Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6 Man Scramble

*Originally written: 5/21/2000, Rewritten : 3/12/2002

Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6 Man Scramble, which I will be calling 6MS from here on, was considered by many to be the greatest wrestling game every made. However, along came another game that in most cases surpassed 6MS. What game is that? Fire Pro Wrestling D. So, as you can see, in my opinion, the only game that ever beat 6MS in terms of greatness was another game in the Fire Pro series. That should show you how much I enjoy the series. Simply put, I feel no other wrestling game has come close to the sheer brilliance of the Fire Pro series.

No wrestling game, outside of other Fire Pro games, can match 6MS in the gameplay department. Unless of course, you prefer arcade style gameplay. The Fire Pro series takes a simulation approach. It does a great job of recreating the actual wrestling. This game will never be mistaken for a fighting game, like some other so-called wrestling games. You have to actually put yourself in a wrestling mindset to win. You can't just go out, slap some people and throw out your finishing move for the win, you have to work your opponent and gradually beat him down. Rather than "earning" your finishing moves like in most wrestling games, they are available to you from the outset. The thing is, attempting them right away will no doubt result in a reversal. Just as if you were really wrestling, you have to gradually work up to your higher end moves. Going all out in the beginning of the match will often spell defeat. Next I'll explain one of my favorite parts of the Fire Pro series, the rest button. Adding to the realistic nature of the game, performing moves slowly eats away at your wrestler's stamina. The bigger the move, the more tiring the effect. You have to occasionally make him rest or he will tire and become more susceptible to attacks. Eventually he will just slump over and gasp for breath. During this resting time you are vulnerable to attacks, so you have to be careful when you use it. The inclusion of this button adds a lot of strategy. If you just go and relentlessly pound on your opponent without resting, eventually you will become winded and your opponent can get some free shots on you while you catch your breath. You have to find a nice middle ground where you don't rest too much, but you rest enough.

As I've stated above, this game is a simulation, and it doesn't hide it. If you are looking for cheap thrills and a small learning curve, look elsewhere. This game requires you put sometime in to learn how it works. Unlike the arcade style games, the fire pro series focuses on the timing of a move, not inputting a fighting game style command. It can take some time to get used to the timing, but once you get it you'll be grappling with the best of them. The learning curve may seem a bit steep in the beginning, but in the end, it is more then worth it. Sure, you'll get beat down, a lot, and badly, but, it'll feel that much better when you finally get a grasp on it. This game won't give anything away, you have to earn your skills. You have to practice. If you can't deal with that, go play Barney's Hide and Seek.

Now to speak about one of the main draws of the series, it's roster. The amount of selectable wrestlers is unequaled, barring other games in the series. There are hundreds. Oh, and, did I mention they are all real! In addition to all of the Japanese wrestlers, there is also a nice selection of American wrestlers to choose from! You've got all your favorites from WWF, ECW and WCW. Not to mention all the Japanese feds to choose from. Unfortunately, due to this games age, 1996, some of your more current favorites may not be included. Fear not, Fire Pro features the best create-a-wrestler mode ever, hands down. If you've got the time, you can make literally any wrestler imaginable. You can edit just about everything. I could spend paragraphs simply discussing the create-a-wrestler mode. To save time I will only quickly touch on the variety of things you can edit. You can hand pick all of your wrestlers moves from a list of hundreds, choose from hundreds of body styles and heads, the ability to edit all of the colors and you can even name your finisher! That's just the tip of the iceberg. You can even program their AI! Let's just say, you have to see it to believe it.

As stated above, the game contains wrestlers from American and Japanese federations. Due to copyright laws, however, all of their names had to be changed, but you will still be able to recognize them by there appearance and movesets. Thankfully, Human included a function that allows you to rename all of the wrestlers! Of course, with the insane number of wrestlers, that could keep you busy for a bit.

As if the high number of wrestlers wasn't enough, Human went overboard with various play modes as well. You have all the usual modes, but there are three notables: Death Match, UFC match and 6 Man Battle Royal! The death match mode is of the electrified, exploding cage variety. Throwing your opponent into the cage shocks them and at times causes them to bleed. If you have a time limit and no one wins in time, the cage explodes resulting in a draw. Unfortunately, 6MS features no weapons. Well, there are move specific weapons, such as a fork stab, but you cannot pick up weapons from around the ring. Weapons were not added into the series until Fire Pro D. The UFC match plays pretty much like your standard wrestling match only it takes place in the famous UFC octagon. It's not until Fire Pro D that the UFC match takes a life of it's own. However, it is still a nice inclusion. The mode that adds an insane amount of multi player possibilities is the 6 Man Battle Royal. In it, you and five of your friends can go at it all at once. That's right, six wrestlers in the ring at once. If you can get your friends to learn how to play, this would be a great party game. Especially if your friends are fans of wrestling. Disagree on how a match should've turned out? Break out 6MS and challenge your friend to recreate the match with you to see the true winner. This 6 player support is what elevates this game above the others in the series. It was not present in Fire Pro G, because it would be too taxing on the Playstation hardware, and it was also not present on the otherwise superior Fire Pro D due to there being only four controller ports and no multi player adapter. You can have more than 6 wrestlers in the ring in Fire Pro D, but the limit for human controlled wrestlers is four. So, when deciding on which version of the game to get, if you have 6 friends to play with, this would be something to keep in mind.

The control in 6MS is spot on, once you get a handle on the timing that is. I feel this game is the best controlling of the series due to the Saturn's control pad. It just seems to fit. Response time is good. Only small complaint to be made has to do with the way the game is set up. The view of the game has the ring set at a diamond shape, rather than the standard square view. This can cause some disorientation when running at your opponent. It is sometimes hard to "aim" yourself toward your opponent. You'll get used to it though. Another thing you must get used to is attacking. Due to the view it can be hard to connect with punches and kicks. With time you'll get the hang of it, but it can be discouraging when you are just starting out.

The graphics are, in my mind, quite good. A lot of you are bound to disagree due to one thing, the game is in 2D. I feel the game really benefits from being 2D. The moves are animated really well and look dead on to their real life counterparts, just like the wrestlers themselves. I just don't see this game working as well in a 3D environment. Even if the 2D is a problem for you, please do not skip this game, or others in this series. you will be depriving yourself of one of the best wrestling games ever made. Try to look past the graphics, if only this one time.

The game's only flaw is in the audio department. The music is very repetitive and with time can get annoying. you will find yourself muting the TV really quick. The sound Fx are average. Out of this whole game, the audio was the only thing to disappoint me. That's got to say something about the quality of this game.

Unfortunately for most importers, 6MS is far from import friendly. Everything is in Japanese, including the complex Create-a-wrestler mode. Navigating the menus is made easier due to accompanying pictures, but that doesn't change the fact that the large amount of Japanese can seem daunting. Thankfully, someone loves you. Due to this game's popularity there are extensive translations floating around the net. Sure, it's not the same as playing it in English, but with these translations, you will have no problems playing the game. Just think of it as a minor inconvenience. Also, there are wrestler lists floating around that let you know what the wrestlers names are so you can rename them in English accurately. Once you memorize the main menus and rename the wrestlers to English, you should be able to play the game as you would any other. The only exception being the Create-a-wrestler mode, which you will likely need the translation for even after you get used to it. No worries though, as the translation is quite good and it is worth the trouble.

The replay value is through the roof. You can win belts and unlock hidden wrestlers and items for the Create-a-wrestler mode. Find yourself tiring of the default wrestlers? Create some more to play with. There are even templates available on the internet of other's created wrestlers that you can use. This isn't even taking into account the wonderful multiplayer possibilities. A game with this much replay value rarely comes along.

Overall, 6MS gets my highest recommendation. If you have the least bit of interest in wrestling, you owe it to yourself to get this game. Fire Pro D is a better game in some respects, but the 6 player modes in 6MS push it to a higher level. If you don't see yourself playing with five others though, I'd say to go for Fire Pro D instead as it has more modes, plus the inclusion of female wrestlers, a true UFC mode and for fans of hardcore matches, weapons and a fluorescent light death match. I'd recommend skipping Fire Pro G unless you only own a Playstation. The main addition to it is a story mode, which isn't much fun in English.

©2002 Ed Finnegan

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