Sega REVIEWS: Cuties Suzuki no Ringside Angel

Before there was Senran Kagura, before there was Dead or Alive, before Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball was even a speck of a thought, there was Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel.

Actually, that's not exactly fair. While women's wrestling outside of the Olympic sport was specifically conceived for its titillation factor, it had the mixture of sport and realism to maybe make a game that isn't only focused on the sexual aspect.

Ringside Angel, probably due to the lack of graphical ability of the time, is that game.

R3: Cuties Suzuki no Ringside Angel:-

Year: 1990.
Genre: Wrestling.
Publisher: Asmik Corporation.
Developer: Copya System Ltd.

 

"Welcome to the exciting world"

Ringside Angel is simply a bona fide wrestling game, but with an all-female cast. It involves selecting one wrestler and competing against others in a series of championships of similar difficulty. Nearly all wrestlers can use the same moves, but there are some specials related to each one. One wrestler, Cutie Suzuki, is actually a real female wrestler and the star of the game. The rest are fictional.

The goal of the match is to submit the opposite fighter, or to throw them out of the ring and make sure the counter runs out before they are able to get in. Basically, an actual takedown or a technical victory.

You won't get more plot than a title screen

 

Being a Japanese game, I wasn't actually sure what the names of the moves I performed were, or how to exactly perform them. Basically, the strategy boils down to scoring a couple of punches and kicks before button mashing for throw moves. When the enemy is on the ground, do a submission move, or take them down if the background music changes.

Whoo boy

In some way, the game could actually be a highly technical one, where grapples and counters make for an interesting game between the player and the computer. However, in practice, simple button mashing is enough to win.

When that doesn't work well, then the AI is stupid enough that you can easily get a technical victory out of them.


"Oh no! Ninja! Ha Ha Ha...."

For a game featuring around 9 different fighters, it should have at least tried to make them more than palette swaps. Outside of skin color, hair color and style, and the color of the leotard, the sprites are simply the same.

There is some great animation work done for the wrestling moves, though, which are all inspired by real wrestling moves, some of which look very painful to endure (or to actually perform). However, outside of the special moves themselves, the sprite's regular movement is stiff and uncontrolled.

That must hurt

Graphically, it's not a bad game. In fact, given the fact that it's one of the earliest Genesis games, it actually looks pretty good. Especially when taking the portrait design of the characters and how it changes to reflect pain or excitement.

In the sound department, the effects are terrible, failing to register the impact of the moves in any way. As for the music tracks, it's basically early Genesis sound design, with all the associated pros and cons.

In Conclusion:

Maybe if you play it against friends, Ringside Angel would be a better game. But even then, there are simply better wrestling games, and better fighting games, on the Genesis.

Outside of the novelty of an all-female wrestling game, this is not a title that offers much else. It's one of those games that some people stumbled upon and greatly enjoyed, more so because they did not actually know what other great games they were missing.

Final: 5/10 (Not recommended)

Is it okay for people to cheer here, and what are they actually cheering about

Pros:

• Very good wrestling mechanics
• Good sprite graphics

Cons:

• Very easy to defeat the AI
• Poor sound design 

Tips:

1. Button-mash your grabs.
2. If you are finding difficulty winning (for some weird reason), just get out of the ring and allow the AI to defeat themselves.

Series:

For those reading one of my Genesis review blogs for the first time, here is the basic concept:

I already reviewed a bunch of SNES games, so, naturally, I am going to review the games of its prime competition. Does the SEGA Genesis stand a chance against the legendary SNES library?

My review series is based on the top 100 list of Retro Sanctuary

Originally, I posted most of my content on a football forum called "Goallegacy," which was the first online community I had ever joined. I found it to be the best place for a football fan (the REAL football, not handegg) to hang out on the internet, but the forum is not as active as it was years ago.

Next Game:

Now that I quickly finished Ringside Angel, we will go back to the top 100 list.

The game I am reviewing next is #2 and is considered the best RPG on the Genesis. I am of course talking about Phantasy Star IV. The second game was very dated, the third was an OK but weird game, and now I hope the fourth one justifies all the hype. 

 

Stay Tuned.

 

For Previous Genesis Game Reviews:

The List

This blog was originally posted in Destructoid Community Blogs on December 16th, 2017. The blog was slightly edited to fit my newer review format.