Giant Gram: All Japan ProWrestling 2

"Best wrestling game ever? No. Good game? Yes."

The official name for the game is ''Giant Gram: All Japan Pro Wrestling 2 in Nippon Budokan''. This is the long awaited sequel for ''All Japan Pro Wrestling featuring Virtua'' that hit the Sega Saturn back in 1996. This game is on the Sega Dreamcast this time around; it was converted from the arcade version, which is only in Japan, for the Dreamcast. The arcade version is running on the Naomi chipset. Since the Dreamcast console is based on this chipset, this enables for an excellent conversion for a home system. The game runs at 60FPS on the Dreamcast. The graphics are silky smooth with no slowdown whatsoever. The game is playable with the Dreamcast arcade joystick if you are looking for a real arcade feel to the game.

The options that are included in the game are an ''Arcade mode'', in which you fight 8 random computer opponents. Next is a ''Tournament mode'' where you fight 15 different pre-determined computer opponents, this is the mode in which you must fight through to be able to fight the hidden wrestlers. In both these 2 modes, the final opponent you fight is Giant Baba. There is a ''VS Mode'' where up to 4 people can play. Yes, there is an ''Edit mode'' in the game thank god. It is not like most create a wrestler options in other games. Instead of picking moves out or taking a specific wrestler's move set, you have to pick a mentor, and you will learn different moves from him as time goes on. For people who are interested in learning how to do moves, they were nice enough to throw in a ''Training mode'' so you can practice moves out. Last but not least, there is a ''Watch mode,'' this is basically where you pick wrestlers out to fight each other in either a singles
match or a tag team match. But you do not play in this at all; you watch the computer duke it out. In all the modes of which you play in and the ''Watch mode'', you can either select a singles match or a tag team match. The tag mode of this game is much better than the way it was setup in ''King Soul'' for the Playstation. Instead of being all the way in the bleachers for the camera angle, you are right in the ring as you are in the single's mode. There are double team moves in there. When you go for the pin your opponents teammate will come running in to make the save, a simple punch will get him out of the ring, so you don't have to go through as much trouble with having to guys to fight
against.

The lineup for this game is as follows.

1. Giant Baba
2. Mitsuharu Misawa
3. Toshiaki Kawada
4. Akira Taue
5. Jun Akiyama
6. Kenta Kobashi
7. Hiroshi Hase
8. Vader
9. Johnny Ace
10. Stan Hansen
11. Gary Albright
13. Wolf Hawkfield (Virtua Fighter)
14. Jeffry McWild (Virtua Fighter)
15. Kagemaru (Virtua Fighter)

Also there are 4 hidden characters. I have not unlocked them yet, but one of them is named ''Tiger''. He apparently is a tribute to the Tiger Mask Mitsuharu Misawa.

All of the wrestlers have their own special entrances. They are complete with the attire they wear to ringside. Kenta Kobashi has his orange jacket with his name on the back. Stan Hansen's entrance is probably one of the more mentionable ones. He comes out with his stirrups, vest and cowboy hat on. He is complete with his rope. He swings the rope at the fans, just like in real life. The ring introductions are perfect. The ring announcer is there; the wrestlers have their appropriate actions as they do in real life. One of the things that I noticed immediately was the fact that there was referee in the ring. That is something that has seemingly been missing from a lot of wrestling games. I guess due to lack of memory for it. It really looks nice having the referee in there because it makes it look true to real life. Another thing that they threw in there that really shows that they care about details was the fact that Toshiaki Kawada has the missing front teeth as in real life. The arena itself is in full 3D and looks exactly the way the Nippon Budokan looks in real life when All Japan is running from there. Sega put a lot of effort into the details, and I have to say they did a great job on it. The sound is well done; the crowd chants the wrestlers names at different times. You can hear all the kicks and punches. When a wrestler is slammed down onto the mat, you hear the I guess you could say bouncy sound that a real ring makes. The sound was definitely done well.

From the moment the bell rings you can tell this is one heck of a game. All of the wrestlers have their own style punches as in real life. Misawa has his forearm and spinning forearm shots. Kawada has his lethal kicks. He is complete with his dreaded Enzuigiri. Kobashi has all his chops. The move sets that the wrestlers have in real life are right there in the game. So far I have been able to do at least one move for each wrestler that they do in real life. I have pulled off Misawa's Tiger Driver, Kawada's Thunder Fire Powerbomb, Kobashi's half-nelson release Suplex, and Akira Taue's chokeslam to name a few moves. It can be hard sometimes to get certain moves off, sometimes when I am going for one move, I kept doing a bodyslam since I was not hitting the right combination. To get some of the really big moves off like Tiger Driver '91, your spirit gauge must be at max. Burning fire represents the spirit gauge. The higher it gets the more likely you are to get in control of the match easier. This system is quite similar to WCW/nWo Revenge for the Nintendo 64.

As good as the game is, everything comes with a price to pay. One of the things I thought they could and should have fixed by now is the crowd. It is still a cheap 2D crowd. It looks bad because when the wrestlers come out, they are in full 3D, then when they are going past the crowd it looks strange how everyone is flat yet the wrestlers are 3D. It is not much of a big deal, because it does not effect the actual game play. Unfortunately the game does not have as much depth as ''All Japan: King Soul'' did for Playstation. This game is more of an arcade style game. It is faster game play that can make for exciting times when you are trying to get the win and not much time is left. As expected for an arcade style game, the time limit is short, and moves very fast. You can select either 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or no time limit. The 30 and 60-minute selections really are not that long. The 30-minute selection probably adds up to about a minute and a half. The 60-minute selection is about 3 minutes. One thing I have found frustrating is the comebacks the computer sometimes makes. In one match for example, I had Akira Taue down with almost no health left, he gets up, then before I got a chance to get a move off, he choke slammed me 4 consecutive times, then gave me a release German Suplex and got the win a few seconds after that. It's a downer that the computer seems to randomly be able to make these comebacks so easily. In the end it really does not seem to make a great big difference since this game comes out so well.

Overall this is a game that is easily well deserving of the All Japan Pro Wrestling license. Even if you are not a fan of All Japan, you should definitely pick up this game if you have a Dreamcast. It is well worth the money you pay for it. For the first wrestling game on Dreamcast, this really showcases the systems abilities, and I hope there are plans to make a sequel to this game. As I said, if you have a Dreamcast, definitely pick up this game when you can, you will not regret the decision. The fact that there is not a tremendous amount of depth to the game hurts it slightly. Also, when are any of these game companies that produce wrestling games going to make the crowd 3D and not 2D!?!? It’s getting annoying. I’m just nitpicking really, it’s really not that big of a deal. For the first wrestling game to come out for the Dreamcast, it really shines.

FINAL RATING: 8 OUT OF 10

-Dangerous K

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/00, Updated 05/03/00