The Return Of Fire Pro Wrestling to America on PS2

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Fire Pro Wrestling Returns to US
Agetec set to give long-running Japanese series its North American home-console debut later this year or early next.
By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot
Posted Jul 27, 2007 4:52 pm PT

This is not Andre the Giant, and he does not have a posse.Devoted gamers might be familiar with Spike's Fire Pro Wrestling series, a long-running franchise of Japanese releases for consoles that debuted on the PC Engine, the Japanese version of the TurboGrafx-16. While the series has fostered a devoted international fan base, it has only made it to domestic shores twice before, in a pair of Game Boy Advance games from now-defunct Bam Entertainment.

That's going to change, as Agetec sources have confirmed to GameSpot the authenticity of messages from earlier this week on the Fire Pro Club community fan site. Those messages, posted by Agetec localization producer Mark Johnson and picked up on by Insert Credit, say that the niche publisher has acquired the rights to Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PlayStation 2, and is ready to release the game in North America later this year, or early next. The game is also set for a European release, though Johnson said the company not yet found a publisher in the region.

Later in the same thread, Johnson posted that this is not the first time Agetec has tried to import the Fire Pro series. The publisher had wanted to bring a previous PS2 entry--Fire Pro Wrestling Z--to the US, only to have Sony refuse to grant concept approval.

The Fire Pro Wrestling series is known for its reliance on 2D character sprites, as well as customization options that give players hundreds of options for a created wrestler's moves and appearances. Another trademark of the series is a roster of fictitious wrestlers (and more recently, mixed martial artists) divided into various federations, each with likenesses and styles suspiciously similar to those of actual pro wrestlers. Bam Entertainment addressed copyright issues by changing the appearances of the wrestlers in its pair of localized Fire Pro Wrestling games, but Agetec has not yet specified what it plans to do on that matter.

No price has been announced for the game, but Johnson said it will see release at a "very low" price point.
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i have The Japanese Version for my dreamcast and its my fave game.

my friend has The Japanese Version for his PS2 and weve been playing for a year and a half. The Game Is Fucking Awesome.

it has every one from WWF WCW OVW Noah TNA ROH ECW CZW Mexico and UFC.

it features Bared Wire Explosive matches and Flouresent light bulb matches and explosive still cage matches.

in my opinion its the greatest wrestling game ever.

has any one played it on here????

The Rebel Bad Ass
 
Fuck yeah. This game is going to be the shit. The customization alone will make me able to sufficiently dork out for a long, long time. I imported a japanese Sega Saturn so I could play the Fire Pro: 6 Men Scramble game and I'll tell anyone out there that wants to get their money's worth for a solid wrestling simulator: BUY THIS PORT FOR PS2! My total cost for the old game topped at around $300 including extra controllers. If you like solid wrestling games designed for the uber-nerds of wrestling, this game is it. Tentative price for the game is about $20. Here are some gameplay videos to show you what the hell we mean. If I remember correctly, you can play with up to eight people.

http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/745/745588/vids_1.html

On a side note...I'm happier than a pig in shit.
 
Look at this roster. Amazing.

New Japan Pro Wrestling: Main Army
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Shinsuke Nakamura
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Takashi Iizuka
Yutaka Yoshie
Blue Wolf
Tatsutoshi Goto
Hiro Saito
Koji Kanemoto
Tiger Mask 4
Masahito Kakihara
Masayuki Naruse
El Samurai
Wataru Inoue
Josh Barnett
Curry Man
American Dragon

New Japan Pro Wrestling: Black New Japan
Masahiro Chono
Manabu Nakanishi
Yuji Nagata
Black Strong Machine
Togi Makabe
Mitsuya Nagai
Toru Yano
Scott Norton

New Japan Pro Wrestling: CTU
Jushin Thunder Liger
Jado
Gedo
Minoru Tanaka

New Japan Pro Wrestling: MUGA
Tatsumi Fujinami
Osamu Nishimura
Katsushi Takemura

New Japan Pro Wrestling: Legend
Antonio Inoki
Seiji Sakaguchi
Masa Saito
Animal Hamaguchi
Osamu Kido
Kengo Kimura
Kazuo Yamazaki
Kotetsu Yamamoto
Tiger Mask
Kuniaki Kobayashi
Kantaro Hoshino
Dynamite Kid
Black Tiger

All Japan Pro Wrestling: Main Army
Keiji Muto
Great Muta
Satoshi Kojima
Arashi
Kohei Suwama
Nobutaka Araya
Tomoaki Honma
Masanobu Fuchi
Kaz Hayashi
AKIRA
NOSAWA Rongai
Kazushi Miyamoto

All Japan Pro Wrestling: Free
Toshiaki Kawada

All Japan Pro Wrestling: RO&D
Jamal
Buchanan
D Lo Brown
Taiyo Kea

All Japan Pro Wrestling: Voodoo Murders
TARU
Shuji Kondo
Brother YASSHI
Giant Bernard

All Japan Pro Wrestling: Legend
Giant Baba
Jumbo Tsuruta
Hiroshi Hase
Dory Funk Jr.
Stan Hansen
Bruiser Brody
Gary Albright

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Main Army
Mitsuharu Misawa
Yoshinari Ogawa
Akira Taue
Takuma Sano
Mohammad Yone
Naomichi Marufuji
Kotaro Suzuki

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Burning
Kenta Kobashi
Tamon Honda
Kentaro Shiga
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
KENTA

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Sternness
Jun Akiyama
Jun Izumida
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Makoto Hashi

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Dark Agents
Akitoshi Saito
Masao Inoue
Takashi Sugiura
The Gladiator
Bison Smith

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Wild II
Takeshi Rikio
Takeshi Morishima

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Free
SUWA
Rick Steiner
Low Ki

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Team Kaos
Scorpio
Donovan Morgan
Michael Modest

Pro Wrestling NOAH: Legend
Rusher Kimura

Zero-One Max: Main Army
Shinjiro Otani
Takao Omori
Masato Tanaka
Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Minoru Fujita
Ikuto Hidaka
Naohiro Hoshikawa

Zero-One Max: Stonehenge
Kohei Sato
Hirotaka Yokoi
Yoshihito Sasaki

Zero-One Max: 01 World
Steve Corino
Leonardo Spanky

Michinoku Pro Wrestling: Main Army
Jinsei Shinzaki
Great Sasuke
GAINA
Shanao
Sato Shu
Sato Kei
Shinjitu Nohashi
Hayato "Jr" Fujita

Michinoku Pro Wrestling: Los Salseros Japonesas
Kesen Numajiro
Takeshi Minamino
Pineapple Hanai
Mango Fukuda

Dragon Gate: Do Fixer
Ryo Saito
Dragon Kid
Genki Horiguchi

Dragon Gate: Blood Generation
CIMA
Don Fujii
Masato Yoshino
Naruki Doi
Shingo Takagi

Dragon Gate: PoS.HEARTS
Magnum Tokyo
Anthony W Mori

Dragon Gate: Final M2K
Masaaki Mochizuki
Kenichiro Arai
Susumu Yokosuka
K-Ness

Dragon Gate: Florida Brothers
Michael Iwasa
Daniel Mishima

Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Main Army
Ryuji Ito
Men's Teioh
Shadow WX
Ryuji Yamakawa
Daisuke Sekimoto

Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Free
Jun Kasai

Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Skin Headers
Abdullah Kobayashi
"Black Angel" Numazawa

Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Idiot Foreigners
Madman Pondo
2 Tuff Tony

Dynamic Dream Team: Main Army
Sanshiro Takagi
MIKAMI
Tomohiko Hashimoto
Shoichi Ichiyama
Seiya Morohashi
Tanomusaku Toba
Danshoku Dino
HERO! (Darkness HERO!)
KUDO
Riki Sensyu

Dynamic Dream Team: Union
Poison Sawada JULIE

Dynamic Dream Team: Legend
Super Uchu Power

Osaka Pro Wrestling: Main Army
Super Dolphin
Tsubasa
Billy Ken Kid
Tigers Mask

Osaka Pro Wrestling: New Delphin Group
Super Delphin
Kuishinbo Kamen

Osaka Pro Wrestling : Mujikan
Magnitude Kishiwada (Big Boss MA-G-MA)
Daio QUALLT
Black Buffalo

Kaientai Dojo: GET
Taka Michinoku
Ryota Chikuzen
Kengo Mashimo
Ofune

Kaientai Dojo: RAVE
Hi69

Riki Pro: Riki Pro
Riki Choshu
Tomohiro Ishii

Riki Pro: Legend
Yoshiaki Yatsu

Free: Free
Shinya Hashimoto
Naoya Ogawa
Yoshihiro Takayama
Shiro Koshinaka
Yoji Anjoh (Commander An Joe)
Daisuke Ikeda
Tadao Yasuda
Hayabusa
Ryushi Yanagisawa
Tarzan Goto
Mr. Pogo
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga
Alexander Otsuka
Mr. Gannosuke
Mammoth Sasaki
The Tiger 2 (Ultimo Dragon)
Gran Hamada
Kendo Ka Shin
Dick Togo
Masao Orihara
Wataru Sakata
Milano Collection A. T.
Toru Owashi
Gran Naniwa
Takehiro Murahama
GOEMON
Gamma
Onryo
Ebetaro

Free: Tenryu Alliance
Genichiro Tenryu
Ashura Hara

Free: Kensuke Office
Kensuke Sasaki
Katsuhiko Nakajima
Akira Hokuto

Free: Big Mouth Loud
Katsuyori Shibata
Kazunari Murakami

Free: Apache Pro Wrestling Army
Kintaro Kanemura
Tetsuhiro Kuroda
Badboy Hido
Takashi Sasaki
GENTARO

Free: Fujiwara Class
Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Free: Battlarts
Yuki Ishikawa

Free: Dragondoor Project
Taiji Ishimori

Free: Legend
Great Kabuki
Kodo Fuyuki
Atsushi Onita

America: Outlaws
Kevin Nash
Scott Hall

America: Free
Abdullah The Butcher
Tiger Jeet Singh
Animal Warrior
Vader
Steve Williams
Sting
Rikishi
Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
Jeff Jarret
Predator
Matt Ghaffari
Dan Bobish
Mike Barton
Jim Steele
Tom Howard
Giant Shiva
Sabu
AJ Styles
Petey Williams

America: Legend
Andre The Giant
Terry Funk
Hawk Warrior
Terry Gordy
Bret Hart
Davey Boy Smith
Johnny Smith

Mexico: AAA
Dos Caras
Dos Caras Jr.

Mexico: CMLL
Negro Casas
Doctor Wagner Jr.
Black Tiger 3
Ricky Marvin

Mexico: Legend
Mil Mascaras
El Hijo Del Santo
Juventud Guerrera

Pancrase: Pancrasism
Yuki Kondo
Yoshiki Takahashi

Pancrase: Grabaka
Sanae Kikuta

Pancrase: Pancrase Misson
Minoru Suzuki

Pancrase: Legend
Masakatsu Funaki

Grapplers: PRIDE
Hidehiko Yoshida
Kazushi Sakuraba
Emelianenko Fedor
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mirko Cro Cop
Don Frye
Mark Coleman
Semmy Schilt
Igor Vovchanchyn
Wanderlei Silva
Kevin Randleman
Giant Silva
Quinton Rampage Jackson

Grapplers: K1
Musashi
Bob Sapp
Ernest Hoost
Peter Aerts
Jerome Le Banner
Mike Bernardo
Gary Goodridge

Grapplers: Gracie Jujitsu
Rickson Gracie
Royce Gracie

Grapplers: Grapplers
Kazuyuki Fujita
Tsuyoshi Kousaka
Kiyoshi Tamura
Hiromitsu Kanehara
Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Ikuhisa Minowa
Katshuhiko Ogasawara
Roland Boch
Ken Shamrock
Volk Han
Bitsadze Tariel

Grapplers: Legend
Akira Maeda
Nobuhiko Takada
Masaaki Satake
Aleksandr Karelin
Andy Hug

Joshi: Neo Joshi Pro Wrestling
Kyoko Inoue

Joshi: LLPW
Shinobu Kandori
Takako Inoue

Joshi: Major Joshi Pro Wrestling A to Z
Yumiko Hotta

Joshi: Free
Aja Kong
Dynamite Kansai
Manami Toyota
Fumiko Hamada
Meiko Satomura
Nae Takahashi
Amazing Kong

Joshi: Legend
Bull Nakano
Lioness Asuka
Chigusa Nagayo
Noumi Nakanishi

Legend: Legend
Karl Gotch
Lou Thesz
Rikidozan


I can't wait for this game. I hear it'll be out in the UK in about March 08. Hopefully It'll come out. But I still think I'll have to search for it. The primative graphics don't bother me. With that many match types and wrestlers I doubt I'll get bored by this.
 
Thanks for the hook-up on the names, Jakester. All I have to do is grab the names list and get to editing once I buy this thing. I'm so pumped for it I can't put it into words. THQ and Midway need to take a cue from these games and not worry about how many goddamn polygons are flying around in their games and instead add solid gameplay to decent graphics while keeping the customization at a top-tier level. Even my favorite wrestling game for the next gen systems, Day of Reckoning, has a metric fuckton of things I'd change/delete/add to it to make it more complete.
 
Holy crap, is the roster seriously that long? There is no way a wrestling game could possibly fit ALL those names in it. And what about the W.W.E./T.N.A. guys? That seems too much.. how would this game be capable of doing this??

Regardless of the roster & whether ALL those names would be in it, or the W.W.E./T.N.A. names.. when is this game being released on PS2 in the United States? I just checked for it, & can't find it. I can't even find anything regarding it.
 
Will...head here. This should have enough to get you up to speed. It's sprite-based animation, not polygonal like most new-school games. Hope this helps, duder.

http://ps2.ign.com/objects/745/745588.html

Unfortunately, whatever site you gave me isn't loading. Its taking forever to load on my computer anyways, & I'm not having any issues with any other site.

I understand the graphics wouldn't be "as" good, but like Jake said, that doesn't bother me. My main questions are.. is the game out right now? And if so, is it at local retail stores (in the U.S.) like a E.B. Games, Gamestop, or Best Buy? Because I can't find it on any of their web-sites. So I'm assuming this game is a japanese "only" title??
 
^At present it's Japanese only. It'll be released stateside sometime next month (I believe by the middle or end of November) by a company called Agetec. You may just try going to IGN.com and searching under the PS2 banner for "Fire Pro Wrestling."
 
Fire Pro Wrestling is coming out the same day Smackdown vs Raw 08 comes out, on November the 13th. i will get both games when they come out.
 
^At present it's Japanese only. It'll be released stateside sometime next month (I believe by the middle or end of November) by a company called Agetec. You may just try going to IGN.com and searching under the PS2 banner for "Fire Pro Wrestling."

I actually checked on gamefaqs & gamefly. Both sites have it being released next month (Nov.) around the 16th. Thank you for your information. By the way, the gamefaqs site is outdated on the game.. & gamefly has NO information on it, outside of their release date for it.

Do you know if the whole roster that Jake posted will be the entire roster in the game? Cause thats a HUGE list of superstars, some of which I can't see W.W.E. or T.N.A. allowing them to use the name rights too.
 
WWE are narrow minded. They probably think that because of the graphics you wont be able to tell who certain wrestlers are. And are right though. I wont be able to recognise most of them.

Am I the only one who hopes they have the NOAH ring?
 
WWE are narrow minded. They probably think that because of the graphics you wont be able to tell who certain wrestlers are. And are right though. I wont be able to recognise most of them.

Am I the only one who hopes they have the NOAH ring?

I have no clue what the N.O.A.H. ring is? But this game is becoming more & more reminding of the old Playstation "W.C.W. versus the World" game. That game had like 10 W.C.W. guys, & 20-35 japanese & mexican superstars. It also carried tons of rings that I never seen before.

Regarding this game, I'm more than likely going to attempt renting it before buying, even if it is "cheap." (like $20.00 cheap) Like I said though, if this game has every single one of those guys you listed in that huge roster.. I'd be buying this game in a heartbeat, just for that alone.

I suppose the only downside would likely be a small, repeating move-set for everyone? In other words, out of hundreds of guys, they have maybe 50 move-sets that they just rearrange the moves & stick them with everyone?? I don't suppose anyone has any more information about that.. whether the moves are going to be similar to their real life counterparts? I'd assume that'd be incredibly hard to do with a roster that huge.
 
can anyone post any screenshots, im intrigued by the description of the graphics?!

I dont expect anything of the quality of next gen TNA screenshots, but its interesting to see what they can do with the graphics and the movesets (as stated by bigwill) with a roster that big.
 
I have no clue what the N.O.A.H. ring is? But this game is becoming more & more reminding of the old Playstation "W.C.W. versus the World" game. That game had like 10 W.C.W. guys, & 20-35 japanese & mexican superstars. It also carried tons of rings that I never seen before.

Regarding this game, I'm more than likely going to attempt renting it before buying, even if it is "cheap." (like $20.00 cheap) Like I said though, if this game has every single one of those guys you listed in that huge roster.. I'd be buying this game in a heartbeat, just for that alone.

I suppose the only downside would likely be a small, repeating move-set for everyone? In other words, out of hundreds of guys, they have maybe 50 move-sets that they just rearrange the moves & stick them with everyone?? I don't suppose anyone has any more information about that.. whether the moves are going to be similar to their real life counterparts? I'd assume that'd be incredibly hard to do with a roster that huge.
As far as move-sets, these games are the deepest out there, man. Each wrestler has their signature moves and taunts for the most part and there are a shitload of different styles. They skimp on the graphics, but the gameplay and customization are tops for any serious wrestling fan. You can design your own promotion and even create the logo if it's like the Japanese port. Plus, there are a crapload of save slots for all your CAWs. This game is a shining example of how the WWE and TNA should make their games.
 
I understand that the big story right now is W.W.E. Smackdown v. Raw 2008, but has anyone had a chance to play this game (Fire Pro Wrestling) since its been released?

I'm begging to know if the roster is as big as what Jake posted. Because I'm reading a lot on Gamefaqs.com that you have to download a lot of different rosters.. & that it only starts out with a small list of wrestlers. (small like under 70, not anywhere NEAR the size of Jake's roster that he posted on page 1) So, if anyone has any info on the roster on page 1, if its completely & in one whole in that game???
 
Yeah! This game owns. There is so much stuff in it that it's just ridiculous. Barbed Wire Matches, Exploding Death Matches, Cage, Battle Royal (with up to eight guys!). Plus, the roster is freaking incredible. NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, ZERO-1, WWE, WCW, and even some TNA characters are there, too. Also, it has UFC style fighting in an Octagon and a solid roster of Pride FC fighters. If only one of the other companies would try to do this quality of a game for their official wrestling franchise games.
 
Well, I just got finished doing all of the renaming for all of the characters in this game and it is freaking huge! Tons of wrestlers spanning several continents and an assload of promotions! Because I don't have a MaxDrive to import downloaded saves I had to do it manually, but it is definitely worth it! Any of you wrestling fans out there that have a PS2 need to get off your ass and go buy this game! It's only fifteen bucks, but it is money well spent if you have the time to get this thing set up correctly. Nothing is cooler than a 4-on-4 Tornado Elimination Match! Except maybe a 4-on-4 cage deathmatch. The coolest thing is that the roster in this game is so deep and every wrestler is done right, that I haven't even tried to create one of my own yet. I've been fighting dream matchups all week with some of my favorite indy and puro stars. Thank you, Agetec, for bringing this game to America.
 
Okay, I'm needing some more help. I finally have this game.. & I don't understand the button logic of anything. I can't for the life of me do any moves, because apparently the game wants you to use button combinations?!

Also, does anyone know where I can find any saves that'll actually work. (for a Action Replay Max - US version) I can't edit anyone, clothing, moves, or anything outside of names. And the only saves I've found, don't apparently wanna load onto my memory card. Does anyone know why?
 
Okay, I'm needing some more help. I finally have this game.. & I don't understand the button logic of anything. I can't for the life of me do any moves, because apparently the game wants you to use button combinations?!

Also, does anyone know where I can find any saves that'll actually work. (for a Action Replay Max - US version) I can't edit anyone, clothing, moves, or anything outside of names. And the only saves I've found, don't apparently wanna load onto my memory card. Does anyone know why?


You don't use button combinations for pulling off moves. You have to use timing and start with the weak grapples instead of trying to do the strong moves right in the beginning. The timing has to be learned from practice but basically you go for the moves right before the wrestlers hands touch the opponents shoulders. Do that and you will pull off the move.

The problem with saves has to do with most saves being from the original Japanese version. I heard that wasn't a problem but if you are having a problem using them maybe that has something to do with it. You should check out a fire pro community for assistance if you can't solve your problems on your own. The biggest one is Fire Pro Club which can easily be found by googling.

Good Luck and Happy Gaming!
 

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