Fire Pro Wrestling breaks 10 year absence, launches today

After a lengthy absence (we don’t count the Xbox 360 spin-off), the Fire Pro Wrestling franchise has finally seen a new game in the series launch today, in the form of Fire Pro Wrestling World.

The franchise stands out thanks to its isometric 2D perspective, timing-based gameplay (rather than button-mashing), extensive editing tools and huge roster/moveset. For instance, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on PS2 (launched in the USA in 2007) delivered over 320 grapplers, following the series tradition of being loosely based on real-life stars.

But the series also differentiates itself due to a devoted community, regularly updating the game’s roster with character packs (either based on modern day stars or from previous eras).

Fire Pro Wrestling World is available for R219 on Steam Early Access, and is a pretty full featured title already. The game already delivers an extensive editing suite (allowing you to create new grapplers and edit their AI logic), a variety of match modes (including barbed wire deathmatches and MMA rules) and online modes.

Fire Pro Wrestling World marks the first time in a decade that a new main entry has launched internationally

In saying so, the small roster in the new game is comprised of original characters rather than being based on real stars, but that hasn’t stopped the community from already creating hundreds of real-world grapplers on Steam Workshop.

The Fire Pro Wrestling franchise has been going since 1989, having started on the PC Engine before a well-received run of games on the SNES, PS1, Sega Saturn, Dreamcast and PS2. The franchise also saw a spin-off on Xbox 360, called Fire Pro Wrestling, but had nothing in common with the main games, using Xbox Avatars and featuring an arcade style.

In a rather neat bit of trivia, game development icon Goichi Suda (No More Heroes, Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned) got his start in the industry as a writer, and eventually director, on the SNES games.