This transformation gives you a demonstrable increase in powers as well as strength. As is the way of these pugilistic encounters, the fighters have numerous special manoeuvres in their armoury. The mole has huge, fearsome claws. The chameleon can suddenly blend into the background and Marvel becomes a leopard - she can grip you around the neck with her teeth. Nice.

The controls are quick and responsive and the visuals are cut from a neat cloth. In fact, Bloody Roar 2 has all the credentials you’d expect of a coin-op fighter. With fast animation, and a decent frame rate, it’s slick fare.

There are the usual gaming options one expects of pugilistic fare. In the one-player game, you can battle any of the eight opponents in Arcade mode, brawl for as long as you can in Survival mode or take on fighters sequentially in the Story option. You can even pick ‘Watch’, where you sit back and enjoy the proceedings without recourse to a joypad.

However, beat ‘em ups generally live or die by the quality of the two-player game. And Bloody Roar 2 fights a mean fight. There are one or two easily accessible special manoeuvres, and you can pick out kicks and punches with single buttons.

There is the sneaking suspicion though, enjoyable as it is, that the game becomes a battle to see who can whack the buttons the quickest. Because of the game’s speed, while attempting to access a quality combination, you can get kicked in the teeth eight times. Nonetheless, Hudson know how to construct an enjoyable fighting game, and Bloody Roar 2 is fun. Not an essential buy if you’ve got the original, though.