Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2/FAQ

General

What is Kinnikuman?

Kinnikuman is a superhero and wrestling manga by the writer/artist duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It tells the story of the eponymous Kinnikuman, the bumbling prince of Planet Kinniku, a superhero wannabe turned wrestler as he and his superhero friends fight various evil superhumans in wrestling matches. The manga first debuted in May 1979, and in its over 40 years of existence, it has spawned multiple anime adaptations, spin-offs, video games (including this one!) and more. The original manga itself ended in 1987, but in 2011, Yudetamago resumed the series, picking up directly from where the original run ended. This reboot/revival is still ongoing to this day.

One of the more notable spin-off is Kinnikuman Nisei, a sequel from the early 2000s which focused on the children of the original cast. The anime adaptation of this series was brought over to the West, as Ultimate Muscle. For many English-speakers, this is their first (if not only) exposure to the franchise.

So what's the deal with Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2?

Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 is a wrestling/fighting game based on the Kinnikuman series. It includes almost all of the notable characters from the original series, as well as a handful from Kinnikuman Nisei/Ultimate Muscle. The game was developed by AKI Corporation, which was behind many of the iconic wrestling games of the late 90s to early 2000s, such as WWF: No Mercy and Def Jam: Fight for New York (which has its own competitive scene!). In fact, Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 was one of the final wrestling games the company developed, released in 2008.

However, unlike a lot of the other Wrestling games released by the company, MGP2 plays more similarly to a traditional fighting game, with health bars, super meters, motion inputs and juggles. That said, the game still has distinctly wrestling elements, such as an emphasis on throws and the ring ropes mechanic. Together, this makes a fighting game that plays quite like no other. Muscle Grand Prix 2 is even still regularly played at some arcades in Japan to this day, such as at the famous Takadanobaba Mikado arcade.

So how does this game play?

MGP2 is still a 3D fighting game at its core, with big, fancy combos taking the form of juggles and the possibility of movement on the Z-axis. Although the game's movement is not quite as dynamic as some other 3D titles such as Tekken or SoulCalibur, movement is still very important. One of the more notable differences between MGP2 and other 3D fighters is the strength of standing combos. Throws, especially special throws, do a lot of damage, and can be combo'd into. This means that for a lot of characters, their highest-damage combos are not from juggles, but from getting a good standing hit in neutral, and subsequently spending meter to convert into a damaging special throw. Another significant difference is the stun and ropes system. A lot of slow, high-reward moves are very plus on block, and when blocked near the ropes, it will cause the defender to recoil off of the ropes, being completely open to attack. This disincentivizes blocking indefinitely, especially when near to the ropes, and encourages more active defense via parrying and/or throw-teching.

Overall, MGP2 is most frequently compared to Tekken and Virtua Fighter in terms of gameplay, but that is not to say it plays exactly like those aforementioned titles.

Gameplay

Arcade/PS2 differences?

Beyond the surface level, the two versions of the game are actually very different (notice how the PS2 version is actually called Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 Tokumori). Unfortunately, due to the limited access the English-speaking world have to the Arcade version as well as how esoteric some of the changes are, there is no comprehensive change list for the two versions.

There are some character-specific changes, such as Akuma Shogun's 623T throw doing more damage in the PS2 version, but the main changes are in the system mechanics, which significantly changes how pressure and combos work. The stun system, especially on back hit, works quite differently, such that a lot of infinite combos that work in the Arcade version do not work at all in the PS2 version. Effectively, this makes the PS2 version less of a "one-touch" game, and makes the characters who still has an infinite in the PS2 version stronger by relative.

The jury's still out on which version is "better". Japan primarily plays on the Arcade version, and as a result most match footage from Japan are of the Arcade version. In contrast, most players outside of Japan mainly play the PS2 version, generally out of necessity of being the only version they have access to.

Is there a reset button in training mode?

There is no reset shortcut in training mode. In general, MGP2 has a very bare-bones training mode. The community have figured out some workarounds to this.

• One method is to select a move from the command list, which will make it display on screen. When you want to reset, you can press select+Δ to start the command demo, and then immediately press X to cancel out of the demo.

• Another option is to go into the menu to the starting position setting. change the setting and then immediately change it back before exiting the menu.

I'm doing A into A infinitely and the combo counter is going up. Is this just a real infinite?

This is not actually an infinite at all. In all likelihood, your opponent was simply not blocking, or you are doing it on a dummy that is not set to block. The combo counter in this game is notoriously inaccurate, and will often record a sequence of hits as a "combo" while in actuality it is possible to recover and block/parry/throw tech in time. Because of this, the only way to truly test whether a standing combo is real or not is to have the defender block/throw tech after the first hit. Unfortunately, the game's training mode does not have this as an option, so workarounds (such as with a 2nd player controlling the dummy) is needed.

Are there other ways to beat throws besides teching them?

Throws have very large horizontal range, so backdashing or sidestepping a throw rarely works. However, certain moves have a "throw-invulnerable" property, where they are completely immune to throws during a certain duration of their animation. Many low-profiling moves (such as many characters' 2As) or moves that go airborne (most characters' 8As) are actually coded with throw-invuln. While properly teching a throw can lead to a proper throw punish, avoiding the throw altogether with a throw-invuln move can be a lot more intuitive for a new player, especially since many 2As are throw-invuln from frame 1. In fact, for characters with mediocre throw punishes but rewarding throw-invuln starters (Kinnikuman and Geronimo being standout examples), reacting to a throw with a throw-invuln move can be more optimal than teching the throw and subsequently punishing.

I had MAX meter and I used a 1-bar special, and now I have 8 bars left. What's up with that?

A common misconception is that MAX bars equate to 10 bars, which is not true. The bar caps out at 999 points of meter, where 100 points is 1 bar. This means you can build meter to just below 10 bars.

Why does my character keeps rolling backwards and flexing whenever I get up?

The flexing is actually the throw tech whiff animation. What is probably happening here is that you are waking up by pressing 4G. The buffer in this game for some actions are extremely large, so the game interprets this 4G while grounded as rolling backwards (4) and then waking up with a throw tech (4G). A lot of new players do this subconsciously, since holding back to block while waking up is very common in other games, but is not applicable here. If you want to just wake up in place while blocking, you should just hold down the G button with no directional inputs, whereas if you want to roll backwards and then wake up while blocking (as opposed to waking up with a throw tech), you should tap 4, and then hold G only when your character begins rolling.

Characters

Which character should I play?

Honestly, just play whoever you like. If you have read the manga or watched the anime, you can just pick your favorite character and call it a day. With a couple exceptions, just about everyone is viable, and can feasibly win, especially when not at the highest echelons of competitive play. Most characters are also relatively easy to pick up and get to a decent understanding of, so don't hesitate just trying out different characters.

If that doesn't work, you can always just pick a top tier. MGP2 is a game that has very strong (though not quite oppressive) top tiers, so those characters can be very rewarding to play. Alternatively, if you are concerned with learning "the real game" or "the fundamentals of MGP2", you can try one of the more beginner-friendly characters in the game.

Is there a tier list?

There is no community consensus tier list, but several of the Japanese players have made their own personal tier lists. They do differ by quite a bit, but as a whole, the top tiers and the bottom/low tiers are fairly set in stone. To reiterate, the tiers are condensed enough that although there is a clear sense of disparity between the high tiers and low tiers, everyone (with the arguable exception of the bottom tiers) is viable, and can win against even the best characters in the game.

• Heppoko's tier list
• JyanVoi's tier list
• Mikyodhal's tier list (this is their older, outdated list)
• Watakemo's tier list

Ok, so who are the beginner-friendly characters?

Incidentally, a lot of the Justice Choujins (i.e. "the good guys") are beginner-friendly.

• Kinnikuman, Terryman, Robin Mask and Brocken Jr. are all fairly well-rounded characters with straightforward gameplans and easy-to-learn combos.

• Kinniku Mantaro and Warsman are similar to the above, but they have one or two tools that can be difficult to counter at a lower level, and this can lead to a new player to over-rely on them. As long as you keep this in mind, these two characters are also suitable for new players.

• Kevin Mask and Kinnikuman Soldier are different from the previously listed characters in that their combos can be quite difficult, and requires a bit more labbing from the outset. This fact aside however, they are still very accessible characters suited to a beginner.

The Mountain is really cheap. Am I missing something? Is he actually that good?

The Mountain is in fact consistently ranked among the best characters in the game. Anyone who has played against a Mountain have seen their lifebar melt after a single knockdown. That said though, The Mountain still has very evident weaknesses. He is one of the slowest characters in the game, both in terms of movement and attacks, and as a result faster characters can easily outpoke or outmaneuver him. More importantly, his infamous OTG is very meter-hungry, since they need 2 bars per use and ideally The Mountain would do 4 in sequence. Because of this, denying him meter, either by not allowing him to charge or even by using meter-draining moves, can set the character back quite a bit.

"Suguru"? "Ataru"? Just "Terry"? Which characters are these referring to?

In the manga/anime, "Suguru Kinniku" and "Ataru Kinniku" are the real names of Kinnikuman and Kinnikuman Soldier, respectively. Due to their somewhat wordy names and the slight ambiguity of just "Kinnikuman" (this game has several playable Kinnikumen, after all), some people prefer using their real names "Suguru" and "Ataru" to refer to these characters.

"Terry" typically refers to specifically Terryman, since that nickname is generally only applied to the older Terry in the manga/anime. His son Terry the Kid is usually shortened to "Kid" instead.

The Glossary page goes more in-depth on more manga/anime-derived concepts and terms as they might apply to this game.

Other

What are those silver/gold medals that pop up mid-match? What's a "FATAL BATTLE"?

Recreating scenes from the anime will cause a medal to appear, and subsequently unlock an anime still in the game's gallery mode. Recreating the scene perfectly, with the correct costumes and stage, will produce a gold medal and unlock a full-color still. Getting the costumes/stage not quite right will produce a silver medal, and unlock a grayscale version of the still (doing it properly will "upgrade" it to the full-color still). The "FATAL BATTLE" icon that appears during the match loading screen basically indicates that there are medals that can be earned in that matchup, and it can appear gold or silver as well, depending on if the costumes/stage are correct or not. If all the medals have been earned for that matchup, the "FATAL BATTLE" icon will stop appearing.

Since the collection mode is only tangential to the actual gameplay, the unlock conditions for the stills are outside the scope of this wiki. However, if you are interested, you can try looking at this playlist.

Why are Neptuneman and Budo not on the character select screen?

In the arcade version, Neptuneman and Big the Budo are hidden characters of sorts, unlike in the PS2 version where they are unlocked by default. Regularly played cabs usually have them unlocked already, but if not, there is a code to unlock them.

To unlock the two extra characters, go the Test menu, choose Game Options and then while highlighting Game Difficulty input this:

組・打・↓・必・↑・G・↓・G・↑・打・組・↑・打・↓・G・↑・必・↓

(Throw, Attack, Down, Special, Up, Guard, Down, Guard, Up, Attack, Throw, Up, Attack, Down, Guard, Up, Special, Down)

A box should appear to confirm that Neptuneman and Big The Budo are now selectable. Enjoy!

Instructions are from this Arcade Otaku forum post. Credit to NINLIA for the post.

What is causing a different BGM to play sometimes?

BGMs in this game are tied to stages, but certain matches (usually lore-based ones) can override the stage BGM for a unique theme.

• Kiseki no Muscle Docking: Justice Choujin vs Devil Choujin matchups
• Hustle Muscle: Nisei matchups, and some Legend vs New Generation lore matchups such as Mantaro vs Kinnikuman or Mantaro vs Ashuraman
• Zudadan! Kinnikuman: Lore matchups involving the Five Fated Princes

Anything I should know about if I want to stream/make content for the game?

The theme that plays in the intro and the main menu is "Kinnikuman Go Fight!", the first opening of the anime. This has a tendency of triggering copyright bots, which usually leads to a demonetized (or worse, removed) video. Because of this, try to avoid lingering too long on the main menu, or mute the audio altogether when the theme plays just to be safe. On the other hand, Hustle Muscle do not appear to incur copyright strikes (perhaps because other SFX are at play during a match?) so you don't need to take any special precautions for matchups that trigger the song.