Growl

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Growl
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Taito (JP, FR) Taito America (US) Samsung (KR)
Developer: I.T.L
Distributor: Samsung (KR)
Original system(s): Taito F2 System
Developer(s) of original games: Taito
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-11-15 ¥6,8006,800 T-11153 US 1991 11076 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub EU ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub FR 199x 11076 KR 199x GM4016JT
Non-Sega versions Arcade

Growl, known in Japan as Runark (ルナーク), is a Sega Mega Drive beat-'em-up game developed by I.T.L. and published by Taito. A port of the publisher's titular 1990 arcade game Growl, it was first released in Japan in November 1991, and was later brought to the United States in the following months. The American release would eventually be officially distributed in France with a French-language manual, and Growl would even be published in South Korea by Samsung.

Story

Introduction

A worldwide craze to own exotic pets has led to many species being hunted to near-extinction by the poaching and smuggling ring calling itself the Rendow Animal Protection Organization (RAPO). The Protector of Animals' World Society (PAWS) has committed itself to ending this trade and defeating RAPO.

Gameplay

Character select

The game is a belt-scrolling beat-'em-up. The player begins the game by choosing from one of four different forest rangers, each with a different amount of health, attack strength, and jumping height. The character walks with and and moves in and out of the plane with and . He jumps with and attacks with . He can perform a variety of different attacks (punches, kicks, and finishing blows) depending on the position of an enemy. Without a weapon equipped, he performs a spinning kick with + or with or a leaping kick with + or +, though these special moves cost a small amount of health and cannot be performed if the player does not have enough health remaining.

The player can procure weapons by destroying barrels and wooden crates or disarming certain enemies. There are a total of eight weapons which can be obtained: three melee weapons (a pipe, a sword and a whip), two throwing weapons (knives and hand grenades), and three firearms (a revolver, an M-16 assault rifle, and a four-barreled rocket launcher). The barrels and crates can be picked up and thrown at enemies as well. When the assault rifle or rocket launcher runs out of ammunition, they are still wielded by the player as melee weapons. The revolver, on the other hand, is thrown by the player after all of its bullets are used. The player can drop the current weapon with . If a weapon lies on the ground after a certain period, it vanishes completely.

Some of the stages have animals that help out the player after they are rescued from a poacher, such as an eagle, a herd of deer, and an elephant.

The character has a limited amount of health, indicated in the status area at the bottom of the screen, which is lost by taking damage from enemies or using special moves. The player can pick up apples to restore some health. If the player runs out of health, the game ends, but it can be continued as long as there are continues remaining.

Characters

	Gen
	He has good health and attack and a high jump.
	Burn
	He has high health and a good jump but low attack strength.
	Khan
	He has high health and a high jump but low attack strength.
	Jack
	He has the highest attack strength and a good jump but the least health.

Battlefields

	Machanga
	The Unwelcome Passenger
	Bonus Stage
	Destroy the cages to set the birds free.
	Down on the Docks
	Cargo of Death
	Jungle Battle
	Daggers in the Dark
	The RAPO Base

Versions

Even though the arcade machine supported up to four players simultaneously, the Mega Drive version of Growl is a one-player only game. All sampled speech has been removed in the Sega conversion, and is substituted with captions at the bottom of the screen.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English (US)	Growl	Growl
Japanese	ルナーク	Runark

Production credits

• Princess Sana, F/A-18 Otaku, K Kobayashi
• Yuji Takasu, H Ichisumi, Tomo, Funky Miyagi
• K Asakura
• Gota Goto
• Bugtori-no Y, Mystery Hunter, Kanna, Steed Sasapi!, Celica Kunipi!, Kiyotaka Akaza, Izumi Katoh, F Hayashi
• Kenichi Hiza

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Growl/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Growl/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 30 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) NTSC-J 30 Aktueller Software Markt (DE) 55 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 55 Console XS (UK) NTSC-J 78 Cool Gamer (RU) 50 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 50 Games-X (UK) 70 Génération 4 (FR) 70 Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J 40 Joypad (FR) 62 Joystick (FR) NTSC-J 70 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 59 MegaTech (UK) NTSC 50 Power Play (DE) 45 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 70 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J 58 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 54 Supergame (BR) NTSC-J 84 Tricks 16 bit (RU) NTSC-U 59 User (GR) NTSC-U 52

	57
Based on 21 reviews

Growl

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, FR

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Growl/Technical information.