Bar none the best wrestling games to be released on a hand-held console and it's not just because of the wide variety of wrestlers and fighters or because the CAW mode is awesome or because of the different match types and choice of audience to cater to, but just the fact that you can have such lengthy realistic matches anywhere, being that it's on a portable console. That may not sound like much, but coming from a person that's played loads of different wrestling games on Game Boys that had nothing but very, very simplistic gameplay, Fire Pro 1 or Fire Pro A in Japan, was almost too good to be true. The main focus of all Fire Pro games has always been to make a game for only the most die hard of wrestling fans it seems, I mean, would a run-of-the-mill casual fan of Monday Night wrestling ever wonder the difference between a Clothesline and a Lariat or the difference between Strong Style and King's Road?



Without having to really spell it out for you, the gameplay really is that good. Every character has a unique moveset that is corresponding to their real life maneuvers, you have your weak attacks that you can hit at any given time of the match to mild attacks that'll take some wearing down to be able to execute and finally your most hard hitting attacks, usually a signature move/finisher. I also like how this game incorporates a breathing feature that your wrestler needs to do during the course of the match so he doesn't tire himself out. Though there are some limits here, there aren't any weapons under the ring or on the outside to use against your opponent, you're also pretty much out of luck if your character has been warn down to the point where it's visibily difficult for him/her to breathe and you get caught in a submission anywhere away from the robes. This is seen in every Fire Pro game, so you'll mainly have to rely on taping the direction pad along with B and A buttons as fast as you can. Visually the game isn't anything special, but then again the Game Boy Advance wasn't ever the most astonishing in the graphics department, you'll also be disappointed if you want to see flashy entrances.



For everything the game lacks in some of the visual departments, it definitely will make up for in the gameplay department and if that doesn't smooth you over, the Create-A-Wrestler or "Edit Mode" mode will, if you've played any Fire Pro games from before then you already know how indepth this can get, it also comes in handy if you're not very familiar with most of the foreign wrestlers or if you want to add in some more modern day ones. There's also the Management Of The Ring mode, only playable in the Japanese release of the sequel: Fire Pro Wrestling 2 or Final Fire Pro Wrestling - Yume no Dantai Unei! in Japan, where you basically take on the roll of a promoter and booker taking on task such as selling merchandise, scouting new talent, setting up matches and getting money for putting on good events as you compete for popularity and notoriety against other promotions. Unfortunately this mode isn't in the American release of Fire Pro 2 and if you do get the Japanese release, you're going to need to get a text based translation for all of it if you can't read the language. Thankfully one of the things that carried onto the games despite region differences was the audience appeal or "evaluation" of matches, where you try to put on a match in the certain wrestling style for a satisfaction rate after your match is finished.



Strong Style
Plenty of submissions and stiff kicks to get the match going, hitting finishers/strong moves during the course of the match aswell. Strong Style audiences usually like to see calculated submission finishes or even a KO finish or rather a "CRITICAL". Keep the false finishes epic, just try not to over do it with them here, the key is to have a strategy with wearing down your opponent.
Best referee for this style: Tiger Hattori (Panther Tottori)
Best wrestlers for this style: Riki Choshu(Hurricane Rikimaru), Yuji Nagata(Yujiro Sakata), Tatsumi Fujinami(Fighter Yamato), Masahiro Chono(Violence Kouno)

King's Road
Hardest hitting style in Japan, try to beat the ever loving shit out of your opponent here with slams, stomps and chops. Though it's not all about seeing how many piledrivers and powerbombs you can get in, you'll want to start with a slow build up before letting yourself go all out with tons of false finishes and turnbuckle Super-Suplexes or Brainbusters.
Best referee for this style: Joe Higuchi
Best wrestlers for this style: Kenta Kobashi(Keiji Togashi), Toshiaki Kawada(Toshiee Kazama), Genichiro Tenryu(Thunder Ryu), Mitsuharu Misawa(Mitsuhide Hikawa)

Showman
Mainly what people who watch TNA and WWE are used to, matches are based heavily on having character and charisma, lots of taunts and a nice slow start without too many powerful slams in the beginning before kicking the match into high gear. Usually a single finisher will put an opponent out here.
Best referee for this style: Earl Hebner (Lark Kestler)
Best wrestlers for this style: The Rock(Joe Morici), Stone Cold Steve Austin(Steve Steel), Sting(The Spike), Ric Flair(Killa Kalani)

Stoic
Like an intensified Strong Style, but more centered around less irish whips and more knockouts and submissions, it's best if the rules for a victory are submission only.
Best referee for this style: Mr.Soranaka (Mr.Mizutaka)
Best wrestlers for this style: Karl Gotch(Carlos Klauser), Gary Albright(G.O. Bright), Alexander Otsuka(Hercules Ohtsuki), Akira Maeda(Akira Saeba)

Lucha Libre
Plenty of high flying spots, anything ranging from off the top rope moves to suicide dives onto the outside along with lots of reversals and armdrags. You'll also want to try to not over do it with the insane high risk spots, but still keep them consistent.
Best wrestlers for this style: The Great Sasuke(Blade Hayate), Ultimo Dragon(Azteca Dragon), Mil Mascaras(Maschera Condor), Negro Casas(Black Chaos)

Hardcore
No barbwires or steel chairs here, but there is an exploding electric cage in "Death Match" mode, basically try getting your opponent as beaten down and bloody as possible. If you're not into the Death Match mode, try setting up a regular match was falls count anywhere and no count outs.
Best wrestlers for this style: Atsushi Onita(Katsushi Okita), Mr.Gannosuke(Mr.Ashiya), Sabu(Tattoo), Abdullah The Butcher(Abdullah Danger)

Freestyle
This is the MMA audience, where basically anything goes, though it's best to play it under the "Gruesome" mode. Keep in mind Irish-whips won't do you any good here and neither will fighting on the outside. Bringing in a more Showman, Lucha Libre or Hardcore wrestler here will usually result in you getting beaten rather quickly. In the American version of FPW2 your only option is to hold a Gruesome mode in a ring similiar Pride FC and the current AFFLICTION promotion, however in the Japanese release matches in this mode are all held in an caged octagon similar to UFC and WEC.
Best fighters for this style: Kazushi Sakuraba(Kazuki Makurada), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira(Centaurus Bohemia), Ken Shamrock(Kein Harock), Bas Rutten(Bos Docken)



Other than the American version missing the Management Of The Ring mode and replacing it with an "Ironman Mode" to unlock hidden wrestlers aswell as the steel cage octagon ring missing in the American version(the closest thing to it is tweaking the rules of a Death Match), it's also missing a few MMA fighters that the Japanese game has, though it's mainly a handful of guys from Pancrase and RINGS, aswell as a few of the American wrestlers are missing in the Japanese version, so unless you're more into the MMA aspect of the game, I can't see why you would want more than the other. Not to mention the MMA mode or rather Gruesome mode doesn't seem to have rounds, like in the later Fire Pro games for Dreamcast and Playstation 2. This game still blows all other Combat Sport games out of the water and it's definitely a title you can put hours upon hours in and not get tired of with the modes above and match types like tag team and Battle Royals, mainly because it's engine is much more alike the newer Fire Pro games than the older ones for SNES and NES. Granted, anyone who is relatively new to the series will probably have a bit of a hard time understanding the timing behind grappling and such, all I can really say is start off with an easy difficultly until you get the hang of it or suffer being an eternal Fire Pro jobber.