Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyou Tag

"A great Super Famicom wrestling title (especially to fans of AJPW)"

Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyou Tag is a great wrestling game made in 1993. It was I believe the 2nd or 3rd AJPW (All Japan Pro Wrestling) game to come out for the Super Famicom. With a variety of gameplay modes and nicely sized roster, this is not only a game that Puro fans will enjoy, but also the casual wrestling game fans can enjoy as well.

Graphics - 10/10
For 1993, the detail put into these graphics are incredible. Each wrestler/team has his/their own entrance complete with ring jackets, robes, other accessories (i.e. Stan Hansen's hat and bullrope, Giant Baba's Robe, etc.). You even have the younger wrestlers keeping the crowd off of you while making your entrance. All of the wrestlers bear a nice resemblance to their real-life counterparts. The ring is very nicely done as well, with the same features as the actual ring.

Sound - 10/10
Once again, the game delivers the real deal. Each wrestler has his real AJPW theme (including my personal favorite, Stan Hansen's "Sunrise"). The sounds of hitting and slamming your opponent are nicely done. Another nice touch is certain wrestlers making trademark yells during moves (i.e. Hansen's elbow drop, Kobashi's pre-moonsault taunt). Your opponents music will play throughout your match, so this makes for a nice way to avoid getting sick of hearing the same in-game music over and over.

Gameplay - 8/10
Gameplay is great for this game. Much like the Fire Pro Wrestling titles, it's based more on timing than on who can smash buttons faster. You strike with the Y and B buttons, run with X, Pin/Tag your partner with L, Grapple by walking into your opponent, and Taunt by R. Once again the key to winning to grapple is timing, and when doing so, you have several different moves by using various combonations of the D-pad and the A,B, and Y buttons (X for Irish Whip). One thing that brings the rating of this gameplay down however is that Signature Moves are just performed as normal moves, and can be used an unlimited amount of times. For example, Misawa's Tiger Driver is just simply down + A from the grapple position, Hansen's Lariat is run + A, etc. The only other problem besides this with gameplay, is that if a move is performed anywhere near the ropes, your opponent always goes flying out of the ring. This can really make for long matches when simulating the CPU vs CPU matches.

Replayability - 10/10
With different modes for Single Matches, Arcade-type play where you go through until beating every team, a Tutorial mode, and my personal favorite, The Real World Tag League (which is VERY nicely and accurately portrayed in this game) all available, not to mention a roster of 16 wrestlers, and up to 4-player play, this game easily has infinite replayability.

Well, there you have it. This was my first review, and perhaps this might persuade someone to invest in this great game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/08/06