Beast Wrestler
1991 video game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beast Wrestler[a] is a 1991 fighting game published for the Mega Drive in Japan and North America. The game's cover art was created by Yasushi Nirasawa, in his position as a model-builder for Hobby Japan magazine.[5]
| Beast Wrestler | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | Telenet Japan |
| Publishers | |
| Composers | Shinobu Ogawa Takaharu Umezu[1] |
| Platform | Mega Drive |
| Release | |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Modes | Single-player, multiplayer[4] |
Gameplay
Beast Wrestler is a wrestling beat 'em up video game containing two modes: Match and Tournament. Match is a single-round that can be played with two human players or one player and a computer opponent, whereas Tournament has multiple rounds and requires the player to showdown with every beast in the game.[6]
Reception
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Aktueller Software Markt | 4/12[7] |
| Beep! MegaDrive | 4.75/10[8] |
| Computer and Video Games | 26/100[9] |
| Famitsu | 5/10, 5/10, 5/10, 5/10[10] |
| Games-X | 2/5[6] |
| Joystick | 60%[11] |
| Console XS | 30/100[12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | C+[13] |
| Mega | 29%[14] |
| MegaTech | 45%[15] |
| Sega Pro | 30/100[16] |
The presentation, although generally the most-well received aspect of Beast Wrestler, garnered a mixed response. Joystick called it the best part.[11]
Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games found the premise of monsters in a wrestling game interesting, but strongly dismissed its gameplay as "dull, simplistic and annoying in equal parts", heavily attributed to unresponsive controls.[9] He also criticized the unsuitable music and visuals.[9] Although appreciating the monsters' design, he was critical of the sprites' animation, shadows, their identical sizes, and flickering.[9] Mega also found it a "tedious" experience with very few attacks to experiment with.[14] He disliked the graphics, such as the "boring empty ring-type arena thingy" and choppy animation.[14]
Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss also called the gameplay tedious, despite its "thumb-busting array of holds and throws".[13] He praised the presentation, such as the "electrified, three-dimensional playing field" and "appropriately gruesome creatures (which look like something out of a David Cronenberg movie)", although also joked, "When the monsters tangle it up in the ring, you're reminded of those intricate mating rituals Marlin Perkins used to narrate on Wild Kingdom."[13]