King of Colosseum II Review

Say gang, here's a real treat! A review of King of Colosseum 2 I wrote for GameFAQs but never posted. Here it is for the first time ever, man.

Japanese wrestling games, much like Japanese wrestling itself, are much hyped by the internet wrestling community. There seems to be a general consensus amongst some fans that Japanese always equals better. Now I'm a fan of Japanese wrestling (I refuse to call it 'puroresu', but that's a rant for later), but of course that's not always the case. The Japanese style just won't appeal to some people, that much is certain. The same can be said about Japanese wrestling games, I think, though to a smaller degree. Today I'm going to be taking a look at King of Colosseum II, developed by Spike in 2004.

Now you'll probably recognize Spike as the developers of the current Fire Pro Wrestling games. The Fire Pro games don't set the sales charts on fire, but they're so excellent they've developed a strong cult fanbase who appreciate the simple yet deep gameplay, the humongous rosters of wrestlers from different promotions, and the strong and precise edit mode. In late 2002 and early 2003, Spike released the first King of Colosseum game for PlayStation 2. King of Colosseum 1 was unique in that not only was it a 3D game from Spike, but it was released in two installments: King of Colosseum Red and King of Colosseum Green. It actually contained official licenses from various Japanese wrestlers, a change from the usual Fire Pro unlicensed and renamed stuff. Red contained New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, WAR, Pancrase, and some freelance guys. Green had Noah, Zero-One, some other more obscure, small promotions, a few more freelancers, and one legend.

It's worth noting that KOC Red and Green were not, in fact, the first 3D games Spike had ever made. Though technically developed by Spike's predecessor, Human, All Japan Pro Wrestling: King's Soul was released for the PlayStation in 1999. Featuring an engine that would later be modified and fine tuned to appear in the King of Colosseum games, King's Soul was an excellent and fun foray into the 3D world of video games. Officially licensed by AJPW, its engine was also similar to the Fire Pro games, and it featured great movesets for each wrestler and the best counter system I've ever seen in a wrestling game. On a technicality, I should add in that Fire Pro Wrestling: Iron Slam '96 for the PlayStation was also a 3D game, but it's almost universally panned by Fire Pro fans due to its vast departure from some Fire Pro trademarks.

Anyway, KOC Red and Green were able to be 'fused' with each other, to combine the rosters in both games. Now I'm not sure how much each game cost when they were released, but if it was roughly $50 US for each game, the that's $100 for a fan who wanted to experience the full, complete roster would have to shell out for. Like I said though, I don't know what the price was, so if someone could fill me in that'd be great. So while King of Colosseum 1 had excellent gameplay, I'm sure the fact that it was divided in two probably hampered its sales. In fact, I've heard that the reason why it was divided into two parts in the first place was that during that time period Noah and All Japan were on the outs, so they couldn't or wouldn't appear in the same game together. Come 2004 though, they apparently patched things up, and we saw the release of King of Colosseum 2. One game, one disk, humongous roster. KOC 2 is much hyped on the internet, but just how good is it?

GRAPHICS
King of Colosseum II isn't a graphical powerhouse, even by 2004 standards. That being said, it's not ugly. The character models are smooth, though they lack some detail. Most models really resemble who they're supposed to be, though here and there you'll probably point out some discrepencies with heads or faces you think don't resemble a wrestler. You'll notice some small details like the fact that Kenta Kobashi has his little birthmark on his left arm. Spike really put a lot of effort into the graphics, and you can tell. You can also tell that they didn't have too big a budget to be working with. Now some people might actually prefer the clean 2D sprites of Fire Pro models, which is fine by me, but I just think it's nice to see a change of pace, and that they attempted 3D.

There are numerous arenas included in the game, which is another great feature. Though there's not that many visual differences between a lot of them, the effort is appreciated. The Tokyo Dome arenas, for instance, are great (there's a generic Tokyo Dome and a NJPW Tokyo Dome). Other arenas include the Nippon Budoken (with dressings for Noah or AJPW), Korakuen Hall, and Kawasaki Stadium. They were also sure to include ring mats for every promotion in the game, along with extra mats too. Not content with just rings for every company, Spike also added in a ring announcer for New Japan, All Japan, and Noah, along with about half a dozen referees to choose from, and the ability to pick your color commentator (I always have ol' Mitsuo Momota). Now that's variety. Just imagine, the fact that there are more than 100+ characters in the game, plus many more edit samples; now imagine the fact that each of the ring announcers introduce them perfectly. That's a whole lot of dialogue, and it really adds to the authenticity of the game. Now that tangent had nothing to do with graphics, so let's get back to that.

The environmental graphics aren't too detailed at all, but they're passable. My biggest gripe is that everything just seems to be a little bit bigger than it should: the width of the ramp, the rinside area, the size of the ring itself. These are just minor gripes though, that I'm sure an average player wouldn't notice, but the ring just feels gargantuan. I think it even tops WWF Attitude when it comes to obnoxiously oversized ring.

SOUND
I mentioned sound a bit earlier, and it really is mindblowing to consider how much sound is in this game. There is so many entrance theme songs and dialogue in this game, it's unbelievable. That being said, many of the songs are ripoffs - though obvious ripoffs, and instantly recognizable. It's worth mentioning that many of the 'grunting' sound effects you can give a character are horrible and seem to be recorded straight from a real match. There's a ton of them in there, though, many of them providing a good laugh.

GAMEPLAY
Certainly the area where many fans consider this game to be absolute tops. Its roots are traced back to the Fire Pro engine, but expanded upon so greatly it's its own distinguishable style. The basic concept of the gameplay revolves around light, medium, and strong attacks; working your opponent over and working your way up on the attack scale in a way that closely mimics a real wrestling match. In fact, you'll find that most of your matches play out amazingly realistically and true to the Japanese style of wrestling. The crowd reaction actually matters, and near falls, back and forth action, and insane head drop moves are a staple of almost every match. For a beginner, the gameplay can be a little overwhelming at first, as there's so much to do. Strikes are simple enough, but grapples require precise timing in order to be pulled off. KOC 2 differs from FP in that you have to initiate grapples yourself instead of merely walking into your opponent. As such, we're accomodated with a 'deeper' grappling system, as each wrestler is alloted three or more unique grappling set-ups. For example, let's say Kenta Kobashi's R1 and Square grapple is a suplex position. From that setup, his weak grapple, square, would be a basic back blow to his opponent from the suplex position. His medium grapple, X, would be a basic suplex. His strong, O, would be a delayed suplex, and his Super Strong, /\, would be the Orange Crush. That's not all, as there's also the Special move, performed by pressing Square and X or Triangle and O at the same time. Kobashi's is a sheer drop brainbuster from that position, though Special moves don't need a grapple to be performed -- Great Muta can mist someone by just standing still and hitting Square and X.

As I said, the basis of the gameplay is the light, medium, and strong attacks, and working your opponent over realistically. If you're into pick up and play wrestling games, this definately will frustrate you, but it rewards more patient players with an extremely satisfying experience. All isn't perfect, though. The main flaw of the gameplay is the animation. Extremely robotic and stiff, it looks like animation you'd expect out of a game from 1997. It's a testament to the sheer enjoyment of the game, though, that we all overlook the shitty animation -- it's just so fun.

EDIT MODE
The Fire Pro edit mode is hailed as the greatest in the history of wrestling video games. How is it in 3D? Pretty good... until you get to appearance. Profile, move, and logic-wise, you have free reign over EVERYTHING, and it's extremely satisfying. Appearance-wise, what you get is a lot more limiting than anything in a Fire Pro game, thanks to the 3D graphics. Like Fire Pro, you can only choose individual heads, though it's more of a problem here since everything is so much clearer; as such, it becomes kind of difficult to make non-Asian characters. When it comes to attire and gear, though, there's such an amazing assortment, most of which has colors that can be changed thankfully. The fact that you can also edit anything about the default, licensed wrestlers in the game also made me happy, as it was one of my favorite things about the Aki games. The move selection is also amazing. It's also worth noting that you can unlock 'Templates' - basically, unlicensed wrestlers who maintain a near perfect appearance, moveset, logic, etc. These include Brock Lesnar, Ric Flair, Giant Baba, and others.

STORY/CAREER MODE
I'll be honest, the single player mode blows. All you do is select a wrestler and go through a few opponents with him until you reach the end. It's required, though, if you want to make money to unlock one of the game's many unlockables. This makes it feel monotonous, though you'll be having fun matches anyway.

Besides that, there's the Match Maker mode, wherein you play the role of booker, complete with cheesy and hilarious screenshots of guys like Misawa and Muto in full business suits. Basically like the SVR game's GM mode, but in Japanese text, so you likely won't spend too much time with it unless you're fluent or sadly have everything memorized.

CLOSING COMMENTS
This is probably the last time for a long while that you'll see an officially licensed game with this many promotions and cast of wrestlers. Yuke's now has the rights to New Japan so it's unlikely that any potential KOC 3 would contain New Japan, arguably the most popular promotion in Japan. KOC 2 is unique in that sense, but also unique in its deep gameplay and edit mode, both of which arguably a lot better than the current crop of WWE games.

If you have the means, do yourself a favor and import this game. I think it's all that it's hyped up to be, but if you're not a fan of Japanese wrestling, be wary. To me, it's half the appeal, being able to play as favorites such as Kobashi, Chono, Muto, and little old Momota. It's extremely gratifying, and the ammount of content is boggling.