AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 http://ps2.ign.com/articles/497/497528p1.html Or, for you lazy bastards: Galactic Wrestling: Featuring Ultimate Muscle Kinnikuman returns to America and this time he's on PlayStation 2. Movies, screens, and details inside! March 09, 2004 - If you were a child of the 1980s then there's a strong chance you'll remember the 'Millions of Unusual Small Creatures Lurking Everywhere' -- or as they're better known today: Kinnikuman Ultimate Muscle. Despite its huge advertising blitz and more than 230 different toys, however, the license never truly caught on with American audiences until the Japanese anime traveled to our shores a few years ago. If you haven't seen it, the show itself is actually pretty bizarre and humorous with plenty of zany action and wrestling goodness to please just about every type of fan. In short, the Kinnikuman Legacy is quickly becoming one of our guilty pleasures around here at the office, and with its huge cast of unusual characters and strong dub work it's not really much of a surprise. GameCube owners had a taste of Ultimate Muscle last year when Bandai unveiled its over the top grappler Legends vs. New Generation. And while it did manage to draw several comparisons to games like Def Jam Vendetta and WWF No Mercy (which makes perfect sense considering that Aki developed them all), it didn't stop hardcore Kinnikuman fans and wrestling nuts from picking it up. In fact, the game was so popular with IGN readers that it wasn't too long before our mailbag started filling up with emails asking us when there'd be a follow-up. Luckily for them, their questions have finally been answered. As Bandai has officially confirmed that the next title in the Kinnikuman series is only a few months away. Expected to appear on store shelves this coming June, Galactic Wrestling: Featuring Ultimate Muscle is jumping ship from its previous location on the GameCube and heading over its mortal enemy: the PlayStation 2. As heartbroken as GameCube owners may be, they may still be interested to learn that Galactic Wrestling is a lot more expansive than your typical yearly update. Instead of just porting over the original title with a couple of new bells and whistles, Bandai and Aki have really gone all out and expanded upon the existing schematic. For starters, there are more than twice as many selectable characters in comparison to New Generation's -- with a grand total of 48 different grapplers. These personalities range from all ages of the Kinnikuman timeline too; so while current fans may recognize faces like Kevin Mask and Kid Muscle, us old-timers are sure to appreciate appearances by Buffaloman and Rikishiman. To keep things interesting, only 24 of these characters will be playable from the start with the other 24 hidden as unlockables. Naturally, Ultimate Muscle's gameplay engine remains relatively unchanged from the last version with the same classic model that powered THQ's N64 WWF titles back in the day. All of our favorite maneuvers from New Generation are in here too, with midair evades, counters, tackle breaks, and tag team combinations coming back with all-new animations and effects. To make the game more realistic (kind of funny when you think about it) Aki has also included ground moves and ground grapples for additional damage, and unlike the last Muscle installment, you can actually pin your opponents for a three-count. Moreover, special maneuvers are handled a little differently this time too, with each wrestler given three torches near their health meter to represent different levels of attack. The more of these torches that are lit (affected by positive/negative performance), the more powerful their move set will become. Holding L1 and doing a regular attack or grapple will utilize the power of those torches from there. If all three torches are filled, your character will be able to pull off an "Ultimate Special Attack" reminiscent of the super moves from the GameCube version. Luckily these have been redone in several areas as well, and we have yet to see a finisher that was used in the previous game. Oh and while we're on the subject of special moves and abilities, expect to see a lot of them from your CPU opponent; as the A.I. is a lot more aggressive this time around. The in-game options are pretty well-rounded too with seven different environments and various rings types to wrestle with. Barbed wire, electric wire, concrete mats, iced-over canvases, and other such bizarre variables add a lot of personality to an already personable sort of game, but we were surprised to learn that there aren't any foreign objects or item usage of any kind (but there are a couple of power-ups. Yay!) In terms of gameplay modes there are six in total: Versus, Tournament, Team Battle, Survival, View, and Toy. As one might expect, versus mode is where players will likely spend the majority of their time and they'll be able to participate in singles matches, tag matches, and three or four-character battle royals. Tournaments allow up to eight people to choose their favorite alter egos and battle it out seeing who the superior wrestler is, and team battle pits two teams of five grapplers against one another in single-elimination style confrontations. Surprisingly the story mode we enjoyed from the last version has been removed, but has been replaced by the Guilty Gear-esque Survival feature. Broken into two different types, the survival mode not only proves to be a great way to earn coins to unlock characters it's the only way you can earn the right to wear the illustrious Golden Mask. The last two selectable modes, View and Toy, are the obligatory novelty settings: with view allowing you to watch the CPU fight itself and the toy option letting you play with virtual toy dispensers so that you may collect a multitude of display-worthy goodies. Perhaps one of the most shocking changes of Ultimate Muscle in comparison to last year's version, is the developer's decision to use traditional 3D graphics instead of cel-shading. And while the animation and backgrounds are certainly pretty decent by PS2 standards, they're still nowhere near as appealing or crisp as their GameCube counterpart. But at least special effects look great and the super moves are appropriately colorful and elaborate. As an added bonus, the same TV actors that play characters in the American translation of the cartoon will be doing the voice-overs for the videogame as well. So at least fans of the show will be getting a little dose of familiarity with their play sessions. As we toyed with Galactic Wrestling over the course of the day, we couldn't help but keep playing it. With an incredibly deep grappling system and a ton of personality, we haven't had this much fun with a brand new game for quite some time. Click on the media page below to check out the first movies of our absolutely terrible wrestling skills and be sure and download our new screenshots while you're at it. We'll be back with more on Ultimate Muscle in the coming months. -- Jeremy Dunham On the downsides: no cel-shading, story mode is changed, and no word mentioned about CAW, but no biggie on the first two, and the last one likely will be addressed this time, IMO. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dubq 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 I still need to play the game that came out last year. No one has it for rent around these parts, though. =\ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nevermortal 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 I hope this one will be better than the one on the Cube. I didn't like the fact it was less of a wrestling game and more of a fighter, which is probably why I also disliked Def Jam Vendetta. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 I hope this one will be better than the one on the Cube. I didn't like the fact it was less of a wrestling game and more of a fighter, which is probably why I also disliked Def Jam Vendetta. Well, there will be more moves, ground holds, and pinning--so it looks like that much is addressed. Regardless, that isn't going to change the basic gameplay. We've had "sim" style games for a long time, so I have no problem with a good ol' Slammasters-style insane grappler like this. It will be fun to finally be able to pummel and torture your opponents before finishing them off, rather than winning as soon as their life meter is empty. Iced-over ring? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Coffey Report post Posted March 11, 2004 Bah, it's not a real wrestling game to me if it doesn't have an actual federation behind it. I'll wait for the next WWE or NWA game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ced 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 I still yearn for the reunification of the WWE name and the AKI wrestling game engine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dubq 0 Report post Posted March 11, 2004 Bah, it's not a real wrestling game to me if it doesn't have an actual federation behind it. I'll wait for the next WWE or NWA game. Some of the best games ever made didn't have a fed behind them. The Firepro series comes directly to mind. Even back in the day I would've chosen the generic Natsume Championship Wrestling over any of the shitty WWF games out for SNES. And go back even further, Tecmo World Wrestling OWNED the 8-bit NES! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 12, 2004 Bah, it's not a real wrestling game to me if it doesn't have an actual federation behind it. I'll wait for the next WWE or NWA game. Some of the best games ever made didn't have a fed behind them. The Firepro series comes directly to mind. Even back in the day I would've chosen the generic Natsume Championship Wrestling over any of the shitty WWF games out for SNES. And go back even further, Tecmo World Wrestling OWNED the 8-bit NES! You forgot Pro Wrestling! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dubq 0 Report post Posted March 12, 2004 Bah, it's not a real wrestling game to me if it doesn't have an actual federation behind it. I'll wait for the next WWE or NWA game. Some of the best games ever made didn't have a fed behind them. The Firepro series comes directly to mind. Even back in the day I would've chosen the generic Natsume Championship Wrestling over any of the shitty WWF games out for SNES. And go back even further, Tecmo World Wrestling OWNED the 8-bit NES! You forgot Pro Wrestling! Ah, I had it in mind, but I mentioned Tecmo over it because of the amount of characters and moves it had. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ripper 0 Report post Posted March 12, 2004 Starman 0wns you all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 14, 2004 I wonder if Mr. Cheeks will make it in--the rating for the game may depend on it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JST 0 Report post Posted March 17, 2004 That's Monsieur Cheeks, you incult loon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Coffey Report post Posted March 17, 2004 Well, I think the Firo Pro series is an exception to my rule. It's not really a federation, but moreso wrestlers from around the world. REAL wrestlers is what I should've said. I hated Pro Wrestling. "A Winner Is YOU" C'mon, be for real. WCW on NES was even better than that ass of a game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 17, 2004 That's Monsieur Cheeks, you incult loon. Well, I hate your avatar. I hated Pro Wrestling. "A Winner Is YOU" C'mon, be for real. WCW on NES was even better than that ass of a game. WHAT?! In what way was WCW on NES better? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Corey_Lazarus 0 Report post Posted March 17, 2004 Muscle League > any other US promotion. Why? Because the Muscle League had the stones to put an Electric Deathmatch on the air between Kid Muscle and that Brazilian dMp dude (Rico? Rolando?). Kid Muscle > Chris Benoit. More charisma, better at selling, better look. Anyways, I'm definitely picking this up. Aki's engine is fantastic, even if it's going to be a little more arcadey for the new Ultimate Muscle game, and I watch Ultimate Muscle every week (I hate Fox for putting TMNT on at 9:30 so I have to sit through those pieces of shit Sonic X and Shaman King to see Ultimate Muscle). KINNIKU-BUSTAH~! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JST 0 Report post Posted March 18, 2004 Hell, I think Kid Muscle is undefeated. And the brasilian guy's name is Ricardo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dubq 0 Report post Posted March 18, 2004 I hated Pro Wrestling. "A Winner Is YOU" C'mon, be for real. WCW on NES was even better than that ass of a game. WHAT?! In what way was WCW on NES better? Lunacy is the only explanation... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheZsaszHorsemen Report post Posted March 19, 2004 Eh, it's not like the first one was as good as SYM so I don't hold much hope for this to be anywhere close to the greatness that was HCTP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndrewTS 0 Report post Posted March 19, 2004 Eh, it's not like the first one was as good as SYM so I don't hold much hope for this to be anywhere close to the greatness that was HCTP. First one wasn't as good? HCTP = greatness?! You sir, are on crack. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest TheZsaszHorsemen Report post Posted March 19, 2004 Eh, it's not like the first one was as good as SYM so I don't hold much hope for this to be anywhere close to the greatness that was HCTP. First one wasn't as good? HCTP = greatness?! You sir, are on crack. No, you sir, are an idiot who cannot recognize the awesome game that HCTP was. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
