Let’s talk about it…
There never were arcades in my country, so I only know the SNES version of the game which was great but you felt that it was horribly cut (Incomplete moves, fatalities and even characters were missing).
Even in this unfinished state the game was kinda fun. Mortal Kombat kind of fun.
I can still remember bonus stages where you would have to eat as many cavemen as possible who worship you like a God.
I really wish I would’ve had the arcade version.
Yeah, it was in the local mall arcade of 1995 
where I first seen the game! To my little mind at the time, it was one of the most incredible things I ever seen. It just looked and sounded so fucking cool to me, it didn’t ever really occur to me how terrible the game was until I got Street Fighter II on my SNES, and learned what really made a great fighting game. It was like Mortal Kombat in that the sound and image was the selling point. It was mesmerizing to me in the arcades.
So I talked my parents into getting it for me on SNES for Christmas, and I spent lot’s of time enjoying that, but it was never as good as the arcade version. I didn’t learn there were finishing moves in the game until a year later after owning the SNES version, and that was a pretty exciting surprise. I thought it was real bullshit that Chaos’s “Golden Shower” fatality was censored, because I wanted to see that one the most.
My 6 years old thread has some good stuff (Missing the new combovid link)
EDIT: Combovid Link:
Fond memories of this one. But it always felt sluggish compared to KI and MK3, and the music was pretty boring.
What’s there to say? I want it. I want a complete version of 2 to play. I want the series to be revived!
I mean the game is certainly not good but between Clayfighter, Rise of the Robots and Shaq-Fu and all the other garbage fighters around the time that tried to jump the MK/SF train, this game is most probably the best.
At least they tried.
What are some of the best ports available for this game? Last I heard it was the Saturn port and the one in the Midway Arcade Collection 2.
If you go by the console versions of Midway AT2 this is the way:
Xbox > PS2 > GC
But the better of all is the PC version MAT Deluxe.
the MS-DOS version is quite good since it features all the animation of the arcade. I remember it fondly at that time, but I had trouble with pressing more than 2 keys on the keyboard. Now it shouldnt be an issue.
Midway Arcade Collection features problematic emulation
Sadly the pc version while having most of the anination, had quite issue and different atributes to various moves. Example Chaos standing 2 wich is a long punch and it doesnt has any reach on PC.
Also you would have to find a very old pc to play it cause al versions I have tried refuse to play on any DOS box. Even on XP it gave me issues. Win 95-98 go figure.
Play the MAT Deluxe version on PC. Its the most arcade accurate there is 
Why not just play it on MAME?
From Wikipedia:
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. Since the original programming team has since moved on to other things; some of the programmers even departed the electronic entertainment business altogether, so they could not be reached for questioning regarding the game’s security lock-outs. Those who have been contacted expressed no interest in unlocking the ROM BIOS for freeware distribution or security corrections. For these reasons no perfect emulation of the original arcade game exists.
Only seeing one unknown encryption line for each game regarding Atari GT in Mame’s source. I doubt the protection messes with game as bad as the orginal Fighter’s History where Karnov could and would crash the game.
Dont know if it is a protection or game issue, but when a character is hit and falls, he doesnt lie on the ground but floats for a while in mid-air. Only when he recovers goes he back touching the ground
Also lots of moves have fucked up properties, like poping up the foe way higher than they should.
I have read about the encryption thing for the arcade rom.
Speaking of MAT Deluxe, I think that might be a good idea, as this might be the closest to the arcade game as we can get. However, I’ve read one time that this collection forces you to install unwanted software etc. Can anyone elaborate on this?
Yes it has an stupid DRM soft called Starforce, but only in the CD version, the DVD one is very good and doesnt has that intrussive DRM.
Oh, I didn’t know there were 2 versions released. Thanks man, I’ll seek out the DVD one then.
yes, the MATD version is indeed the best. Not only that, it recognizes the arcade stick without issues even though the programm is almost 8 year old.
something newer AAA fighters struggled with…
Thanks Hanzo. I had forgotten about that game ever since the DOS version and remembered it again.