Gekitou Pro Wrestling!! is one of those NES wrestling games that feels janky at first but weirdly grows on you. The sprites are chunky, the moves are stiff, and the ring looks like it’s made of cardboard—but after a few matches, you start appreciating the over-the-top suplexes and the way the crowd goes nuts when you hit a finisher.

Picking a wrestler is half the fun—some are lightning-fast but weak, others hit like trucks but move like they’re stuck in molasses. I kept going back to the masked luchador because his diving attacks actually felt like they had weight behind them. And yeah, the AI cheats sometimes, but that just makes pinning the champ even sweeter.

It’s not as polished as later wrestling games, but there’s something charming about how hard it tries to be epic with such limited tech. You can practically hear the announcer screaming in Japanese even if you don’t understand a word.