Fire Pro Wrestling Platform Game Boy Advance Publisher bam! entertainment Developer Spike Genre Fighting Number of Players 4 ESRB Rating T MSRP $39.99 Release Date Jun 11, 2001 GameShark Rating: 8 Graphics: 7 Sound: 9 Control: 7 Fresh Factor: 8 Game Life: 9 I first came across Fire Pro Wrestling on some obscure web site dedicated to the series, fell in love with the screenshots and found myself ordering an import copy of Fire Pro Wrestling-G for the PlayStation. To say it was difficult to play the Japanese version of that game was an understatement - but after printing out a translation guide for the game to navigate the menus I found that the game was everything I had imagined and more. Fire Pro Wrestling was originally created by a Japanese game development company named Human who had some financial trouble but later reformed under the name Spike. Ever since, they have been hard at work on brining a localized version of that PlayStation game to the Game Boy Advance - courtesy of US publisher Bam! Entertainment. After playing the US version of Fire Pro Wrestling for the Game Boy Advance, I can safely assert two things: 1) It was worth the wait. 2) The gameplay is just as appealing as it was on the PlayStation.

Fire Pro Wrestling is an action-over-technique kind of fight game; in other words the character that does the move quickest usually gets the upper hand. Players grapple, kick and punch their way up in strength gradually being able to do stronger moves until they can pull off a super move that will put the opponent down for the count via pin fall knockout or submission. The action is fast-paced but defeating an opponent isn't a simple task - you'll have to seriously beat him down to win.

Fire Pro Wrestling offers most of the moves you'll find in some of the leading wrestling game series out there these days and throws in a couple more for good measure that are popular in Japanese wrestling and fighting leagues. There's the usual assortment of kicks, punches, high-flying, submissions technical and roughneck style moves that players expect from a premium wrestling game.

One of the coolest things about the FPW series is its boldness in including superstars from just about every known wrestling league including the former ECW and WCW promotions, Pride, UFC, WWE and many others (anyone that knows anything about wrestling games knows that this is a common practice amongst Japanese wrestling game developers). Though hidden under the guise of false names and slight costume alterations there's no mistaking the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Goldberg, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Road Warriors and hundreds of other American and Japanese wrestlers- there's a total of 150 wrestlers in the game (though some are hidden and must be unlocked. There?s no possible way that your favorite wrestler isn?t in the game ? but on the slim chance that he isn?t, you can add him yourself using the Create a Wrestler mode in the game (which is quite robust considering that it is on the Game Boy Advance ? you can even trade your creations via a GBA link cable with friends).

FPW also offers a good selection of game types to play including tournament, tag-team (both normal and tornado), hardcore, handicap, gruesome (ultra super gnarly hardcore), battle royal, league, elimination team, (normal and Royal Rumble style) and survival modes. There are also multiplayer exhibition matches that can be played against other fight fan using a GBA link cable, and a new game mode called Audience Match. The Audience matches replace Story Mode, which was the key element of gameplay used to unlock hidden characters and moves in the original game. Six-Man tag team has also been omitted for the sake of saving space and adding support for multiplayer on the GBA. Audience Match plays an important role in getting all the hidden chracters in the game (43 to be exact). The idea behind it is to appeal to the crowd using a certain fighting style like Stoic, Power, Lucha, King's Road, hardcore, and showman. The overall goal in each match is to get at least 68 percent crowd approval. Anything below 68 percent is a failure. Entering the dojo before each match can offer some added hints, but players are ? for the most part ? by themselves. Out of all the game modes available, Audience provides the most rewards because it locks a number of characters and move sets that are unique and powerful.

Fire Pro Wrestling is probably the best portable fight game available to date for the Game Boy Advance. It would have been nice if they had included story mode (one of the best features of FPW G for the PSOne) and the graphics are a bit dated but overall a great game with a ton of great action and lots of hidden extras. If you?re a fan of wrestling games then this game is a must have!