Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix MAX - Arcade Mode 1CC (Kinnikuman)

"If there is no love
to be found within your heart,
then a superhero you're not!"
If y'all didn't know yet, I super adore Kinnikuman. I can't believe it's taken me this long to attempt a 1CC on this game. Just in time for the Kinnikuman: Perfect Origin anime!
36 manga volumes, 183 anime episodes, and 417 little rubber guys (and a medal): who would have guessed they'd take Japan by storm and become such a phenomenon? And now, these Many Unusual Superhero Characters Lurking Everywhere are ready to body slam some baddies on the PS2!
Originally released in arcades, "Muscle Grand Prix" features several fan favorites across both the OG Kinnikuman series and its sequel Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle, duking it out in several familiar venues! The PS2 update, "Muscle Grand Prix MAX", adds the full lineup of the 7 Devil Supermen and 6 Devil Knights, as well as a few extra characters; there's also a story mode that covers the iconic 7 Devil Supermen and Gold and Silver Mask arcs!
On a technical level, the game plays similar to early 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter or Dead or Alive: there's a fascinating parry system, the ability to juggle, OTGs, and a special move meter. In the spirit of Kinnikuman, a good chunk of each character's moves are grapples, and you can expend meter to do highly damaging special moves. There's also the "Kajiba no Kuso Djikara" (Blazing Bumble Power) mechanic, based on the power of the same name from the series. The player can select from 3 KKD types: one based on overwhelming offense (blue), one based on rigid defense (green), and one that allows for freer meter usage (red). The blue and red are pretty scary in the right hands and can lead to some devastating damage and shocking comebacks.
Overall, this game does a great job of capturing the "feel" of a Kinnikuman fight in a 2.5D fighting engine. What makes the Muscle Grand Prix games even more magic is that most if not all of the anime cast reprise their roles, and every attack, stage, and costume are lifted directly from the source material! Of note, some matchups change throw escapes into a reversal (e.g., Buffaloman can reverse Kinnikuman's Kinniku Buster)! There's also the intro, which is a nearly-perfect recreation of the 2nd opening of the anime~ While the game is a fantastic love letter to Kinnikuman fans, it's also a surprisingly deep fighter and worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre.
As for the 1CC... whew! It may not be roundless, and there were some scary moments, but we pulled it off in the end! Didn't help that my controller wanted to rebel and throw out Blazing Megaton Punches instead of Kinniku Drivers, and Goldman in particular wanted to be stinkity dinkity... lol.
... and yes, they were not joking when they said, "Wrestlers race to our defense with strength, and speed, and... flatulence!"
Played on PS2. 1 Million Power (Level 4) Difficulty.

[@moonkyo0118]

4:44 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣