Primal Rage II - ROM Encryption

ROM Encryption

The Primal Rage design team implemented an unusual and largely unknown security method into the arcade machine's coding that prevented the full features of the game from becoming active. As a result, the game has never been accurately emulated on any platform.

Blood would be "censored" in that it would be colored a yellowish color with a brown shading. Also, fatalities could not be performed, and many special moves were not available, most notably characters with "Pouncing" moves could not land on the victim (Sauron's leaping bone bash, and Chaos's flying buttocks slam. Diablo's pulverizer has this problem though it can be landed on Talon for some reason but none of the others). Another emulation problem was the player could no longer chain attacks which greatly decreased the chance of performing a combo. In the original arcade version, it was possible to repeat attacks such as Diablo's low 1 and standing 3+4.

This affects Midway Arcade Treasures 2 (Classics), which was expected to feature an arcade perfect rendition of the game, but provided a censored and incomplete version instead.

The original programming team has since moved on to other things. Some of the programmers have actually departed the electronic entertainment business altogether and could not be located for questioning regarding the game's security lock-outs. Others, who have been contacted, expressed no interest in unlocking the ROM BIOS for freeware distribution or security corrections. Thus, no perfect emulation of the original arcade game exists.