Beast Wrestler
A 1991 Mega Drive wrestling game with monster combatants.
Beast Wrestler is a fighting game released for the Mega Drive in 1991, available in both Japan and North America. Its cover art was produced by Yasushi Nirasawa, who worked as a model-builder for Hobby Japan magazine.
The game offers two modes: Match, a single-round bout for either two human players or one player against the computer, and Tournament, which spans multiple rounds and requires the player to defeat every beast in the game.
Reception was mixed. The presentation was generally considered the strongest element, with Joystick calling it the game's best feature. However, Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games found the monster-wrestling concept intriguing but strongly criticized the gameplay as "dull, simplistic and annoying in equal parts," blaming unresponsive controls. He also panned the music and visuals, noting that while the monster designs were appealing, the sprites suffered from poor animation, shadows, identical sizes, and flickering. Mega described the experience as "tedious," with very few attacks to try, and disliked the graphics, including a "boring empty ring-type arena thingy" and choppy animation. Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss called the gameplay tedious despite a "thumb-busting array of holds and throws," but praised the presentation, highlighting the "electrified, three-dimensional playing field" and "appropriately gruesome creatures (which look like something out of a David Cronenberg movie)." He also joked that the monster fights resembled "intricate mating rituals" from Wild Kingdom.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Beast Wrestler
- Developer
- Telenet Japan
- Publisher
- JP · Riot · NA · Renovation Products
- Composer
- Shinobu Ogawa / Takaharu Umezu
- Platforms
- Sega Genesis
- Released
- JP · November 29, 1991 · NA · March 1992
- Genre
- Fighting
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Beast Wrestler is a wrestling video game containing two modes: Match and Tournament. Match is a single-round mode that can be played with two human players or one player and a computer opponent. Tournament has multiple rounds and requires the player to fight every beast in the game. The cover art was made by Yasushi Nirasawa, in his position as a model-builder for Hobby Japan magazine.
Reader's Guide
Beast Wrestler received a mixed reception, with its presentation generally being the most well-received aspect. Joystick called it the best part. 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. He also criticized the unsuitable music and visuals. Although appreciating the monsters' design, he was critical of the sprites' animation, shadows, their identical sizes, and flickering. Mega also found it a 'tedious' experience with very few attacks to experiment with, disliking the graphics such as the 'boring empty ring-type arena thingy' and choppy animation. Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss called the gameplay tedious, despite its 'thumb-busting array of holds and throws'. He lauded the presentation such as the 'electrified, three-dimensional playing field' and 'appropriately gruesome creatures (which look like something out of a David Cronenberg movie)', though he also joked about the monsters' tangle evoking mating rituals from Wild Kingdom.
Did You Know?
- Beast Wrestler was published for the Mega Drive in Japan and North America in 1991.
- The game contains two modes: Match and Tournament.
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