If you grew up with a PlayStation in the late 90s, you’d be, at the very least, familiar with the phrase “Jenny the Bat” and “Bakuryu the Mole”. These two characters are just some of the fan-favorite fighters that are part of the long-forgotten Bloody Roar franchise. The fighting game franchise ran five games deep, including four numbered installments, peaking from the 1998 to 2000 with the release of Bloody Roar 2 on the original PlayStation. Unfortunately, for some reason, the developers, Hudson Soft stopped making them, and with the studio being bought out by Konami in 2012, that was the end for the series. Or, so we thought.
Apparently, fighting game fans have been wanting to see a new Bloody Roar game for years. Now, they had a chance to voice their wishes.
Ed Boon, the co-founder of NetherRealm Studios, recently went on Twitter to ask a question, “Which fighting game has been away too long & needs to come back?” He gave users four choices: Dead or Alive, Killer Instinct, Soul Calibur, and Virtua Fighter. To everyone’s surprise though, the leading suggestions are neither of the four. Instead, fans are begging Boon to add one entry to the poll, Bloody Roar.
Which fighting game has been away too long & needs to come back?
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 15, 2023
Whether or not this is enough to get the ball rolling on Bloody Roar remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if this all amounts to nothing.
Even in a day and age where revivals and reboots are happening left and right, it isn’t so easy to pull off something this monumental. The main problem being is that its original development team are no more. The property now belongs to Konami, which hasn’t been in the business of making video games for quite some time.
True, Konami recently revived Silent Hill and Metal Gear, headlined by Silent Hill 2 and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, respectively.
Unfortunately, Bloody Roar is neither of these franchises. Metal Gear is one of the best-selling video game properties of all time and Silent Hill is one of the progenitors of the survivor horror genre. Bloody Roar, while a fan favorite, doesn’t quite have the same financial ring to it.
Of course, the inverse is also true – it’s a “smaller” property that isn’t as big of a risk. Therefore, it shouldn’t cost Konami as much to publish and develop a new entry, even if it’s a reboot.
Things get more complicated if NetherRealm Studios were to helm the next Bloody Roar game, however. Because it’s a studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, both the big shot companies will have to agree to make it happen, meaning that there needs to be more money involved. As you can see, the more we talk about how to make a new Bloody Roar happen, the bleaker the picture gets.
The good news is that you can never say never in the video game industry.
After all, who would’ve thought that Rockstar Games’ re-release of Red Dead Redemption is exactly as is? What about the rumblings of the remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion? Surely, no one could have predicted that.
Konami surprised everyone with its aforementioned revivals of its most beloved franchises. While Bloody Roar doesn’t move the needle as much, it’s evident that fans want to see it reimagined for modern platforms.
For now, fans of the franchise can at least take solace in the fact that some of the longest-running fighting games are still alive today. Street Fighter 6 remains at the top of its game, selling extremely well following its launch earlier this year. Mortal Kombat 1 is expected to do just as well when it comes out in September. Finally, Tekken 8, whenever it hits the store shelves, should give any fighting game a run for its money.
