Giant Gram: All Japan Pro Wrestling 2

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Scarab

All Japan's game on the Saturn included a few characters from Virtua Fighter to fight alongside or against various AJPW wrestlers like Giant Baba, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi. Giant Gram does that again with a larger roster and slightly improved in-ring action. The presentation is breathtaking with complete entrances, theme music, ring introductions, crowd chants, etc. It was all designed to look and sound just like a television broadcast and Scarab succeeded with that. The only thing that really holds this back from being a truly great wrestling game is that the controls feel like they lag at times. By no means does it break the game, but it does feel annoying. It's still a decent wrestling experience, and worth checking out...Especially if you're a fan of the 90's All Japan product, like I am.

Review added: 04/13/2019

Giant Gram 2000: All Japan Pro Wrestling 3

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Scarab

The first Giant Gram game (which was the second game In Sega’s AJPW trilogy) was a very solid wrestling game…Giant Gram 2000 took all of the good from that game, improved upon it, then added more. On top of that, they updated the roster and also added legends…and me being an amateur historian of professional wrestling, I instantly fell in love with this game because of it. I’m a HUGE fan of the Destroyer, so while it’s not a big surprise to see him here (he may be the most famous non-Japanese wrestler in Japanese wrestling history) it’s still a nice novelty since most wrestling games here in the West don’t have legends that date back any further than the early 80’s. It’s surreal for me to recreate the Destroyer vs. Rikidozan rivalry from the early 60’s in a video game with wrestlers already pre-created In the game. Another bonus for historians or simply fans that appreciate wrestling history, is a mode where you attempt to recreate classic matches like Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen or Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. If you’re looking for a solid, arcade-style professional wrestling game for your Dreamcast, or if you simply enjoy All Japan Pro Wrestling and the history of the sport in Japan, there is no better option than Giant Gram 2000.

Review added: 04/15/2019

Giga Wing

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Takumi Corporation

A lot of reviewers were hard on this game when it came out, and aside from the graphics seeming like they were a generation behind, I'm not really seeing the problems that they saw. Honestly, I really enjoyed my time with Giga Wing. Is it flawless? Nope. Is it original? Not really, aside from the bar at the bottom that, when filled, allows you to reflect bullets back at the enemy. Is it fun? Indeed, it is. I’m assuming that some die-hard scrolling shooter fans may dislike this game because it basically has unlimited continues, which allows even the worst scrolling shooter players to complete the game if they stick with it. But sometimes a little bit of mercy like that is all it takes to convince folks who shied away from the genre to give it a chance. Maybe look at it as a scrolling shooter for beginners – and if you look at it that way, Giga Wing does a good job. That said, I guess I can understand why other fans of scrolling shooters wouldn’t like Giga Wing after I typed all of that out, but I still think it’s decent for what it is.

Review added: 04/01/2021