War Gods (video game)
Encyclopedia
War Gods is a 1996
fighting
arcade game
. It was created by Midway Games
and was eventually ported
to the Nintendo 64
, PlayStation and Windows
in 1997
.
series in featuring a great deal of gore and horrific fatalities. The array of playable characters featured gods (or, more accurately, immortals). One featured character in the game was Anubis
, the Ancient Egyptian guardian of the underworld, and the Jackal God. Other characters were more reminiscent of Roman gladiator
s such as "Maximus", the houngan "Voodoo", the questionable Kabuki Jo and the obviously fictional cybernetic "CY-5".
Released by Midway as a sort of litmus test of its new 3D software
prior to the release of Mortal Kombat 4
, War Gods was not a big financial success. The game was frowned upon by critics for the clumsy use of human models in its character design.
In a vision, AHAU KIN, an evil high priest, learned that untold power lay at the bottom of his tribe's sacrificial well. One by one, he sent his slaves to their death diving to reach The Ore. Finally, overwhelmed with desire, he plunged to the well's depths and retrieved The Ore.
ANUBIS:
While searching for lost treasure in the Valley of the Kings, a grave robber uncovered a hidden burial chamber. The thief tried to steal its treasures, unaware that The Ore had been placed in the chamber to destroy anyone who
entered. His body was destroyed by The Ore, but his soul is cursed to return as ANUBIS.
CY-5:
The power of The Ore is timeless. In the year 2096, scientists will implant The Ore into CY-5, an advanced cyborg, unaware that The Ore has life-giving power. CY-5 will kill the scientists. It will conclude that more Ore is needed for greater human consciousness.
CY-5 will fight in a ruthless systematic manner to achieve its goal...
KABUKI JO:
A feared medieval samurai discovered The Ore on the eve of a great battle. Overwhelmed by its power, he slaughtered his men in a rage of fire and fury. Shamed by the destruction he had caused, he became KABUKI JO, an outcast determined to master the power that consumes him.
MAXIMUS:
MAXIMUS, a mighty gladiator, fought for the entertainment of his masters. During a great festival that celebrated The Ore, he battled to determine which of his masters would possess it. He killed his opponent, but slaughtered his masters as well. He took The Ore and escaped. Consumed by its power, he fights for all who have been enslaved.
PAGAN:
Ancient manuscripts revealed the location of The Ore to PAGAN, a mistress of the black arts. She arrived at the ruins of a cathedral where The Ore was once worshipped. Pagan summoned forth the hidden Ore by reciting the manuscript's incantations. The Ore increased her hunger for power and destruction. She will destroy anyone who stands in her way.
TAK:
Thousands of years ago, a kingdom worshipped The Ore as a god. A rival kingdom declared war to capture The Ore. In
the face of defeat, the king hid The Ore in a stone idol. The idol came to life as TAK, avenger of a lost civilization.
VALLAH:
VALLAH, a warrior princess, became separated from battle during a great ice storm. Taking shelter in a nearby cave, she saw a glowing green light trapped inside a translucent wall of ice. Hacking away at the ice, her sword finally made contact with The Ore. Vallah was transformed into a Viking goddess, and rules the realm of ice.
VOODOO:
In a Caribbean village, a witch doctor enslaved his people with black magic and arcane spells. One night in desperation, the villagers captured the witch doctor and burnt him to death. They threw his body into a forbidden swamp, unaware that it hid a deposit of The Ore. The ore's energy brought his corpse back to life as VOODOO, god of the undead.
WARHEAD:
Government officials were worried that an experiment to merge nuclear weapons with The Ore was in jeopardy. They sent their top operative to investigate. When he arrived at the research center, the building exploded, covering his body with fragments of The Ore. The soldier was transformed into WARHEAD, a super-human fighter.
1996 in video gaming
-Notable releases:*January 29 — Duke Nukem 3D, successor to the simple side-scrolling originals, and a genre-redefining title for first person shooters....
fighting
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
. It was created by Midway Games
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
and was eventually ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
, PlayStation and Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
in 1997
1997 in video gaming
-Events:*October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi dies after a double car accident.*November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association launched.*3rd annual E3...
.
Background
War Gods was developed by a team led by George Petro (lead programmer) and Jack Haeger (lead artist). It was very similar to Midway's more famous Mortal KombatMortal Kombat (series)
Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
series in featuring a great deal of gore and horrific fatalities. The array of playable characters featured gods (or, more accurately, immortals). One featured character in the game was Anubis
Anubis
Anubis is the Greek name for a jackal-headed god associated with mummification and the afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu . According to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, Anubis' name was vocalized as Anapa...
, the Ancient Egyptian guardian of the underworld, and the Jackal God. Other characters were more reminiscent of Roman gladiator
Gladiator
A gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
s such as "Maximus", the houngan "Voodoo", the questionable Kabuki Jo and the obviously fictional cybernetic "CY-5".
Released by Midway as a sort of litmus test of its new 3D software
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
prior to the release of Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat 4 is the fourth main game in the Mortal Kombat series of fighting video games developed by Midway Games. Released to arcades in 1997, Mortal Kombat 4 is the first title from the series to use 3D computer graphics as well as one of the first games that Midway made in 3D. Eurocom later...
, War Gods was not a big financial success. The game was frowned upon by critics for the clumsy use of human models in its character design.
Plot
Many, many years ago, a spaceship carrying precious life-giving ore crashes to Earth. The chunks of ore scatter across the planet, and over the years, ten humans each find a stone of the ore, and are transformed into powerful beings, War Gods. And now, they are fighting each other to possess all the stones and become the ultimate super-warrior.Characters
- Warhead (Radioactive American soldier with missiles)
- Kabuki Jo (Japanese KabukiKabukiis classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
warrior) - CY-5 (Cyborg)
- Tak (Living tribal statue)
- Pagan (A pagan witch)
- Vallah (A Norse ValkyrieValkyrieIn Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
) - Maximus (A gladiatorGladiatorA gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
) - Ahau Kin (Aztec/Mayan Priest)
- Voodoo (Witch doctor)
- Anubis (A grave robber turned god of the dead)
- Grox (Sub-boss: A massive frog-like monster)
- Exor (BossBoss (video games)A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
: Seen on the game's box art)
Character backgrounds
AHAU KIN:In a vision, AHAU KIN, an evil high priest, learned that untold power lay at the bottom of his tribe's sacrificial well. One by one, he sent his slaves to their death diving to reach The Ore. Finally, overwhelmed with desire, he plunged to the well's depths and retrieved The Ore.
ANUBIS:
While searching for lost treasure in the Valley of the Kings, a grave robber uncovered a hidden burial chamber. The thief tried to steal its treasures, unaware that The Ore had been placed in the chamber to destroy anyone who
entered. His body was destroyed by The Ore, but his soul is cursed to return as ANUBIS.
CY-5:
The power of The Ore is timeless. In the year 2096, scientists will implant The Ore into CY-5, an advanced cyborg, unaware that The Ore has life-giving power. CY-5 will kill the scientists. It will conclude that more Ore is needed for greater human consciousness.
CY-5 will fight in a ruthless systematic manner to achieve its goal...
KABUKI JO:
A feared medieval samurai discovered The Ore on the eve of a great battle. Overwhelmed by its power, he slaughtered his men in a rage of fire and fury. Shamed by the destruction he had caused, he became KABUKI JO, an outcast determined to master the power that consumes him.
MAXIMUS:
MAXIMUS, a mighty gladiator, fought for the entertainment of his masters. During a great festival that celebrated The Ore, he battled to determine which of his masters would possess it. He killed his opponent, but slaughtered his masters as well. He took The Ore and escaped. Consumed by its power, he fights for all who have been enslaved.
PAGAN:
Ancient manuscripts revealed the location of The Ore to PAGAN, a mistress of the black arts. She arrived at the ruins of a cathedral where The Ore was once worshipped. Pagan summoned forth the hidden Ore by reciting the manuscript's incantations. The Ore increased her hunger for power and destruction. She will destroy anyone who stands in her way.
TAK:
Thousands of years ago, a kingdom worshipped The Ore as a god. A rival kingdom declared war to capture The Ore. In
the face of defeat, the king hid The Ore in a stone idol. The idol came to life as TAK, avenger of a lost civilization.
VALLAH:
VALLAH, a warrior princess, became separated from battle during a great ice storm. Taking shelter in a nearby cave, she saw a glowing green light trapped inside a translucent wall of ice. Hacking away at the ice, her sword finally made contact with The Ore. Vallah was transformed into a Viking goddess, and rules the realm of ice.
VOODOO:
In a Caribbean village, a witch doctor enslaved his people with black magic and arcane spells. One night in desperation, the villagers captured the witch doctor and burnt him to death. They threw his body into a forbidden swamp, unaware that it hid a deposit of The Ore. The ore's energy brought his corpse back to life as VOODOO, god of the undead.
WARHEAD:
Government officials were worried that an experiment to merge nuclear weapons with The Ore was in jeopardy. They sent their top operative to investigate. When he arrived at the research center, the building exploded, covering his body with fragments of The Ore. The soldier was transformed into WARHEAD, a super-human fighter.
External links
- Wargods at EurocomEurocomEurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...