Rumble Roses


Sexy Slams and Submissions Galore

With Dead or Alive Ultimate and it's lush wardrobe of active gear and swimwear on the way, hot-blooded gamers can look forward to another game that features digital divas created just to titillate. Rumble Roses is an all-female wrestling game for the PS2 from Konami (the makers of Metal Gear and Silent Hill). The game will star nine to ten selectable grapplers, each of which fits a fan service requirement and stereotype.
There's Reiko, the short-haired Japanese angel who's fast, skilled and as cute as a button. Dixie Clemets fills in the slot for big, blonde and busty American cowgirl, while dusky-skinned Aisha dances like she's auditioning for Showgirls. Like a bit of mystery with your girl? There's Evil Rose, who comes into the ring fully covered in a leather devil-suit. Bloody Shadow is a ninja-themed wrestler whose costume leaves little hidden. The latest revealed members of the roster include Anasthesia, a vixen in a nurse's outfit who dispenses pain instead of first aid; Aigle, a pigtained cutie, and Makoto, a lovely martial artist who comes complete in a barely-there gi.

Aside from the usual modes of play expected in a wrestling game, RR gains the dubious distinction of having the first-ever mud wrestling mode in a mainstream wrestling videogame. Yep, the girls strip down to their bikinis and have it out in slick pools of mud that actually coats the ladies' polygonal bods. Similar to DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball, there will also be a Watch Mode where gamers can take a break watching the girls do the same- which amounts to lolling and bouncing around in their swimsuits. Mmmm.
Also recently revealed were more details of the game's Story Mode, which will involve the unlocking of the girls' dark sides. This typically involves the said girl going through a series of unfortunate events which end up with them taking up the skimpier outfits of EVIL and becoming Bad-Ass Heels. Once unlocked, the Heel Personas are pretty much unique wrestlers themselves, which will effectively double the selectable roster- great if you thought that nine or ten was a pretty thin number.
Perhaps the most provocative aspect of RR's gameplay is the inclusion of Humiliation Moves in the girls' arsenals, which are triggered by performing certain conditions during matches. Can you say... spanking?'

It may seem that Konami is directly challenging the sex appeal and babe factor of Tecmo's Dead or Alive, even surpassing the already sexist lines of DOA with some pretty risque elements (and an equally risque marketing campaign). Whether Konami's wrassler becomes as much a classic as Dead or Alive though, rests on the quality of the gameplay and content... since they already seem to have the graphics and animation on the right track. Mmmm.

Rumble Roses is set for a November 2004 release.