First off, we need to talk about Kaiju Big Battel. Originally founded in 1994 and still going today, it is a sort of theatrical - even more so than pro wrestling in general - wrestling performance where the competitors are all dressed up like giant monsters and sentai heroes. There are even cardboard buildings in the ring and they destroy the "city" while they fight. It's seriously the dumbest thing I've ever seen, but also the coolest thing I've ever seen. Check them out on YouTube.
I want to add that I'm a lapsed pro wrestling fan and haven't really watched anything in years. I like over the top characters and stupid gimmicks in pro wrestling, and that hasn't really been a thing for a long time. Pro wrestling is stupid fake nonsense, so going crazy with ridiculous characters and storylines and embracing the fake stupidity of it all in the name of entertainment is what I want. That's why Kaiju Big Battel appeals to me. Oh, I'll add that I don't watch, but I'm aware of Danhausen and his awesome Danhausen-ness.
This game, Kaiju Big Battel Fighto Fantasy, isn't a wrestling game, though. It's a SNES-style turn-based JRPG featuring the greatest heroes and villains of KBB. I will say that even if you aren't a fan and don't know who the characters are supposed to be, the game does a great job of making you care about them anyway. It's all just classic sentai and kaiju movie schlock mixed with pro wrestling storytelling. It's amazing. It's wonderful. I love it.
As far as the gameplay goes, it's pretty by the numbers 16-bit era JRPG stuff. Which is great, because that's exactly the era of JRPGs I actually like. I just can't deal with turn-based JRPGs released since about 1997 because they all got way too cinematic and epic and everything you do takes way too goddamned long. Oldschool SNES JRPGs are snappy and fast and don't waste your time. Fighto Fantasy isn't exactly deep or complex, and is actually really, really easy, but it's fun. It gets to the point and doesn't overstay its welcome. It took me just under 10 hours to beat the game and get all of the achievements on Xbox.
The presentation is wonderful with great 16-bit representations of all of the Kaiju Big Battel favorites. The music is really the standout here, though. It's truly freaking awesome.
It has to be noted this game has been around for a long time now. It started out on itch.io in 2018 and finally got console ports in 2025. It's only $10 on PC but $20 on consoles. I got it on Xbox and feel like my $20 was well spent, so no regrets there. I'll also add that it seems like absolutely no one is playing it - I was literally the third person on TrueAchievements to get 1000/1000 on Xbox. That's a shame because it's really a great unique experience.
With all of that said, of course I'm going to highly recommend Kaiju Big Battel: Fighto Fantasy. Whether you play on Steam or Xbox or wherever, it's amazing. It's a throwback to the golden age of JRPGs with a great premise and awesome characters and incredibly good music that I abso-freaking-lutely loved every second of. Definitely buy it and play it.
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