Beast Wrestler
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1991 Telenet Co. LTD
Sega Genesis
In the study of comparative culture/religion, one comes across many Jungian archetypes, i.e. symbology that have universal meanings consistent across all the peoples of the Earth, such as water and light equated to life and prosperity, fruit to fertility, etc. One thing they forget to mention though is that Giant Monsters wrestling = cool, no matter who you are or where you're from. Everyone from the King of Scotland to a Masai water boy can see that humongous hideous beasts clawing, biting, and body slamming each other while crowds of little fleeing humans get stomped on like ineffectual fleas is awesome. It astounds me then about how many games manage to take this no-brainer premise and screw it up.
This particular game as you as a beast handler person who trains your own monster in these futuristic fighting tournaments. In story mode your only option is a large bipedal dragon thing, while in Match (exhibition) you're allowed to use all of the other monsters, all of which are more interesting. Why do so many games of from this period limit your character choices in story mode? How hard would have it have been to let you choose any monster you want? Lame.
Anyway, the graphics for the monsters are actually pretty detailed and look good. Then the actual fight starts and you notice how incredibly badly everything is animated, like two step punching and kicking and three step walking cycle. Talk about cheap. The fighting itself is like a poor man's wrestling game, very simple, punch and kick to wear the guy out, grapple and jam on the A button to bust a hold or throw. Get the other guy from behind and you can nail him with a back breaker without having to button mash. Each monster also has it's own special move which can only be done when the "A" appears in the corner of your life gauge. You can also grapple on the ground, body slam the other guy, throw him into the "ropes" (which is an otherwise invisible electric force field,) and kick the enemy while he's down. Unlike traditional wrestling you don't have to pin, just knock them down enough until their three energy balls are depleted and they bite it. Inbetween matches you get to train your monster to up it's stats, buy food to make it stronger, etc. You only get a limited amount of money and won't be able to buy everything so you've got to make strategic decisions. Also in Story mode at two points you're able to mutate your dragon thing into something a lot more interesting and effective (although these mutations are not available in exhibition mode.)
Although the game is pretty slow it's not unplayable. Problem is though while you're grappling (which happens a lot) and jamming on the A button there really isn't any indication of who's winning, it would have helped to have a meter appear or something. Also although the ring is in 3/4 isometric view the bounding boxes for the monsters don't line up correctly. You would think in order to punch someone your feet should have to be on the same plane, right? Not so, if the other monster is above you at all, say with his feet near your head, you can jam on the A button and punch his feet while he can't hit you at all. Same goes for a monster above you, he can kick you in the head while you can't touch him. Such sloppy programming totally defeats the illusion of depth. Also the A. I. isn't too smart, it follows easily identifiable patterns while you can usually knock the other monster down and administer repeated chokeholds over and over and over.
Yeah the game is pretty crappy, however once I figured out how to play it somewhat grew on me. The very limited fighting system gets a little boring, especially after playing though all 15 different monsters and doing the exact same three moves over and over. But there is a little charm and fun here though.
Graphics: The monsters look good until they start to move around. Quite possibly the worst animation in a Genesis game I've ever seen. The rings are pretty boring, drab Earth colors and obvious tiles. Those random jumbles of pixels in the background are supposed to be stands of people. The text is all written in the old English font that is really hard to read and it's translated rather poorly.
Sound: Crap. Horrible. The punch and kick noise is generic, and the sound of the monsters dying just plain sucks. I know the Genesis can do better.
Gameplay: As it's giant monster wrestling it's not completely lame, however other games for this system like King of the Monsters do it so much better.
This is the generic monster they stick you with in a one player tournament name. The name given in the manual is "Zenector" but you're allowed to name it anything you want. Since it walks with this weird gorilla-arm swing I named mine "Flooky." You're allowed to choose a charging punch or a sky-high body slam for a special. Also twice during the game you're allowed to mutate your monster into something more interesting.
The first monster you fight in like a peliminary qualification match, and it's an orange and pink pallette swap of Zenector. This monster doesn't have any specials and is pretty easy to beat.
The first real fight you have is against Voulsine. Since it crawls on the ground you can't grab it, so you have to basically punch it to death, which takes forever. Voulsine cannot be used in exhibition mode.
This monster's name is Airhole. Okaayyy... I'm chocking this one up to bad translation. This monster does this crazy flying piledriver thing so avoid grappling.
Velbent is a centaur-like thing with bits of red stormtrooper armor superguled to it's body. Elsewhere in the game it's also called "Ventor." This monster is also not availible in exhibition mode.
Once you beat Velbent you're given the option to mutate your monster into this form, called "Delbent." There isn't any difference inbetween this choice or the other except how they look. You tail attack gains range and your special changes to a short range slash attack. Like the other mutations this one can't be used in exhibition mode.
Dycoon is a pain in the ass! The tail has like two character lengths reach on you, plus it has an eye-beam projectile attack that kills a point from your life meter in one hit. When you see the "A" in it's corner you have to purposely allow it to knock you down so it will shoot over your head. Bastard.
This is the other form you can choose to take after you defeat Dycoon, hence his name is "Diecoon." You get the option to choose this one or Delbent at the same time. Same thing as the other form, you gain distance with the tail and a short ranged slash for a special attack.
I think this one looks cooler.
Driton is the Domestic circut champ, and also has a projectile attack like Dycoon, but uses his not nearly as often. Thus he's a lot easier to beat. Dirton also cannot be played in exhibition mode.
This monster is called Frederico. He must be like the south of the border, Mexican hat-dancing monster or something. Anyway like Voulsine he's too short to grapple so you have to punch it to death. Unlike Voulsine this one has a projectile special and is a lot harder to beat.
Ulvous is the resident cyborg. Actually this is a pretty cool character desgin, like a snake that has artificial arms, good idea. Ulvous is the king of cheapness and will knock you over and nail you with a special as you get up.
Beware the Blob! This blob's name is Aloweena, which I suppose probably means something. It starts small but grows and can be grappled.
After you beat Aloweena you get the option to mutate again into Deloweena. This beast actually kind of sucks because it has reduced range and no special attack. It's one saving grace is that it can pick up a downed monster, which is something no other monster can do. Like the other mutations it cannot be selected in exhibition mode.
Octii has the ability to absorb massive amounts of punishment, although it can't really dish it out. You'll be wailing away on this thing for the whole seven minutes and probably still not be able to TKO it.
Ploguras has kind of an Indain motif going on, like if the Hindu elephant god Ganesh became a giant wrestling monster he would look like this. This one also seems to just not die, and you'll probably have to win by decision.
Every giant monster game needs a giant robot, hence Max-004. In exhibition mode it's called Dax-004. This is another pain in the ass fight as it has this lazer sword thing that will knock off a full point on contact. Best bet is to keep your distance and repeatedly tail whip it until it dies.
Micaha is probably the hardest fight in the game. This thing sucks. I hate this bastard. This was like one of those fights that I tried so many times that when I finally did win I had to run around the room screaming in joy and flipping the bird to the TV screen. Had to. Had no choice.
Compared to the last fight with Micaha this guy is cake. Ominos will disappear and reappear but doesn't attack while invisible. Attack immedieatly when it reappears and you'll floor it. The last boss is named Blendam, which I suppose is some kind of Engrish translation for Bedlam. "Blendam" sounds more like I should be buying it on the Home Shopping Network or something. Anyway for the last boss he's a cakewalk.
