Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy - The Path of the Superhero

"Ultimate Muscle: The Path of the Superhero is even better than Cow and Rice!"

The kinnikuman Legacy has been around for donkey's years in Japan, however, in English Speaking countries, we've only been getting it for the past 1-2 years. But already, this show has a cult following and is proving to have a sense of humour similar to that of Spongebob Squarepants. Ultimate Muscle: Path of the Superhero take syou up to just before the Ikkiman Chojin crown area of Ultimate Muscle, i.e. After Bone Cold, but before the poison Six-Pack.

Story: Like I said, the game takes you right up to after Kid Muscle defeats the Evil Bone Cold and obtains his maximum power of Ultimate Muscle. During Story Mode, you play as the Kid and take on the members of the evil dMp, a group that is strikingly similar to the WcW's old bad guys, the nWo. You must plow your way through these opponents and if you do... Well, Let's just say an old foe of the dMp's happens to appear. It's a good story that follows the TV show. 10/10

Gameplay: Gameplay is pretty good. You have several modes, including a lengthy training mode, and numerous other modes. The controls are pretty simple, an thankfully are more similar to THQ's style than Acclaim's style, if you catch my drift. The moves can be difficult to pull off at times, especially Specials if you haven't weakened your opponent. Other than that, it isn't too bad. Another cool feature is that during matches after you execute moves, Mac Metaphor or The Doc will pop up in a dialog box and comment on the move. Apart from Specials being near impossible to pull off, Gameplay is awesome. 8/10

Graphics: Graphics aren't too bad. While Glitchy at times, they're better than a lot of other games out there on the GBA. (Crazy Taxi, Driver, Oddworld being prime examples of horrid graphics) They're quite pixelated, but at least the memory for the images has been spaced out, instead of being used to spruce up the character select screen, which happens to most GBA games. The graphics are decent for a game this good. 9/10

Sound: Unfortunately, sound isn't that good. Well, the music isn't, anyway. The training music sounds like it was ripped from Megaman And Bass, and the in-game music gets a little annoying after a while. Sound Effects are pretty good though. Each Wrestler has their authentic voice work, and when it comes to their finishers, they yell it out!The hits sound authentic, and so does the ring bell. If only the game had as much effort put into the music as the sound, it'd be flawless. And where's the Cow and Rice song?! 7/10

Overall: This game is better than Cow and Rice! The gameplay is excellent, there's a vast range of characters, and the Sound Effects are extremely well done. The only down point is the annoying Megaman-ish music. 8/10

Buy or Rent?: Buy. You'll be depriving yourself of a great game if you don't.

Alternatives: None Available.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/04