Original Release: Human, 1991, PC Engine
The second Fire Pro game was content to be more of the exact same, just with new characters and gameplay modes
Fire Pro Wrestling 2nd Bout (Turbografx, Human, 1991)
Where to Buy: Play-Asia
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
The second Fire Pro game seems to re-use the same engine from the first game, limiting its changes to some new characters, new game modes and very small tweaks. Ultimately none of these changes matter as it’s equally impossible to learn and play, with the CPU running you over like the Terminator right from the bell no matter what combo of characters or game modes you pick.
Every match seems to unfold the same way: the computer totally no-sells your strikes as it runs in, grabs you, ALWAYS wins the grapple battle and slams or submits you (I know about the knee drop thing and not mashing, doesn’t seem to help), and on the occasions it chooses to bust out strikes they take priority over yours like 80% of the time. Even Bogus Ultimate Warrior has no chance of survival here!
Honest to God I don’t know how people ever learned this series to enjoy it and make it popular. I mean I can see the “curb appeal,” it looks good and has a large roster for the time. It’s the most stifling SNK difficulty you can imagine right from the jump though. I guess the early fanbase was built on people playing 2-player or something, trying to play the computer is an exercise in futility. It also still doesn’t have the character creation yet at this point, which seems to be the main thing people love about this series. Kinda cool music though.
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