy attack
twice in the same combo, there is no such restriction for Chaos.
However, Chaos cannot ground combo off of them as a tyrannosaur can.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Air 4, air 3+4, standing 2, crouching 3+4, Battering Ram, crouching 2,
crouching 1+2. "Super Wacky Combo." 57/150? (38%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, standing 2, crouching 3+4, Battering Ram, air 3, air
3+4. "Super Wacky Combo." 63/150? (42%)
--Air 4, air 1+2, jump immediately after landing, air 4, air 3+4, air
Ground Shaker, Battering Ram, air 4, air 3+4. "The Flyswatter!"
63/150? (42%)
--Standing 2, far standing 1+2, crouching 4, crouching 3+4, Battering
Ram, crouching 2, crouching 1+2. "Super Wacky Combo." 58/150? (39%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, air Ground Shaker, Battering Ram, crouching 2,
crouching 1+2. 46/150? (31%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, standing 1+2, Grab 'n' Throw. "Super Non-Dairy Combo."
42/150? (28%)
TRAP GAMES:
It's all doing crouching 1's and crouching 4's, then at the right moment,
getting in a crouching 3+4, Battering Ram, crouching 2, crouching 1+2 combo.
Should the opponent get jumpy, why, just use the Battering Ram. After a
knockdown, try for a Fart of Fury--you're pretty safe. If it's a jabby
character, you might try and just do a Ground Shaker to get them off the
floor. Doesn't matter, tho'--if they want to go toe-to-toe with his
attacks, his Battering Ram should go through most of their pokes and such.
The only "trap" he really has is to do a Fart of Fury, then follow it
with other things, such as a Battering Ram if they jump or a Ground Shaker
if they stand up to block it. If they just turtle, well, do a quick hop or
a high jump at them. He can throw them, so if worse comes to worse, you can
always do a few air hits, let them guard them, then just walk up and throw
them.
VS. COMPUTER:
--All opponents save Sauron: It's all about the aerial Ground Shaker.
When this move became an aerial attack, the computer became unable to
defend against it. You will usually see them trying anti-low tactics
or attempting a grab. If you do it after they've already made their
move, and are forced to endure whatever random decision they've made,
then you'll have to get defensive, and get back in the air as soon as
possible to force them to react that certain way.
Also, earlier stages and difficulties will not react in this way. So,
to recap, on all opponents save Sauron, do the air Ground Shaker, and
then try to hit a Battering Ram, crouching 2, crouching 1+2 chain.
--Sauron: This one'll be a bit harder. Standing 2's work very well
against him at the proper distance. Hitting Sauron with a nice, solid
hit from the proper distance (just about your arm's length) seems to
be a key to defeating him with everyone, as he'll usually try a real
slow, awkward bite that gets interrupted when you're just so. If he
gets defensive (probably will), do some crouching pokes, then jump
at him with an immediate 1+2. Repeat. He's the "real fight" for this
cheesy way to defeat the computer.
----------
D. DIABLO
----------
He's faster, but he has less range and does less damage than Sauron. So,
does that make him a better character, like it did for Chaos over Blizzard?
No. Not at all, in fact. Diablo's pretty cool--all fiery and such--but
he's one of the two worst characters in the game. Sure, he has a teleport
(and his can even damage you), an easy anti-projectile that interrupts a
great deal of oncoming attacks at a close range that can be held down for
a long duration and stuns opponents for a combo, but he's just not that
good of a character.
Most of the time you play Diablo, you'll be teleporting, doing crouching
1's, looking for the opening for a far standing 1+2, firing projectiles,
and using your Hot Foot for a quick sweep. However, none of these are
particularly advantageous strategies, as they don't lead to damaging combos,
nor are they guaranteed in any way because his priority is quite lacking,
especially against the big apes.
Oh, you might notice that he has giant combos. Well, the only problem
with them is that you need the opponent to be in the corner. No move that
he has sets up for air hits unless the opponent has their back right against
the "wall." These combos are the most damaging in the game, and I believe
that the programmers didn't intend for him to be able to hit at all after
most of his moves, so they're sort-of errors in the design. He can do up
to 74% of your energy in one combo. That's a *lot*, considering that the
only combo that comes that close is a Blizzard one which also makes use of
the wall.
Even with these combos, I'm going to call him one of the worse characters,
because the chance of getting off such a combo is pretty remote. His
attacks just aren't that great. He needed a few more "answer" moves, like
Sauron's Primal Scream or a throw or a quick anti-air/long-range move like
the Spinning Death or Mega punches.
Still, he's a lot better than Vertigo; at least he's not slow.
NOTES ON MOVES:
--The Hot Foot can, actually, be followed with an attack. A crouching 1,
if the opponent fell into the corner. You can then bounce them around
with a couple more hits, but you must pause briefly before doing them:
a crouching 1+2 followed by a Fireball (slow). This is actually a pretty
good combo, but again, you have to force them into the corner.
--The Inferno Flash can be placed into a combo rather easily. It cannot
be followed up generally by another move, but it does do an incredible
amount of "dizzy" damage. So then, I'd recommend ending combos with it
as you'll end up stunning the opponent quickly, leaving them open to
another combo. I've gotten very hefty combo damage this way.
Also, you can follow it up with just about anything if you've got your
foe's back pressed against the wall. It's pretty hard to set this up,
however.
--The Torch is Diablo's most powerful move, since it is invulnerable to
projectiles and stuns them briefly. During this stun, for some reason,
the next hit's damage will not be modified. However, you can't combo
into the Torch.
--Diablo and Sauron can jump and get a couple of attacks immediately
after they land an air 1+2 or 3+4, for some reason, so if you use the
same heavy air attack twice in a combo, it'll give you the "no cheese"
sign and the move will miss.
--A nice way to end combos with Diablo if people are blocking is with the
Pulverizer. Sure, it won't hit, but you have absolutely no recovery
time. This will keep pushing the opponent back. You may also just want
to pause a second and then do the Torch instead, hoping to catch a poke-
crazy "chicken" off guard.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Torch, close 2, close 1+2, Hot Foot. "Original Recipe Combo." 63/150?
(42%)
--Torch, jump straight up, air 4, air 3+4, close 2, close 1+2, Hot Foot.
"Extra Crispy Combo." 72/150? (48%)
--Air 4, air 1+2, close 2, close 1+2, Hot Foot. 56/150? (37%)
--Air 4, air 1+2, close 2, close 1+2, Mega Lunge. "Headache." 51/150?
(31%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, jump towards immediately after landing, air 4, air 1+2,
close 2, close 1+2, Fireball (fast). "Flaming Ball of Doom!" 63/150?
(42%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, jump towards immediately after landing, air 4, air 1+2,
close 2, close 1+2, Mega Lunge. "Migraine." 63/150? (42%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, jump towards immediately after landing, air 4, air 1+2,
close 2, close 1+2, Inferno Flash. "Super Afterburner." 65/150? (43%)
--With opponent's back to the corner, close 2, close 1+2, Inferno Flash,
2, 1+2, Mega Lunge, air 3, air 1+2. "Spontaneous Combustion!" 77/150?
(51%)
--With opponent's back to the corner, air 4, air 3+4, jump immediately
after landing, air 4, air 1+2, standing 2, 1+2, Inferno Flash, 2, 1+2,
Mega Lunge, crouching 1+2, Fireball (slow). "Spontaneous Combustion!"
101/150? (67%) !!!!!
--With opponent's back to the corner, Torch, close 2, close 1+2, Inferno
Flash, 2, 1+2, Hot Foot, crouching 1, crouching 1+2, Fireball (slow).
"Pyromaniac!" 96/150? (64%) !!!!!
--With opponent's back to the corner, Torch, air 4, air 3+4, close 2,
close 1+2, Inferno Flash, 2, 1+2, Hot Foot, crouching 1, crouching 1+2,
Fireball (slow). "Pyromaniac!" 110/150? (73%) !!!!!
--With opponent's back to the corner, air 4, air 3+4, jump immediately
after landing, air 4, air 1+2, standing 2, 1+2, Inferno Flash, 2, 1+2,
Hot Foot, crouching 1, crouching 1+2, Fireball (slow). "Spontaneous
Combustion!" 111/150? (74%) !!!!!
TRAP GAMES:
Any trap involving the Torch may be escaped by the opponent by jumping.
The Torch doesn't seem to affect aerial opponents at all. Therefore,
the only true trap that he has is to fire a slow fireball, then follow
it up in a couple of different ways. Most commonly, you'll want to
sweep them, and then at the right moment, if they take the bait, do
a Pulverizer, since it is an overhead and does a big chunk of damage.
VS. COMPUTER:
--Armadon: Torch. If you do a Torch, his reaction will usually be an
Iron Maiden. Unfortunately for him, he'll land in front of you and
get hit by the Torch. Follow with a 2, 1+2 chain, canceled into a
Hot Foot. Easy.
--Blizzard: Jump up at the right distance with a 3+4, and he'll
usually try to 1+2 backhand it, which isn't a good counter, or he'll
do an Ice Geyser, which if you've positioned yourself properly, will
miss. He might get Mega Punchy. You can do the thing that most
other characters can with him, quick hop far away so that he'll try
and Mega Punch and miss. This leaves him open for a Torch--Extra
Crispy Combo. That's pretty much the most damaging, regular combo in
the game.
--Chaos: Get a full screen away and throw out slow Fireballs. He'll
most likely be annoying and fart or something, which can't be
destroyed by your fireball, but sometimes he'll pause and then do
a Flying Butt Slam. If you standing guard it, you can combo him.
Chaos is a hard one.
--Diablo: Surprisingly, Diablo can usually retaliate against you if
you jump in on him. Every other character can pretty much just go
nuts all over him and he just bottles up and dies. Even though he
will be more jumpy against another Diablo and do 1+2's to counter
your air attacks, I'd still recommend just attacking him and
forcing him to guard. He's not a very good character to begin
with, but the computer plays him worse than he is.
--Sauron: Get at the right distance, and hit Sauron with a standing
3+4. He'll usually try and do a 1+2 through it; it won't work. If
he starts to defend, jump in with a 3+4, but be careful as if you
don't force him to start blocking first, he'll Cranium Crusher you
like mad. Also, if you get the right distance, you can throw out
a Mega Lunge. Should he jump, he'll get hit (even from what looks
like behind him). If he tries an attack, it'll most likely be a
high one. If he guards, he'll try to throw you, but if you were
at the right distance, it won't hit and he's open. The only thing
he can do then is Earthquake Stomp, but that's a bit rare and your
Mega Lunge can still hit him out of the air usually.
--Talon: Jump straight up in the air at the right distance on Talon
and wait for him to do a 1+2 or a Slasher, then 3+4 at the right
moment. If he doesn't do those, well, throw out a 3+4 anyway, then
guard low because he'll probably try to sweep you. Careful! If you
just sit in the low guard position, he'll walk up and throw you.
--Vertigo: Get close, jump up with 3+4 or 1+2, lather, rinse, repeat.
She's not very good at anti-air stuff, and will get jumpy a lot.
----------
E. SAURON
----------
Though he isn't Chaos or Talon, Sauron is one of the better characters in
the game. Although he is huge and can easily be struck with air chains
while standing, his attacks reach far and can have annoyingly good priority.
He's a bruiser, like Armadon, but doesn't suffer the ranging problems,
basically. Though he lacks a "charging" move, like Armadon's Spinning
Death or Diablo's Mega Lunge, he does have two very nice anti-air attacks,
an air throw, an "earthquake" move, a pouncing, overhead move to hit
turtles--and a ground throw to hit them, too.
Basically, his speed and range put him squarely above Armadon. Most of
the time, you can get away with annoying opponents with jumping 4's and
crouching 1's. It's pretty strange to see a massive powerhouse like him
poking people, but he does have a decent poke game.
NOTES ON MOVES:
--The Primal Scream is a good way to get around pokers and jumpy folk.
It does go under projectiles, too.
--Like Armadon's Iron Maiden, if the Leaping Bone Bash is blocked, the
opponent will have no time to retaliate, even though Sauron needs time
to recover.
--Standing 1+2 from far away will make him lunge at people, and can be
easily followed up with the Neck Throw.
--The Cranium Crusher is similar to a Tiger Uppercut or to a weakened
Shouryuuken. It can be interrupted at the start of the move, but not
by much, and comes out very quickly. It also covers much of the screen.
Pretty much, it's perfect to stop people from jumping in.
--Sauron's crouching 1 and standing 4 have good range, and the crouching
1 is very fast.
--The air Earthquake Stomp is a great move, and sets up his longer combos.
--Sauron can hit people with a jumping 1+2 or 3+4, then immediately hop
back into the air and do it again if he hit low enough on his jump. I'm
not really sure why he can do so, but for some reason, that made Atari
designate those as "cheap" moves, so if you use a jumping 1+2 twice or
a jumping 3+4 twice in one combo, it'll give you the "no cheese" sign.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Air 4, air 1+2, Earthquake Stomp, air 3+4, Air Throw. "Earthquake
Shaker." 57/150? (38%)
--Air 4, air 1+2, Earthquake Stomp, standing 1+2, Cranium Crusher.
"Bump, Set, Crush." 60/150? (40%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, immediately jump forward after landing, air 4, air
1+2, Earthquake Stomp, standing 1+2, Cranium Crusher. "It's A
Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood!" 73/150? (48%)
--Air 4, air 3+4, immediately jump forward after landing, air 4, air
1+2, Earthquake Stome, standing 1+2, standing 1+2. "Your Driving Days
Are Over, Punk!" 73/150? (48%)
TRAP GAMES:
Sauron doesn't have too much of a trap game. Mostly, he pins opponents
down, or can jump and do air 3+4's to annoy them. Mix it up with air
Earthquake Stomps to force them to guard low. The Stun Roar is a slower
projectile, but unfortunately comes out very slowly and isn't too useful
for Guile-type strategies. However, if you do happen to get someone
to start walking away from the Roars, Leaping Bone Bashes and Earthquake
Stomps are a good mix-up: one is a standing guard and one is a low,
and both can be pretty deadly. If they ever start to jump at you, why,
Cranium Crushers and Primal Screams should help with that.
VS. COMPUTER:
--All opponents besides Sauron: Do the air Earthquake Stomp. This is
especially good if you're jumping in. 99% of the time, if you catch
them before they've become committed ot another move, they'll try to
throw you or do anti-low attacks. If you hit them and are close enough,
try a 1+2, Primal Scream. A couple of these will normally dizzy an
opponent, and you'll be able to do a heavy-hitting combo for a higher
score. If they're far away, or you don't want to struggle with the
unreliable nature of the Primal Scream combo, why, do a 1+2, then a
Cranium Crusher (does more damage, anyway).
Keep in mind that, as I mentioned in Chaos's strategies, the computer
most likely won't react this way off the bat, early on in the game or
on a lower difficulty.
--Sauron: Get a certain distance, then hit him with a 3+4. If you find
the right spot, you'll interrupt his 1+2. If he starts to turtle up and
goes all defensive, why, poke at him to make him guard, then quickly
jump at him and hit 3+4. It's very difficult to overcome Sauron's air
3+4, even for another Sauron. You'll probably eat a few crouching 1+2's
and Cranium Crushers with this advice, however.
---------
F. TALON
---------
Talon is a very fast character; he can even run. On top of that, his
Frantic Fury is very hard to punish if guarded, and his Brain Basher
can be followed by attacks in the air--even if he's rebounding from
having it guarded.
This speed and annoying lack of vulnerability when someone is forced
into a defensive position make Talon quite the formidable opponent. I'd
say he's the second most powerful, right after Chaos. He has an almost
completely invulnerable move--The Slasher, nice overheads, and fast
slides which can be easily followed by combos.
However, he's not the most damaging character around. If this series
had survived, you can bet that he would have had his damage modifed,
meaning that he would be the character who would suffer more from being
hit than others.
So, in short, one word: annoying. Be annoying. It's easy to fluster
folks with Talon.
NOTES ON MOVES:
--The Brain Basher homes in on opponents, and hits them high from almost
directly above their head quickly, making it hard to interrupt. Also,
as noted before, he can follow it with attacks (most often an air 1+2
or an air 3+4), even if it is guarded.
--The Pounce & Flip goes under some projectiles and such, and adds 3
hits to combos, but isn't actually the most useful move in the world
as it does less combo damage than the Jugular Bite and is easily
punished if defended.
--The Frantic Fury can be used to combo airborne opponents, such as those
knocked down by a crouching 3+4, and if guarded, can only really be
punished by throws, especially if the "punished" version is used.
--The Slasher not only goes through most attacks, including projectiles,
but it continues the combo. As such, you will get the "No Cheese" sign
if you use it over and over.
--His crouching 4 is a great move to throw out against ground opponents,
as it can be cancelled into a number of attacks such as the Frantic
Fury, a crouching 3+4 slide, a standing 1+2 overhead, or a Jugular Bite
if the move hits.
--The Jugular Bite may only be done while the opponent is on the ground,
reeling from a hit.
--Talon can walk and run under some projectiles.
--The Pounce & Flip will go under some projectiles.
--Talon's Heart Wrenching finisher was quite elusive; it remained the final
finsiher to find for quite some time. The motion is simple, but, for
some reason, it will not work with the buttons held down. They are also
different buttons than in the arcade--the only finishing move like that.
I'm assuming that the reason hitting all four buttons works is because
the game just reads it as 1+2+4, for some reason.
Thanks, Midway.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Brain Basher, air 1+2, standing 2, standing 3+4, The Slasher, Jugular
Bite. "Super Skull Slicer" 54/150? (36%)
--Air 4, air 1+2, crouching 4, standing 3+4, Jugular Bite. "Super Throat
Popper Combo." 42/150? (28%)
--Brain Basher, air 1+2, standing 3+4, The Slasher, crouching 4, standing
1+2, Jugular Bite. "Super Skull Slicer." 63/150? (42%)
--Brain Basher, air 1+2, standing 3+4, The Slasher, crouching 4, standing
1+2, Pounce & Flip. "Full Frontal Lobotomy!" 60/150? (40%)
TRAP GAMES:
Most of your trapping will involve sliding into 4, then 3+4, then the
Frantic Fury, or a sliding 4, standing 3+4, Jugular Bite, or mixing it
up with a standing 4, then a standing 1+2. This will keep them guessing
as to which way to guard. You can also do slides into the Brain Basher,
which is basically a huge overhead that will lead into his bigger combos.
Don't forget that he can throw with the Face Ripper. He can also run up
to opponents and do this. Sometimes, when poking at people, you may want
to run away. The only thing they can retaliate against your poking when
they're pinned down in a defensive game with is a throw, and running back
or jumping or doing the Brain Basher will solve that problem. A truly
annoying thing to do is to start someone blocking, then run away, then
quickly go into a slide again. Usually, they will throw out a move or
two, expecting to be able to hit you. His slide is vulnerable to things
such as Blizzard's crouching 1 or 4, so keep that in mind.
VS. COMPUTER:
--Armadon: Armadon is, unfortunately, a hard foe for Talon to overcome.
Running away from him and jumping backwards near the corner seems to
get him stuck in routines a' la Sauron, so you may try that. I will
sometimes get in a jump back, jump forward rhythm with him. If you
run back and he starts to Iron Maiden a lot, you've got him; just
jump up and combo him as he lands.
--Blizzard: Get about mid-screen, jump back, and combo him if he tries
to Mega Punch. This works a great deal of the time. Also, jump
straight up and down and do 3+4's. If you're just far enough away,
he may try backhands a lot, which you'll overcome. When he's on his
game, tho', he'll be Mega Punching a lot, so ust run back, jump back,
crouching 4, crouching 3+4, Frantic Fury a lot.
--Chaos: It's all about the Pounce & Flip. From the right distance,
it'll interrupt just about everything he does. Should he guard it,
well, at higher levels, he'll pretty much always be throwing out a
fart, so just do it again as it goes under it. Fairly easy, as far
as patterns against Chaos go.
--Diablo: Jump in and combo him. Diablo can't do very much in the
face of Talon.
--Sauron: This is another hard fight for Talon. If you run away from
him, and start jumping backwards, he'll sometimes start leaping
around and doing attack strings. This is your opportunity to hit
him. Otherwise, if you jump in or Pounce & Flip, you'll be eating
some Cranium Crushers.
--Talon: Yet another hard battle. If you run away from him, he'll
try and throw a lot (from a far distance, even; wtf?), and if he
does, he'll usually try jumping around. Catching him in the air
would be best. Once he's been knocked down, do a Frantic Fury and
make him block it as he gets up. Guard low. He'll usually do a
slide, and cancel into his throw, but it won't hit and you'll get
a free combo, or he'll do a Pounce & Flip, which you'll guard, and
again get in a combo--I'd suggest a crouching 3+4, Frantic Fury.
--Vertigo: Easy. For some reason, she won't jump back and do 1+2's
sometimes with Talon, unlike against all the other characters if you
jump in on her from close range. You'll need to jump from farther
away, and do 3+4's. They'll almost always counter her attack. If
she guards, pause a second, then Frantic Fury--it goes through most
of her attacks. You don't want to do that very often, tho', as she
can hit you with a Voodoo Spell right after she guards it.
-----------
G. VERTIGO
-----------
This big, goofy-looking, badly-animated only female character (like it
matters in this case) is also a badly-designed character in terms of
fighting abilities.
Vertigo and Diablo are at the bottom of the pile in this game. I go
back on forth as to which one is worse. She can strike, like a snake,
which is nice and reaches far, but that usually will get interrupted.
Her 1's do such little damage, you can all but forget about them. Her
jumps are slow and, to be honest, her combos aren't too great out of
them, either.
She can stun opponents in two ways, and one of them is unblockable,
the other an anti-projectile. This is the key to playing Vertigo--this
and realising that you will most likely have to rely on her tail rather
than her strike.
Oh yes, and did I mention that she can teleport in the air? It's not
a slow teleport like Dhalsim's, either; she just kinda pops in and out
of reality real fast. Too bad that, again, it's not very useful.
Her slow speed and super-vulnerable, big, clumsy attacks make Vertigo
a challenge to play, even with the Come Slither and Voodoo Spell attacks.
NOTES ON MOVES:
--The Venom Spits are good only against characters completely across
the screen, as she sticks her neck out and leaves herself open to
attack.
--The Teleports are nice because some characters have trouble hitting
her out of them. Also, if she does it after knocking an opponent
down, for a comsetic touch, lightning will flash.
--The Come Slither cannot be used after a Voodoo Spell, and is a
special stun like Scorpion's Spear attack in the Mortal Kombat games
or like Caffeine Nicotine's one attack in Shin Samurai Spirits.
--The Voodoo Spell must be jumped; it cannot be guarded.
--The Scorpion Sting is her best move, arguably, because it has a
rather high priority and is a good, solid hit, knocking the foe off
his feet and ending nearly all of her combos.
--When performing the Shrink and Eat and Petrify finishing moves, you
must be sure and make the two parts distinct. If you do the second
part to quickly and have some "bleeding" of the buttons, the game will
think that you pressed all four buttons after hitting b,b,b. This
will bring about the la Vache qui Rit finisher.
--The Shrink and Eat finishing move is a FATAL BUG TO THE GAME. DO NOT
PERFORM IT AGAINST ARMADON AS IT WILL LOCK UP THE GAME. It may also
cause errors in other circumstances, so use it sparingly.
SAMPLE COMBOS:
--Close 2, 1+2, Voodoo Spell, close 2, 1+2, Scorpion Sting. 48/150? (32%)
--Close 2, 1+2, Come Slither, close 2, 1+2, Scorpion Sting. 48/150? (32%)
VS. COMPUTER:
--Armadon: Get a certain distance, then hit with a standing heavy kick
cancelled into a Scorpion Sting. You'll counter his attacks often.
Other than that, there's not much of a pattern here. Like most
opponents, you'll have to be on your toes with Vertigo.
--Blizzard: Get far away, jump back, let him Mega Punch, then crouching
4, 3+4, Scorpion Sting or just crouching 3+4, Scorpion Sting him.
--Chaos: Get the right distance between you guys, then try and throw
out crouching 4, 3+4, Scorpion Sting combos. For some reason, the
computer gets hit easily by her 4 and crouching 4. You may also
have to revert to forcing him to block and jumping over him at close
quarters with a jumping 4 and hoping that that counters his attacks.
He's tough with her, but then, so's everybody else.
--Diablo: You can try to do 3, 3+4, Scorpion Sting combos (or the
crouched version) on him at the right distance, but that isn't too
reliable. If you hop around, he'll get teleporty sometimes. Try
to counter it with crouched combos. You can also, of course, get
him blocking and start jumping all over him with a jumping 4, but
that doesn't prove as effective a tactic as it does with others.
--Sauron: This battle is a mess. You'll have to get the right
distance and either standing or crouching 4 him into a 3+4 chain,
then hit him with a Scorpion Sting. If he's close enough and getting
hit, you can always try to Come Slither and complete the combo. I'd
say that you'll need to get in at least one good combo on opponents
like him.
--Talon: This is a very hard battle, perhaps one of the hardest in
the game. Try jumping back with an attack, then jumping forward with
another to counter him as he jumps. You'll probably only be able to
interrupt him with a 4. If you get him in the air, remember to juggle
him with a chain into a 3+4, and try and strike him with a 1 or 2 as
he falls afterwards. Sometimes, you can get him to respond right as
you do a quick jump straight up (d, u), so that his 1+2 or Slasher
can be hit by your air 4. It's tough, but he can pretty much inter-
rupt all of your ground tricks.
--Vertigo: Somehow, even this fight is tough for Vertigo sometimes.
I will usually hop or high jump back with 1+2, then jump back in with
a 4 to interrupt her, but this doesn't prove too effective at times.
If you can start doing crouching 1+2's, cancel them into Scorpion
Stings. If you can, she'll usually turtle like mad, and you can just
do it over and over and over. Of course, in normal battles, she won't
die to block damage, so you'll need to hit her at least once. If
you wanna beat it with Vertigo, good luck! It's not impossible by
any means, and it's not like playing Gill in Third Strike or even a
King of Fighters boss, but it's still a little frustrating. You'll
most likely need to continue during the Final Battle.
==========
V. EPILOG
==========
I would like to thank CJayC, OrochiJin, Domenico and others who've read my
FAQ, those Atari knuckleheads who made this game, Midway for bringing it over,
and of course, Edan the Humble Magnificent.
Primal Rage wasn't the best game, or anything, but the previous home
versions were all at 6's and at 7's; sprites were cockeyed to the point where
their attacks didn't hit as normal, the sound was all screwy, the load times
were insufferable, animation frames dropped like mad, and there were problems
with allowing the player to perform a finishing move (most notably so in the
PlayStation release). There are only a few things really wrong with the
Midway version, though I still have to admit, I was really angry when I first
got it, because I assumed that most of the special moves just weren't
available to the player anymore because of some coding glitches.
As far as Western-developed fighters go, it may be the best, actually, in
terms of gameplay. There are chains, damage modifiers, normal moves can be
cancelled into special moves--all sorts of things that games like the Mortal
Kombat series and Rise of the Robots really have struggled to offer. It may
be true that all of these things were just mimickry of the old, Street Fighter
II craze, but every good 2D fighter has been unable to escape that, really.
As far as non-Japanese fighters go, the best one, in my opinion, still goes
to Xingyi Quan (known as Shin'i Ken in Japan and Martial Masters in the U.S.).
Again, not the world's most impressive game or anything, but it's still good
fun and you could certainly argue that it's deeper than any Mortal Kombat or
Killer Instinct, and lends itself more easily to tournament-style play.
In closing, here is a list of games that you must play if you haven't
already done so:
Yar's Revenge
Faxanadu
Samurai-dou 2
Super Metroid
Super Punch-Out! (SNES version)
Punch-Out! (NES version)
Tekken Tag Tournament
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
Street Fighter Zero 2'
Vampire Savior
Final Fantasy VI
Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun
Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu (aka Super Dodgeball, NES version)
Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball-bu Soccer Hen
Black Dragon (aka Black Tiger)
Xevius
The Bard's Tale (the original--I played the Apple IIgs version)
The Return of Heracles
Contra (the original)
Salamander (aka Life Force)
Gradius
Tenchi wo Kurau II -Sekiheki no Tatakai- (aka Warriors of Fate)
Sexy Parodius
Choujikuu Yousai Macross (PS2 version by AM2)
Chouwakusei Senki: Metafight (aka Blaster Master)
Real Bout: Garou Densetsu 2
Zelda no Densetsu (aka The Legend of Zelda)
Zelda no Densetsu: Kamigami no Triforce (the SNES Legend of Zelda)
..there are many, many more worth mentioning, but I'm really just flooding
this FAQ with useless rambling.
-----------------------------
VI. QUICK REFERENCE APPENDIX
-----------------------------
("was" refers to arcade Primal Rage)
(* = Finishing move)
ARMADON
-------
(2),d,u was: (2+3),d,u (tap)
(2+3),d,u (hold) (same)
(3),b,d,b (2+3),b,u,f
(3),b,d,f (1+3),b,d,f
(2+3),f,b (1+2+3),f,b
(1),f,d,f (1+2+3),df,f,uf
(4),f,d,b (1+4),b,f,d
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),u,f
(2),d,f (2+3),d,f
(1+2+3),d,d,d,d,d* (1+2+3),d,d,d,d,u*
(1+2+3+4),f,d,b,f,f* (same)*
(1+2+3+4),f,b,f* (1+2+3+4),d,b,u,d*
BLIZZARD
--------
(3),b,f was: (1+3),b,f
(4),b,f (2+4),b,f
(1+2+3+4),b,f (same)
(3),d,d (1+3),d,u
(1),f,f (1+2+4),b,f
(2),d,u (1+2+4),d,u
(1+4),f,b (1+4),f,d,b,u
then 1 (same)
2 (same)
3 (same)
4 (same)
air 2+3 (same)
(2+3),f,b (2+3),b,u,f
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),b,u,f,d
(1+2+4),d,d,b,b,f* (1+2+4),d,d,b,u,f*
(1+2+3+4),d,d,d,d,f* (1+2+3+4),d,d,d,d,u*
(1+2+3+4),b,b,b,b,b* (1+2+3+4),d,f,u,d,u*
CHAOS
-----
(2+3),f,b was: (2+4),f,b
(1),d,f (2+3),u,f
(2),d,f (1+4),u,f
(3),f,d,b (2+3),d,f,u,b
(3),d,d (air or ground) (2+3),b,ub,db (air or ground)
(4),d,d (2+4),d,f,u,uf,df
(3),f,f (1+3),f,f
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),f,d,b
(1+3),d,d,(1+2+3+4),b,f,b,f* (same)*
-OR- -OR-
(1+2+3+4),d,d,b,f,b,f* (same)*
(1+2+3+4),db,uf,df* (same)*
(1+2+3+4),f,f,f,b,b,b* (same)*
DIABLO
------
(1),d,f was: (1+3),d,f
(2),d,f (2+4),d,f
(1),d,b (1+3),u,f (tap)
(1+3),d,b (hold) (1+3),u,f (hold)
(2+4),ub,df (same)
(4),b,d,f (1+4),d,f
(4),b,d,b (1+4),u,f,d
(3),d,d (2+3+4),u
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),d,u,d
(1+2+3+4),ub,db,df* (same)*
(1+3+4),b,b,d,d,d* (1+3+4),u,d,u,d,d*
(2+3+4),f,f,f,f,f* (same)*
SAURON
------
(1),d,u was: (1+3),d,u
(1),b,f (1+3),b,f
(4),d,d (air or ground) (1+2+4),u,d (air or ground)
(4),d,u (2+3),d,u
air 2+3 air 2+4
(2+3),f,b (2+4),f,b
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),d,d,u
(1+2+3+4),b,f,b,f,b* (same)*
(1+3),d,d,(1+2+3+4),ub,ub* (1+3),d,d,(1+2+3+4),u,u*
-OR- -OR-
(1+2+3+4),d,d,ub,ub* (1+2+3+4),d,d,u,u*
(1+2+3+4),d,d,d,d,d* (1+2+3+4),u,d,u,d,d*
TALON
-----
(2),b,d,b was: (2+3),b,u,f
(2),f,d,f (2+3),f,d,f
(1),d,f (1+4),d,f (tap)
(1+4),d,f (hold) (same)
(1+3+4),d,f (same)
(2+3),f,b (2+4),d,f
(2),f,b (combo only) (2+4),b,f (combo only)
(1+2),f or b (same)
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),f,d
(1+4),f,d,b,f* (1+4),f,d,b,u*
f,b,d,f+2+3+4* (1+3+4),b,u,f,d*
-OR- -OR-
f,b,d,f+1+2+3+4* (N/A; only one way to do it in the arcade)
(1+2+3+4),f,b,f* (1+2+3+4),f,b,u,d*
VERTIGO
-------
(1),f,f was: (1+3),f,f
(2),f,f (2+4),f,f
(2),b,b (2+3),b,b
(3),b,b (1+3),b,b
(4),f,f (2+3),f,f
(4),d,d (ground or air) (2+4),d,d (ground or air)
(4),d,u (ground or air) (2+4),d,u (ground or air)
(1+2+3+4),f,d,f (1+2+3+4),d,f,u
(2+4),b,b,b,(1+2+3+4),f,f* (same)*
-OR- -OR-
b,b,b,f,f+1+2+3+4* (same)*
(2+4),b,b,b,(1+2+3+4),d,d* (2+4),b,b,b,(1+2+3+4),d,u*
-OR- -OR-
b,b,b,d,d+1+2+3+4* b,b,b,d,u+1+2+3+4*
(1+2+3+4),b,b,b* (1+2+3+4),b,b,b,d,f*
