#3 Big Bang Pro Wrestling
Released for the NeoGeo Pocket Color in 2000, Big Bang Pro Wrestling was the last game SNK completed prior to bankruptcy and subsequent buyout by Playmore. It’s a classic-style 2D wrestling game, featuring ten fighters and a skill-intensive grappling system.
The throwback art style matches the WWF-era theme. The game let you play against the AI, another human player, or in a series of eight matches as you fought your way to the IEW championship. It was a solid game that took time and effort to master – you would pull off a move by timing your input just right, after the wrestlers had made contact, but before your opponent. Too early or too late meant losing the exchange, and getting thrown in one of several creative ways.
Unfortunately, the Pocket Color foundered in the U.S. and struggled against Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance. SNK meanwhile found itself underfunded by its parent company Aruze, an American pachinko machine manufacturer.
While SNK was resurrected shortly after bankruptcy, Big Bang Pro Wrestling got lost in the shuffle. Despite having had a full English localization, it never saw – and likely will never see – a western release.
