WILW Games: Ultimate Muscle – The Kinnikuman Legacy
Kinnikuman is a manga series published in Japan from 1979 to 1987. It was then an anime series that ran for 137 episodes from 1983 to 1986. That was then given a sequel that ran on MTV and a toy line that was moderately popular in America. Fast forward a few years and a new manga and anime series gets produced that airs in the states and its insane. That insanity then gets a game released for the Gamecube developed by the team that made the brilliant WWF No Mercy. And that is what we will talk about this week.
Ultimate Muscle isn’t technically a wrestling game though it does contain the fabulous grappling system AKI is known for. It isn’t really a fighter either though it does have over the top special moves and some fighting game mechanics. What really sets this game apart is the out of bounds characters. I loved this toy series as a kid and getting to play through it later in life, with characters that looked exact to their anime counterparts, was just super cool. The wrestling part of the game isn’t anywhere near as deep as any of the other AKI wrestling games. There were no pinfalls, just KO’s. Each wrestler had an insane finishing move that had a very cool animation associated with it. The storylines were short enough that you could play through with each character and not get bored. There are a few extras like a virtual toy machine but they aren’t worth much. This is a game that really works if you are a fan of the series. The action looks great. It moves very well and the animations all mirror some crazy-ass wrestling moves. The in-game announcers pop up on screen at especially crazy moments. All of the characters are there including a ton of new ones. Check out the video below to get an idea of what I’m talking about. And make sure to check back next week when we take a look at another reason I love wrestling. Until then…