Ultimate Muscle: Legends Vs. New Generation for the GameCube, despite its marketing, is not a real wrestling game. The game combines a number of interesting elements to create an arcade style fighting game influenced by wrestling moves and tactics, but is so fast paced and limited in terms of "actual traditional wrestling game content" that it just can't be put in the same light as games like the SmackDown!, Wrestlemania or even Def Jam Vendetta. While at first glance, this might seem like a condemnation of the game based on the popular Fox Kids television show, it is actually just a distinction. The game itself is a lot of fun -- it's just not a wrestling game.

AKI's latest game offering features all the popular characters of the show (King Muscle, Kid Muscle, Robin & Kevin Mask, Ramen Man, Terryman , etc.) doing their over-the-top signature moves at a blazingly fast pace. The game is all about arcade fighting in a 3D space, and while players can use the ropes and the turnbuckle to do limited things (jump higher, execute a move in the corner or in the ropes), and do some wrestling moves using the grapple system, the game is far from being even remotely related to anything AKI has done before. The game does use a hyper-fast-paced grapple and counter system (including the usual strong/weak striking and strong weak grapple system) and a number of souped-up wrestling maneuvers that give it enough flavor so that it kind of feels like wrestling, but not enough to meet the criteria of the market leaders in the genre.

Ultimate Muscle utilizes a three-tiered power-up system that players build from gaining momentum (I.E. doing simpler moves and strikes). At the first level players can do a powerful striking maneuver. At the second level players can do a special power grapple move. And at the third level players can do a very powerful and deadly special move that can severely injure your opponent. The Ultra special moves are done by holding in the Left and Right triggers at the same time and being in close proximity to the opponent. The move is executed as a ultra violent cinematic that involves everything from a vicious physical beating to a pile driver from 200 hundred feet in the air. Ouch. That's pretty much the nuts & bolts of the game. The fighting system works well, and when you throw power-ups into the mix that can do everything from causing damage (bombs, and lightning bolts are the only ones to deal with) and healing to slowing down/speeding up players and giving players an extra dose of power, you have an element that can sometimes turn the tide of a match. The game is difficult on higher levels, but it's the kind of game that button masher fans should be able to pick up pretty easily - after all speed is the key.

Ultimate Muscle offers a number of modes including Story, VS., and Tournament mode. Story is pretty self explanatory - it lets players take the main characters in the game through a custom story based that usually features a few singles matches and a tag match, all wrapped up neatly with a "boss battle". Sometimes you'll face characters that are available in the early parts of the game, while other times you'll run into characters that you have never seen before. Going through story mode allows you to unlock characters in several game modes and gives you KIN tokens that can be used in toy mode (we'll talk more about that later) to buy toys and unlock characters. Story mode is very entertaining because it offers non-fans of the cartoons and the toys an inside look at the relationships and personalities of the Ultimate Muscle crew. Beyond that the animated cutscenes are a lot of fun, and the voice acting (though corny) is always good for a laugh. The spirit of the game reminds me of every Japanese anime I've seen - the characters are almost always overly emotional in the reactions or just downright cheesy. Personally I think the cheesiness is a part of the game's charm.

The VS. mode is your basic free-for-all exhibition mode that lets you and up to four players partake in Singles, Tag, Three-Way and Four-Way matches. Sadly there's not very many options you can tweak in these matches (in single you can select a "second" that can give you power boosts and toss items into the ring) save the time, the ring location, and the mat scheme. Tournament is much the same as exhibition - it allows you to play in a number of matches and advance to the top until you either win or get your butt kicked. Up to eight single or teams can compete in a tournament. There's not a lot of incentive to play tournament, save the joy of doing so of your own free will. Three and Four-Way matches are a lot of fun because opponents have short attention spans - attack one of them and they will automatically focus on you and test your mettle. All matches end when your opponent or opponents are knocked out. After you've defeated the Story mode, there's not a lot you can do in the game.

You can make your own character but doing so is a bit confusing because the game uses a set of phrases to decide what kind of fighter you have. So players will have to figure out what combinations best suit them. Sadly you can not preview move sets, save your special technique. It would have been better if AKI had used a more traditional approach to character creation, because the way it's set up in the game makes creating a character a real chore. The way your character can look is also limited to only a number of parts as well, so getting a look that is truly unique is no easy task. Still, it's a nice that they did include something - Def Jam Vendetta could have used at least a minimal CAW feature..

As I mentioned earlier, when you win big matches and get lots of KIN (a form of currency in the game) you can use it to buy toys - some of which unlock in-game characters. That in and of itself should be a enough motivation for players to make a little KIN. But beyond that, fans of the classic toys will be pleased to know that they can unlock both old and new toys from the series. While you can't do anything beyond look at them the toy portion of the game is a welcomed addition considering that it bears the name of the popular little rubber men.

Finally I want to put out that Ultimate Muscle is a very nice looking game. It uses a cel-shaded look that comes off giving the game a cartoon feel that ties in nicely with the show the game is based on. I didn't notice any technical problems or slow downs while playing the game, save a minor clipping problem when getting knocked down near the ropes. Additionally the sound in the game is very well implemented and the music is spot-on to what you expect to hear from an Ultimate Muscle product. The game features some short and corny announcer clips along with lots of voice acting for every characters in story mode. The overall presentation of the game from top to bottom is pretty slick and the screenshots taken from this game honestly don't portray just how nice looking the game rally is.

My final opinion on Ultimate Muscle is a mixed bag. I was hoping for another fast-paced wrestling title from AKI and what I ended up with was a fighting game. That in and of itself is not a bad thing, and my final opinion is that Ultimate Muscle is a very decent, albeit short fighting game that brings the spirit of the animated TV show to life and delivers a game system that works very well. AKI could have done a better job with the Create-A-Wrestler feature, but at least it's there. I hope Bandai and Aki will team up again and create a full-bodied sequel that adds more depth and playability to this game. If you like fighting games with a dash of wrestling flavor and a cheesy atmosphere then Ultimate Muscle is the game for you. If you're looking for the second coming of No Mercy then you're SOL- and we all know what that means.