Natsume Championship Wrestling for SNES
Review #357
Natsume Championship Wrestling
Grappling with failure
Gameplay
Are all wrestling games the same? I have no idea how to DO anything. I just jam on buttons and hope for the best. I can land a punch or kick every so often but for the most part the opponent and I get tied up and grapple briefly before the other guy throws or pile drives me. No matter what I do I can't figure out how to win these grappling sessions more than about 25% of the time. I feel like I have zero control, even on Easy difficulty.
Level Design
Five modes - Tournament, Tag Match, Round Robin, Round Robin Tag Match, and Exhibition (2 player). I couldn't win a single match so I have no idea what the difference between these modes might be.
Theme
Having "Natsume" splashed all over the place gives this game a cheap look to it. Tecmo plastered their name all over their games too, but their sports games at least used real licenses from the NBA and such. This game feels as goofy as the forgettable RPG "Tecmo's Secret of the Stars".
Art Style
Each grappler has a headshot on the selection screen and a character model during gameplay. These two don't match up at all. It's a jarring difference. In my first match I initially thought I was my opponent because my character looked nothing like what I envisioned based on the mugshot.
The in-game graphics move smoothly but are fairly archaic. They don't look much better than the NES WWF games. Very cartoony stuff.
Audio
Minimal music is boring but passable. There's barely any other noise in the game.
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