RYAN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh my god. Yeah.
ARI: Hold that trigger?
RYAN: Yes.
[INTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
KRISTEN: Hey, all, welcome
back to PlayStation Underground.
You got Kristen here.
Today we are playing Fire Pro
Wrestling World on a PS4 Pro.
I also have Ryan here with me.
RYAN: Hello.
KRISTEN: Hey.
RYAN: Kristen,
you're leading the show.
KRISTEN: I know.
I'm leading today.
We also have Ari here from Spike
Chunsoft to lead us through this
crazy world of Fire
Pro-Wrestling World.
ARI: Well, it is quite a
crazy Fire Pro-Wrestling World,
so thanks for having me.
KRISTEN: Yeah.
So we're about to jump
into a three-on-three match.
Three of us against a
couple of computers.
What's gonna happen here?
RYAN: Only fate will tell.
KRISTEN: So this is a
highly customizable game.
ARI: Yes.
KRISTEN: Right now we're just
showing some of the gameplay
which already we're all just
like going in on each other.
But all of these characters,
their appearances can be
customized, their moves.
There's over a thousand moves
in this game
that you can set things to.
Tell us a little bit more
about what is happening.
ARI: So right now we have a
three-versus-three match,
but it's very not clear
who's on whose team now.
We're all just
kind of going crazy.
But this is the
Landmine Death Match mode.
So you see all the barbed wire.
There's also bombs.
And we're just
kind of going at it.
RYAN: And, Ari, it's so awesome
to be playing this game because
as we talked about
before the match --
ARI: Look at this.
RYAN: -- this is like a
long-standing kind of a cult
classic game series that has
a huge --
a very devoted
and passionate fan base,
so it's really great to see
this game come to PS4.
ARI: It is.
And it does retain those classic
2D graphics that everybody who
played the previous versions of
Fire Pro-Wrestling series
loves and knows,
but this time --
RYAN: Sorry.
I'm just laughing.
ARI: I expected this.
Very hard to talk and
play at the same time.
RYAN: Oh, yes.
Welcome to Underground.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh my god.
ARI: Hold and trigger.
So the character I'm playing has
Kota Ibushi's moveset which is
Kenny Omega's partner,
his tag team partner.
That's why they did the Golden
Trigger together
as you could see.
RYAN: Hold on.
ARI: Just do it.
The best thing about a match
ending is that it doesn't end
until I press option.
RYAN: Oh my god.
You could just keep going?
I'm just lying on
top of this dude.
KRISTEN: That was amazing.
RYAN: That was the best start we
could have had
for our Landmine Death Match.
KRISTEN: I was going to say, so
before we dive into another one,
maybe let's pull back a bit
and show off some
of that customization.
So beforehand, you
created a custom character.
Ryan and I had chosen a couple
of premade characters that are
part of the New
Japan Pro-Wrestling.
ARI: So these
are wrestlers preloaded,
created by NJPW itself to bring
the authenticity of an actual
Japanese wrestling
match to the PlayStation 4.
So the character I was
using is called Spike Chunsoft,
I'll show you him.
RYAN: Not a real wrestler.
ARI: Not a real wrestler, but
maybe we can make that a thing.
KRISTEN: That is a
wrestler-sounding name,
Spike Chunsoft.
ARI: And he has a
very fitting costume.
He has the skull
which is our logo.
So as you can see,
you go into Edit mode,
and there's over a thousand
different parts as you mentioned
earlier that you can go through
from the skull to the body
to basically everything.
There's face paint.
KRISTEN: Your poses.
ARI: Yeah.
The poses.
RYAN: Oh my god.
You have to have the bow tie.
ARI: That was the most important
part of this custom build.
I just made this in a couple
minutes
before the
show actually started.
So there's a bunch
of things you can do.
You can spend as
much time as you want on it
or as little
time as you want on it.
It's just pretty incredible.
And you mentioned
the posing too.
So, here's his stance.
And you can change his stances.
So Mysterious for example.
RYAN: So mysterious.
KRISTEN: I also love you can
change not just your wrestler,
but there's other aspects of the
game that you can customize
as well.
RYAN: I'm sorry.
I'm, like, laughing over here.
KRISTEN: No.
I love it.
ARI: Even the face side, you can
go up to 200%
and just have a giant skull.
And I'm going to
leave it like that.
KRISTEN: I love it.
I would absolutely play
this game exactly like this,
everyone having
exaggerated features.
ARI: He's like a mascot
character at this point.
KRISTEN: Look at him go.
RYAN: Kristen is the type of
person to spend a lot of time
in character customization.
KRISTEN: Absolutely. Absolutely.
I would spend so much time
before I even get into the ring.
ARI: That's great though.
That's exactly the kind of
people that would love to play
this game and get
really into the nitty-gritty
aspects of customization.
So aside from all
those parts that you saw,
we can also customize
the actual parameters.
So each character can
have different skills.
So maybe my punch
will be stronger.
Maybe my kick will be stronger.
For the New Japan
Pro-Wrestling wrestlers,
it is set based
on the official sets.
KRISTEN: Interesting. So you'll
truly be playing as them.
ARI: You'll truly be Kota Ibushi
or Kenny Omega
or whoever you want to be.
And then we have
the moveset as well.
KRISTEN: Oh my gosh.
There are so many moves in here.
RYAN: It's so huge.
Look at that thick
neck that he's got.
Nobody can choke him out.
ARI: It's really cool
because you can actually see
what it will look like.
It's just so good.
But you can also
customize the voices.
We have voice one
(scream), voice three (scream).
KRISTEN: I'm loving
every part of this.
RYAN: This is --
there's so many options here.
There's so many permutations.
ARI: And it will
just keep going.
KRISTEN: I feel like
because of that though,
you could just play this game
endlessly and find new ways to
go about it, new ways
to get into the ring.
ARI: And the best part about
this is once you make these
customized wrestlers, you can
actually share online with other
people who are playing.
So you can share it with the
world
and your friends who
also have a PlayStation 4.
KRISTEN: So I too
could be Spike Chunsoft.
ARI: Yes, you could.
I'll make sure to put
him online for you.
RYAN: Do you want to get back
into the ring
and show off some more?
ARI: Oh, yeah.
RYAN: Oh my god.
His face.
ARI: Even the CPU logic,
I could go on forever.
There's the taunts,
there's the performance,
the name in profile.
KRISTEN: You could
set where he's from.
ARI: Yeah. We have almost
every country listed here.
KRISTEN: Amazing.
RYAN: Awesome.
ARI: Spike Chunsoft
is a Japanese company.
RYAN: I was going to suggest
that you make him Canadian.
For Spike Chunsoft,
we'll leave him.
ARI: I'm going to
save the skull too.
It's very important.
RYAN: All your hard
work, just messed it all up.
ARI: So we'll jump back
into a match really quickly.
But to cover the main menu,
as you can see there's
Fighting Road,
which is a scenario mode.
It's not just a
pick-up-and-play fighting game.
There's actually a story behind
the New Japan
Pro-Wrestling wrestlers.
Your basically a
wrestler trying to make it big.
KRISTEN: Trying to make
your way through the world.
ARI: Yeah.
Trying to make your way through
the Fire Pro-Wrestling World.
RYAN: I love that you guys
keep coming back to that.
ARI: Yeah.
There's different kinds of
offline play you can do.
Obviously we're not gonna
get into online play today.
But there's even battle royale,
which is all of us
against each other.
But the reason why I love
starting off with
Landmine Death Match
is all the explosions.
Explosions make
things much more exciting.
RYAN: Although I think
I stayed in the ring.
ARI: Did you?
RYAN: We all stayed in the
ring during the first one.
ARI: I can change the time to
be a bit --
we were at three minutes; I'll
change it to five
so we can actually get
some ring action.
RYAN: Get some good ring action.
You can just leap to victory.
All right.
Let's begin a match.
KRISTEN: How will
we tell Spike apart?
RYAN: How will we find
Spike Chunsoft amidst all these
wrestlers, these
heroic athletes,
surrounded by barbed wire
and illegal explosives?
Oh my god.
It's so huge.
KRISTEN: He looks great.
ARI: So when one of us --
see you're already grappling,
as you can see,
with two other guys.
But that's the big hallmark here
for Fire Pro-Wrestling
is that grapple move.
So that's how the
game mostly got popular.
RYAN: So, Ari, it looks like
when you try and pin someone and
they're not really ready
to be pinned -- oh man.
Here we go.
Let's do it, Ari.
Knee to the --
ARI: Yeah. If they're
not really ready,
they can definitely
get you right off.
So the key to winning is to
make your opponent as tired as
possible through all
these weak attacks,
mid attacks, and strong
attacks, and then pin him.
RYAN: And because you have to
sort of go off visual cues and
not a hard meter,
how does a new player know
when it's the right time?
ARI: So we don't have any of the
characters doing it right now,
but eventually if you're
opponent gets tired enough,
he'll just start
breathing really heavy,
really, really heavy.
It's quite noticeable.
Kenny's doing it for example.
RYAN: Well, I'm holding breathe.
ARI: I'm just talking about a
breathe that will happen just
walking around
or running around.
RYAN: Oh no.
He reversed it.
Oh no.
KRISTEN: Oh no.
ARI: But, yeah.
What Ryan was doing
earlier was hold the L1 button.
RYAN: I'll go up
here, and I'm breathing.
Kenny Omega breathing on
the north part of the ring.
KRISTEN: I can't grapple.
ARI: But that breath function
allows you to restore your
energy, your breath so to speak.
And there's also a
spirit meter that you can do
with the control stick trigger.
So there's all these different
stats that go into making your
success happen.
So, you know, at
the end of the match,
too, you'll get points
essentially for doing those
finishers, for getting the
pin, for doing special moves.
And it's just madness on
the screen as you can see.
But there is an art form
to winning stylistically.
KRISTEN: There's a
strategy and timing.
RYAN: And, of course,
you don't need to
actually do three-on-three.
You could also do one-on-one
and a bunch of other scenarios.
ARI: We just wanted to make
it complicated for ourselves.
KRISTEN: Here at
PlayStation Underground
we don't take things lightly.
RYAN: No. Kenny Omega
never takes anything lightly.
ARI: No, not Kenny Omega.
RYAN: Goes all the way.
ARI: We're supposed to
be on each other's team,
but I don't think we're
doing a great job of it.
RYAN: No. I think we're
doing the best job.
Oh yes.
Dang it.
ARI: The game is over.
RYAN: No, no, no.
I have ten seconds left.
ARI: Well, it's over
until I press option.
RYAN: I'm going to
lay on the guy again.
Scream in the
middle of the ring.
ARI: But see, that's
what's great about it.
You can just do whatever you
want for as long as you want it.
So it is a game that
let's you do everything.
RYAN: Okay, Ari, I think
you and Kristen should have a
Death Match between
just the two of you.
ARI: Just the two of us?
RYAN: Yeah.
Just a showdown.
Kristen versus Ari.
KRISTEN: I love it.
ARI: This is the beginning of my
PlayStation Underground career.
Do you want to be evil again?
KRISTEN: Yes.
RYAN: Is that even a question?
ARI: Is that even a question?
KRISTEN: I love that your
introduction of PlayStation
Underground is
"let's do a Death Match."
RYAN: Fight to the death.
ARI: Is this how it always is.
RYAN: Two enter, one emerges.
ARI: Delete all entries and
start from the beginning.
RYAN: Yeah.
The amount of control
that players have over every
minute detail, from the
characters themselves to the way
the match is set up to the
parameters of the match.
Again, like you
were saying, Ari,
you can go as in depth or as
light of a touch as you want.
It's really up to the player.
ARI: Right.
You have to be super
competitive to play.
You can just be having fun.
I'm not the best Fire
Pro-Wrestling player.
KRISTEN: Are you implying
that this isn't extremely
competitive?
RYAN: Well, it's about to be.
ARI: It's about to be.
RYAN: Oh, man. I've never seen
such tension in the ring.
ARI: See so that means you
pressed the button much faster
than I did.
That's an Irish Whip.
RYAN: The giant skull
is really too much.
Oh man.
[LAUGHTER]
ARI: See how we're
missing each other a lot?
It's actually really important
to do the 3D walk
which is what
the R button --
RYAN: And to get sort of the
distance between you and your
partner or your opponent rather.
ARI: You have to be
in the right space.
We're not partners anymore.
RYAN: You're not
partners anymore.
This is now a Death Match.
I really don't think barbed
wire is safe to have in a ring.
ARI: No.
RYAN: I'm just
throwing that out there.
KRISTEN: So, excuse me, sir.
RYAN: Spike
Chunsoft is on a roll.
A reversal.
ARI: The reason
I love playing --
KRISTEN: Let me
breath for a second.
RYAN: You got to
just catch your breath, Kristen.
Catch your breath.
Nice throw.
Beautiful.
I love the smacks.
The great thing is, I think we
alluded to this at the top of
the show, but
Fire Pro in general,
but of course Fire
Pro-Wrestling World as well,
is not just for wrestling fans.
It really is the kind of
game for people that just like
fighting games or arcade-style
games and can really get into
because it doesn't require an
elaborate or extensive knowledge
of wrestling or an
American-style of wrestling.
It really is more like a
technical fighting game.
ARI: Yeah.
It actually, truly
relies on a lot of strategy.
If you're going to
play competitively,
you can do that.
RYAN: Or just jerk
around like we are.
ARI: Just
dragging people around.
But, yeah.
We can also just joke
around and have a giant skull
and do all
these different things.
RYAN: Now, the giant skull
is really the most serious
we've ever been on this show.
ARI: Oh, is it?
RYAN: Definitely.
ARI: See.
We just keep missing each other.
RYAN: That's just showing off
that positioning is --
I love the stare down
you guys have.
ARI: We're trading
blows right now,
and that means we press
the button at the same time.
RYAN: Knee to the face.
Is this it?
ARI: I was beginning
to do my finisher.
RYAN: Oh, you want
to do the finisher?
ARI: Yeah.
So you have to be -- I
am using Kota Ibushi's
moveset, so it's gonna be
his finisher with the knee.
Try it out.
Oh, reversed.
RYAN: Ten more seconds.
What's gonna happen?
Oh.
KRISTEN: And I'm down.
RYAN: Look at that.
ARI: I can do this for as
long as I want to be a jerk.
We're both really
tired as you can see.
KRISTEN: All right.
So, Ari, that is Fire
Pro-Wrestling World,
that is out on August 28th.
ARI: That's right.
August 28th for PlayStation 4.
And when it comes out it
will be fully functional.
You'll be able to share your
creations online with the world
and start customizing and
having these wild matches
like we had today.
KRISTEN: Awesome.
All right.
So we'll see you guys 
on the next episode
of PlayStation Underground.
[OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
