King of Colosseum II

A Japanese wrestling game developed by Spike. Features many real promotions and real licensed Japanese wrestlers.

Overview

King of Colosseum 2 is the sequel to both King of Colosseum: Red and King of Colosseum: Green. King of Colosseum 2 (commonly abbreviated as KoC II) features real licensed Japanese wrestlers unlike its animated 2D counterpart, the Fire Pro Wrestling series. Many major promotions are covered in KoC II such as New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH and Pro Wrestling Zero-1 as well as all the factions within the promotions. The game is presented as a realistic (in terms of pro-wrestling anyway) simulation of the Japanese take on the legendary sport. Many details are present such as a dynamic referee in the match as well as realistic Japanese commentary throughout the matches that increases in excitement and enthusiasm as the match progresses closer to the hot finish.

CONTROLS:

The controls in King of Colosseum II also have some similarity to Fire Pro Wrestling, in that the grappling is timing-based, leading to failure for button-mashers. The KoC games use a "clutch" system, in that when a grapple is initiated, another button must be pressed at the right moment during the grapple animation to execute a move. The player presses the R1 button and another face button in tandem to start a grapple, then following with yet another face button press to perform a move. The controls also apply to Mixed Martial Arts fights and mat wrestling situations.

MATCH TYPES:

King of Colosseum II features the common match types seen in Japan (aside from Deathmatches, which are prominently featured in the Fire Pro games):

Singles - your meat-and-potatoes one on one wrestling match
Singles w/ Manager - Bring a manager with you to be sneaky.
Tag Team - Use L1 to tag in your partner and beat the opposing team into the mat.
Handicap Match - Someone else and their partner will beat you into the mat, or vice versa!
Triple Threat - A hectic three-way-dance with frequent pin and submission breaks.
Battle Royal - Four men enter and one man leaves in this classic match type.
5 vs. 5 Team Elimination Match - Each team gets five wrestlers and opposing team members take turns fighting each other.

MODES:

King of Colosseum II features various modes of play:

Exhibition Match - For a quick wrestling fix, the quickest way to get started.
Survival Road - KoC's equivalent of a story mode. Fight the top wrestlers in each promotion to unlock new wrestlers, rings, wrestler templates, and outfits.
Match Maker - Be the booker! Book matches and shows and see how the audience reacts and what kind of ratings you can get!
Title Match - Fight for and defend the various real-world belts included in the game, such as the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, or the Triple Crown.
Series Mode - Fight in or sim tournaments such as the G1 Climax or the Champion Carnival, or create your own tournament.
Edit Mode - Here, you can create your own wrestler, edit a default wrestler, create a wrestling promotion, re-order the character select screens, and more.
Dojo - This is KoC's training mode, in which you can learn the timing of the grapple system as well as other important gameplay mechanics.
Options - Here you can adjust game settings, sound settings, and you can view each wrestler's in-game match history.

MATCH RULES:

King of Colosseum II features various match rules options, these are the match type available:

Puroresu - Basic wrestling rules, rope breaks, pin or submission to win.
Vale Tudo - Modern MMA rules, you can defeat your opponent by Ko or submission only. You can set up Rounds and the duration of the fight .
Ultimate Crush - NJPW's variation of the vale tudo rules. 3x5 minutes rounds.
U-Style - UWF/Early Pancrase rule set, match are 15 minutes, and not broken into rounds, rope break and knock down cost a point.
American - Similar to most of the american wrestling game out there, wrestlers can power up by taunting and finishers do much more damage, shorter flashier matches.
MUGA - Classic Rikidozan era rules.
Free - You can mix and match the various rule sets to create your own type of match.

Notable US Wrestlers in the Game

King of Colosseum 2 features a number of notable US wrestlers, including:

D'Lo Brown

Mike Awesome (as "The Gladiator")

Steve Corino

C.W. Anderson

Samoa Joe

Low Ki

"Earthquake" John Tenta

Too Cold Scorpio

Scott Norton

The game also inlcudes several look alike wrestlers, some of them of which that have been slightly altered to avoid legal issues due to the fact that some of them were signed to rival promotions at the time. These wrestlers include Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Brock Lesnar, the steiner brothers, and Chris Benoit, among others.