Players start each fight with a full life bar and a Beast Gauge, which allows them to transform into a stronger half-animal fighter.

This new land, however, relies heavily on Zoanthrope soldiers and mercenaries as a source of income, selling their service to various foreign countries.

While prior entries in the series were on Sony consoles, the decision was made to move to Nintendo's GameCube primarily because of its hardware specifications.

Direction Kenji Fukuya cited the lighting and shading capabilities in particular as reasons that Extreme could become the best looking Bloody Roar game.

While the controls largely remain the same, some characters have slightly altered move sets and combos so that players do not have to press two face buttons at the same time.

[10] While Fukuya stated in a prior interview that Extreme was "always destined for the GameCube,"[10] a port for the Xbox released roughly one year later.

[18] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin said of the GameCube version's accessibility, "you wouldn't be lying if you tried to reassure them that it's easy to get into and get good at Bloody Roar: Primal Fury."

"[23] Matt Casamassina of IGN praised the game's Beast Gauge system in the website's early review, describing it as "a careful dance of knowing when to change and when to stay put ensues, and thus deepens the fighting experience.

Kasavin said the game's soundtrack, "consisting of completely uncool guitar riffs, is perhaps a suitable match for its anime-influenced character designs, though it can also get rather irritating.

Indeed, some of the musical selections are downright aged, with a dusty sound that could only be used nowadays in a Japanese 3D fighter or a Sonic the Hedgehog update.