Publisher: Taito
Developer: Taito
Size: 4 megs
No. of players: 1
Official Ad: Yes
Got it for: $4.99, cart only.

Apparently, a massive group of poachers have been tearing ass across the globe killing just about every animal they can find. The local chapter of the Indiana Jones fan club finds out about this and gets pissed, *really* pissed. Not content with just wondering what Dr. Jones would do, they set out to kill each and every poacher they can get their hands on...

What's it all about?
It's an arcade beat'em up that's heavy on quick deaths, weapons and lots of hardcore brutality. Having your choice of four characters(Gen, Burn, Kahn and Jack), each with slightly different attributes and special moves, you'll move through each stage brutally killing anyone that gets in your way. As per the formula, you'll go through the hordes in order to make it to a boss, whip his ass them move onto the next area.
These guys are fucking serious too...no messing around! The things you can do to these poor enemies...my God! You can blow them to pieces with rocket launchers and grenades, shoot them, stab them, whip them, crush them with boulders and much more...and that just covers what you can do with items you find! Using your fists and feet you can also beat them to an absolute pulp, knee them in the face, grab them by the throat and punch them to death, stomp them while on the ground and even break out a TMNT-like multi-slam! As if all that's not enough, after rescuing certain animals they'll actually come to your aid, and help you attack the poachers(the elephant rocks).

Graphics - Though definitely scaled *way* down from the arcade release, the graphics here are still alright. The stages look decent, with a fair amount of detail and such...and there's even one area that uses a kinda hip method of faked lighting. Unlike most similar games, the characters actually have different animations when they move up and down the screen, giving them more of an illusion of being 3D-ish...too bad they look like retarded apes, swinging their arms around the way they do...

Indiana Jone...er, Gen
Sound - There aren't a whole lot of sound effects to speak of, but what's there sounds ok; pretty much your typical beat'em up set of effects. The music has...and I want to say "that Taito sound" to it, but for those of you who have no idea what that means...um, think hardcore drums...accompanied by a decent melody.

Burn, because he's hot!
Control - Not bad, as long as the enemies aren't just pounding you to pieces. Everything you do comes off immediately, though certain things that require two button presses at the same time are prone to user error. About the only time the control really gets rough is when you're being ganged up on. You'll try to hit back, or do anything, but when seventeen fists and feet are smacking you in the face it can be a bit difficult to lash back.

Kahn(no relation to Shao)
AI - Cheap...gang-bang style! The enemies themselves are pretty cheap, but then throw in the fact that up to around *fifteen* can be on the screen attacking you at once and things get really ugly, really fast. The thing that saves the game from being ruined by this are the constant weapons you can acquire and the enemy-clearing special moves your characters can perform. Clearing out a crowd really isn't that tough, assuming you can get some room to do so...

Jack...just Jack!
Bosses, on the other hand, are unbelievably hard...and cheap on top of that. Seems like the typical boss fight consists of: Boss hitting you, you get up and perform special move, boss falls down, boss gets back up and gives you another mandatory hit, you get up and perform special move, so on and so forth until they are dead...
Replay value - Moderate to low. Though it's by no means a terrible game...it's not exactly a terribly deep or involving game either. Knocking it down even further, the lack of the multiplayer option really kills breaking it out when a buddy is present.
Tips for better gaming experiences:
Any time you run across a boulder...do your best to keep it on the screen and hold on to it! This thing really fucks'em up, and you can really tear through the cheap ass bosses with no problems. For the most part, as long as you've got a boulder in your hands, even if the game makes your character move to another section, you'll still have it. Playing your cards rights, you can take a boulder with you throughout the entire game. Also, be sure to jack the Continues up to seven in the Options screen, it'll be enough to finish the game, without being overly concerned about your health meter all the time.
Game Genie:
Those poachers whoopin' your ass something serious? The turtle-slam not quite taking care of business like it should? Genie has got your back!

My rating: 75(out of 100) - Even with scaled down graphics, and a lack of *any* multiplayer gameplay, Growl is still an alright beat'em up. The gameplay is still pretty much intact, and the hardcore brutality your character exhibits(among other things) will crack you up. It suffers only from overly cheap AI, and enemies that frustrate more than anything else.

Cat's review:
Ugh, what a crappy translation. The arcade game was great, this...is not. Reow!
Pissed off by the poaching!
Fuck these poachers!
An ass whipping good time!
Yeehaw, ninja cowboy!
A single growl:
Not content with just doing it to us once(see ThunderFox), Taito again takes a multiplayer arcade game and drops it down to one player for the Genesis release. Though I can understand that they couldn't possibly have made it four player(like the arcade version), I just don't see why it couldn't have been, at least, two player...