While UFC has had some wildly successful games in the past, their latest edition may become one of the greatest fighting games in history.
It’s all because of PRIDE, and no, not that pride.
PRIDE fighting was the biggest MMA company in the world for a long time before being bought out by UFC in 2007. Their mix of unique rules and styles were something odd to Americans and it never quite caught on.
Now that MMA-mania has spread like a fun-to-watch plague, the fans that missed out on the wild nature of the federation can now relive it from the safety or their arm chair.
Bleacher Report featured columnist and video-game expert, Brian Mazique, breaks down the new mode perfectly:
PRIDE Mode: This is traditional Pride fighting rules, environments and announcers Bas Ruuten and Stephen Quadros and the scary, but exciting ring announcements from Lenne Hardt. The fighting takes place in a ring instead of an Octagon, and fighters can employ brutal soccer-style kicks, head stomps and ground knees to the head, which are all illegal in the UFC.
While I love the UFC and what they have done to bring the sport from the dark ages into mainstream acceptance, PRIDE is where it’s at for true fans of the sport; PRIDE was the ECW of MMA.
With a more lawless attitude to the way the matches were done, it was much more of a life and death issue in the squared circle of pride than it ever is in the UFC, I guess that’s what happens when you disallow people to punt other fighters in the head.
The option to fight in the PRIDE ring is cool enough, but for UFC to get all-in with their reinvention of gameplay and ring entrances are amazing. It actually pays homage to the company that made this all possible.
Thanks, PRIDE. Now move over so I can kick you in the face.
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