Malyssa - Your Choice: Worship or Extinction

Well, here's a really obscure bit of fanart...and yet, it's also oddly 'not obscure' at the same time.

I'm sure people probably remember a certain fighting game with dinosaurs back from the 90s: Primal Rage.  It had a rather interesting premise (after a worldwide cataclysm via a meteor crash, the Earth...or now 'Urth' finds that the dinosaurs were actually gods that were sealed away for ages and they awakened to fight over what was left of the planet, humanity becomes tribes of worshippers to the gods), a colorful albeit small cast of non-humanoid fighters (7 dinosaurs and giant apes) and a variety of little changes to the traditional fighting game formula to make it stand out...although it didn't quite 'excel' sadly.  The game received a hell of a lot of ports though. ^^

Now, did you know that Atari made a SEQUEL?  Probably not, as it was unfortunately canceled in mid-development.  Plotwise, after no winner in the first game (plus another god showing up out of nowhere), the 'meteor' turns out to be an egg which hatches an alien, uh, dracolich (meant to be a final boss in PR1) which seals away all the gods.  In turn, the previous fighters empower a member of each of their tribes to become their 'Avatars' and fight again for dominance and release.

Again, Primal Rage 2 was unfortunately stopped before it was finished, apparently due to 'the shifting times' in terms of fighting games (plus, the fact you were now playing as human characters...albeit giant ones, removing one of the prime pluses to the original game).  Although, the original 7+1 'gods' were also selectable (and, apparently, you could also pick 'meta' versions which let you shift between an avatar and their god at will mid-match).

Only a few cabs were made with the unfinished game for testing.  However, someone fairly recently apparently cracked a bit of emulation regarding PR2...

Annnnnyway...

I remember, way back, seeing a few preview screenshots and models of characters in gaming magazines.  One caught my eye WAY back then.   It's kind of sick, but I've been aware of this character for a long time, checking for info or anything over the years.  And with the recent emulations and more info discovered about the scrapped sequel, well...I finally put something together for her.   So...technically an obscure character from an unfinished arcade game...that eventually at least got some exposure:

Taken from her intro text:

Malyssa Wisteria
(Avatar of Vertigo, the 'Goddess of Insanity' from Primal Rage 1)

"Young Malyssa protects the last secrets of magic from the dawn of time.
She hopes to learn new powers from her unholy alliance with Vertigo."

Malyssa, one of two female avatars in PR2, is a sorceress/temptress type (a tad 'serpent/Egyptian' themed), armed with a staff called Serpentra.  Her (unfinished) move list had projectiles and a number of moves using the staff.

(Spoiler: Despite the seductive, haughty, nasty personality...she's actually a 'good' character in her ending, where she turns on Vertigo and gives all humans their freedom.)

She's also rather eye-catchingly sparsely-clad, you notice.  Including, well, you know...bare feet and anklets.  

I'll also mention that her only programmed 'Extinction' move (that means 'fatality') actually points out that design element.  Malyssa uses her magic to shrink her opponent (to normal human size), walks over and crushes them under her foot.  She then realizes that she IS barefoot.   She lifts her foot to look at what's left on her sole, then humorously shakes it off her foot.  Gotta admit...that's perfect. ^^

I'm going way too long...

Anyway, this pic here is somewhat based on her ending image combined with that finisher.  Still in a giantess form, Malyssa sits in a giant sandstone throne and points out something to the human followers gathered around her bare feet.  Either they worship her and her bejeweled toes...or they might go extinct if she chooses to let her massive soles express her dominance. ^^

Background of layered dunes, temples, serpentine statue and sky more or less based on Malyssa's stage in PR2 (the slightly off colors and purples are deliberate and accurate...recall that Vertigo is a 'goddess of insanity', which applies to Malyssa too.
Blurry extreme foreground Worshippers are based/redrawn from the little human worshipper sprites from PR1.

Do I have to mention lastly that there's perspective in this little scene of 'how close do you want to get to the feet?'?

Lastly, of course, Malyssa and Primal Rage are works of Atari (albeit abandoned).