Fire ProWrestling Z Hands-On

The Fire ProWrestling series has been around for ages, and more so than just about any other gaming franchise out there, the series still sticks to its roots. While other long-running games attempt to modernize themselves, moving from 2D to 3D and making all sorts of other changes that sometimes have hugely detrimental effects on gameplay, Fire ProWrestling staunchly sticks to its 16-bit roots, delivering a sprite-based 2D wrestling game that in some ways outpaces other, more modern offerings. Fire ProWrestling Z is the latest in the series, taking its hefty edit mode to the PlayStation 2. The game is currently on shelves in Japan.

Previous games in the series have contained wrestlers that are essentially carbon copies of existing Japanese and American professional wrestlers, with slightly altered names and features to keep it legal. Fire Pro Z keeps the off-brand Japanese wrestlers and organizations in, but if you want to see your favorite WWE superstars square off in all their sprite-based glory, you'll have to create them yourself using the game's robust create-a-wrestler mode. The mode has been beefed up here and uses a layer system that gives you even finer access to your character's look and moves. Of course, none of this would be possible if the proper edit parts weren't available, and thankfully, Fire Pro Z contains close to 400 different heads to put on your wrestler, each modeled after a real-life superstar. Want to create Goldberg? Spend enough time building his body and, well, just assign two or three moves, and you've got a Goldberg that is just as limited as the real thing. You'll find plenty of heads to work with here, including ones that look like The Rock, Terry Funk, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page, Vince McMahon, and, literally, hundreds more.

It's been said all along that the Fire Pro series is an acquired taste, and that doesn't change one bit here. The gameplay is just as solid as it has been in previous games, which also makes it a little inaccessible to people raised on more conventional wrestling games. But once you're past that learning curve, Fire Pro Z has a ton of moves to work with, and its grappling system is nice and logical. Aside from simply letting one to four players wrestle, you can also set up tournaments and battle royal matches or enter into a story mode.

Fire ProWrestling Z is currently available for the PlayStation 2 in Japan, and according to developer Spike, the game will be the last Fire Pro game. While in the past Game Boy Advance versions of the games have been released in the US, there are currently no plans to bring this version overseas.