I love stories like this! Some of you may remember just how big fighting games got during the 1990‘s, particularly on the arcade scene (arcades, remember those?). There were tons of franchises founded during that decade and only a handful rose to prominence and made a name for their selves like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. One of my favorite games, as horrible as it was, had to be Atari’s Primal Rage. It was a dinosaur fighting game, how could you not love that?
Anyways, I spent countless Saturday mornings pouring quarters and tokens into the game at places like Putt-Putt Golf and Games and Aladdin’s Castle (complete with an Orange Julius next door). I even went as far as picking up an actual Primal Rage arcade game many years later. One of the games that I longed for during that time was the 1997 sequel to the game that was announced and then got lost in oblivion. Aside from the announcement of its existence, very little information ever made its way public as the game was canceled very early on.
Despite never making it into full production, a very limited number of boards for the game exist, and you can play one of them now thanks to the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield, IL. The establishment has managed to track down and purchase a Primal Rage II prototype board and has added it to its lineup of arcade games for the public to enjoy. I have to be honest, I am really tempted to pack up the car and take a short road trip up to Illinois to check it out as this game is something I still long to play to this day.
If you are in the neighborhood of the Galloping Ghost, stop by and check out a piece of gaming history.
Source: Arcade Heroes
