"Cow, cow, cow! Rice, rice, rice!"

Ah, Ultimate Muscle, one of the most bizarre, and surprisingly enjoyable Saturday morning cartoons in quite some time has been brought to the Nintendo GameCube by the aces of wrestling game development, Aki. First things first, this game bears no resemblance to the Aki games of old, barring move animation being used. The engine is all-new, and showcases a flashy, fast-paced style of action. The game is more of a fighting game than a wrestling game, which suits me just fine since the wrestling stuff included is actually quite nice. UM features a nice variety of modes, including a create-a-wrestler mode, which features plenty of bizarre parts for you to make your fighter from. The game also features a stellar story mode, replete with the voice actors from the show who tell the story as it unfolds.

The core gameplay is nothing at all like the old Aki games, as I’ve said above. If you’re looking for a recent game with that style of gameplay, check out Def Jam Vendetta. UM features a very quick method of gameplay. Nearly everything, from the grappling to the jumping moves is done in a fast manner. There is also a progressive system for special moves in this game. There are three levels of special moves, with the first being the least damaging and least flashy of the bunch, and so on and so forth. Also, there are no pins or submissions in the game, only knockouts. A knockout is achieved when either you or your opponent’s health goes down to nothing. Any move in the game can garner you a victory, although I would recommend using the special attacks to get some real satisfaction out of things. This game, much like the show, is all about having fun in as insane a manner as possible. True to form, you’ll see some of the weirdest moves ever devised (all from the show) and some cornball humor along the way to keep things interesting.

It’s a shame that more moves aren’t included in the game. As it stands, though, the move selection is decent, and its brevity does lend itself towards thinking about things less, which isn’t always a good thing. On the upside, some of the characters feature great little nods to pro wrestling with their moves. For example, the “Terry” characters, Terry “the Grand” Kenyon, and his father, Terryman, each have a spinning toe hold as a special, a move made famous by the Funk brothers, especially Terry Funk. Another fun little nod to pro wrestling lies in the names of some of the characters, in particular the Kevin Mask and Bone Cold names, and the dMp name, which is the NWO-ish group in the series, and features a logo identical to the NWO one, only with dMp lettering.

The story mode shows off the corny humor quite well. Before you begin your first match, Meat (the little pig dude, not Shawn Staziak) gives you a rundown of your character’s bio, and why he’s in the story mode. As you progress through the mode, you’ll meet fighters and engage them in many humorous conversations. Kid Muscle’s story mode, in particular, is quite funny due to the character being a complete and total coward, and the mentions of him loving cow and rice, which is a nice nod to one of the show’s funniest moments ever. The story mode is fun to progress through, and as a reward, you’ll unlock new characters for use in the story mode, as well as coins that can be used to buy toy versions of Ultimate Muscle characters, many of which aren’t in the game.

One nice addition to the gameplay that I haven’t seen in a wrestling-style game since WWF WrestleMania on the NES is the use of power-ups during a bout. These power-ups can do things such as give you a level on your special meter, or hit you with a bolt of lighting. While there aren’t too many of them, they all do serve some useful function in the game, and add an element of strategy to the mix once you figure out what each of them does.

The controls in UM compliment the fast-paced action quite-well. The controls are pretty simple, barring the special move commands, with a different two-button command for each level of a special move. Even then, the commands all use the L button, and all use buttons that are easily accessible when pressing the L button. Grapples are done with the Y button, along with a flick of the control stick, while strikes are handled in a similar fashion with the A button. The controls for everything (what I’ve gone over is just a small taste of what you can do) are responsive, which is very important in a game where speed and quick reflexes mean the difference between a win and a loss.

The graphics in the game are simply spectacular, the cel shading used for it does a great job at replicating the look of the show. One advantage in this game’s use of cel shading is the way that multiple colors and lighting effects used for the characters to give off depth, this helps in this game due to distance being an important factor in deciding what attack, or kind of a attack, to use. The animations for the characters are fantastic, thanks to Aki being at the helm, the existing animations still look great, and the new, zany ones are even better. Sadly, there are some collision detection issues, but with some of the character designs being as odd as they are, the problems probably couldn’t have been avoided. Despite that lone flaw, the graphics are some of the finest I’ve ever seen on the GC.

The sound in the game, specifically, the play-by-play and color commentary is fantastic. The voice actors for Doc and Mac (the wrestling announcers for the show) do a great job at calling the action in the ring. When a flashy move is done, their faces pop up on-screen, which reminds me of Tom Talker doing on-screen commentary in Tecmo World Wrestling. The commentary is some of the best I’ve heard in a wrestling-style game. While it’s not the most diverse commentary around, it’s certainly not as repetitive as the commentary featured in the WWF(E) games. They do a great job at getting across emotion as well. When a special attack is done, their voices raise and become more frantic, which adds to the intensity of the match, and the move being done.

The voice acting for the wrestlers is fantastic as well. As I’ve mentioned before, it adds quite a bit to the story mode, plus it adds a lot of personality to the wrestlers. The wrestlers in the game feature the exact same personality traits as their characters in the game, which is nice. The sound effects used for moves are a bit disappointing, as some of them don’t get across how much damage should be done by the move. I expect a move involving a guy being launched a few dozen feet in the air to involve more than a simple “oomph” style sound effect. Aside from that problem, the sound is fantastic.

Ultimate Muscle features quite a bit of replay value. On top of the over 400 toy versions of UM characters you can collect, the game in and of itself is a blast to play, which lends itself well for a game that will be in your system a while. The perfect combination of these two things is the game’s story mode, which allows you to collect the coins needed for the toys, while at the same time enabling you to have a ton of fun with the actual game. I have yet to see a story mode, or a similar mode, accomplish this feat. The versus modes (which enable you to do one player bouts, unlike most modes labeled as versus modes) feature a wide variety of match types. The tag team bouts are fun, and while there isn’t much in the way of actual tag team wrestling in it barring the spectacular double team moves, they do give you a chance to hone your skills against multiple foes. The four-man battle royales also give the game a bit more depth. This staple of Aki games is made ever more engrossing by the all-out insanity that goes on it thanks to the frenetic gameplay. UM is quite multi-player friendly in this regard, so if you want a game with plenty of multi-player fun, this is the game for you.

All in all, Ultimate Muscle is a fantastic game that does its license justice, and gives folks who aren’t familiar with the license a fun game to play. The humor in it has a broad appeal, as does the simple, yet fun gameplay. The graphics and sound are, for the most part, top-notch, as are the controls. If you want a game that is pure fun through and through, be sure to play Ultimate Muscle.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/03, Updated 06/18/03