Growl
From Sega Retro
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| Growl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Taito (JP, US, FR) 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[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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[1], 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[2], and Growl would even be published in South Korea by Samsung.
Contents
Story
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
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
| 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
Magazine articles
- Main article: Growl/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
- Main article: Growl/Promotional material.
Physical scans
| Sega Retro Average | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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57 |
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| Based on 21 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, JP |
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 Cover
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  Cart |
| Mega Drive, US |
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 Cover
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 Cart  Manual |
| Mega Drive, FR |
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| Mega Drive, KR |
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 Cover
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  Cart |
Technical information
- Main article: Growl/Technical information.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
- ↑ http://www.guardiana.net/MDG-Database/Mega%20Drive/RunArk/#v290
- ↑ File:Runark MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 132
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 197
- ↑ Aktueller Software Markt, "März 1992" (DE; 1992-02-14), page 116
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "December 1991" (JP; 1991-11-08), page 38
- ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 133
- ↑ Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 179
- ↑ Famitsu, "1991-11-15,22" (JP; 1991-11-01), page 39
- ↑ Games-X, "28th November-4th December 1991" (UK; 1991-11-28), page 30
- ↑ Génération 4, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 138
- ↑ Hippon Super, "December 1991" (JP; 1991-11-05), page 89
- ↑ Joypad, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 1991-12-1x), page 90
- ↑ Joystick, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 114
- ↑ Mega Drive Fan, "February 1992" (JP; 1992-01-08), page 89
- ↑ MegaTech, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-20), page 50
- ↑ Power Play, "3/92" (DE; 1992-02-12), page 136
- ↑ Sega Pro, "Christmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-12), page 60
- ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 67
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
- ↑ Supergame, "Julho 1992" (BR; 1992-07-xx), page 17
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 83
- ↑ User, "Ioúlios 1992" (GR; 1992-0x-xx), page 88
| Growl | |
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