3 Count Bout

3 Count Bout, known as Fire Suplex (ファイヤースープレックス) in Japan, is a wrestling game released by SNK in 1993 for the Neo Geo.

Story
SWF (SNK WRESTLING FEDERATION) is an organization that stands at the top of the professional wrestling world. The SWF finally decided to hold the "Worldwide Indiscriminate Class Tournament". The tournament is to determine the "true world champion" and allows the world's most powerful wrestlers to freely participate in the indiscriminate class with no weight limit. Moreover, the tournament also incorporates a radical death match, which seems to be the most severe battle in the history of professional wrestling.

And finally the competition starts. Powerful people including the current SWF heavyweight champion from all over the world entered, including some ferocious wrestlers from the dark underground professional wrestling organization "Hole of the Lion".

With the pride and ambition of the fighters hidden in their hearts, the ten men rise up into a ring. Which wrestler has the crown of the "True World Champion" shining on his head?

Gameplay
3 Count Bout has a selection of ten characters to choose from. Unlike in other wrestling games of the time, however, matches in 3 Count Bout are exclusively one-on-one. It plays by the typical rules of wrestling, with players having to deplete down the opponent's stamina meter and then pin it down for a three seconds count in order to win the match. Matches are divided into traditional ring matches and street matches which features hazards and weapons the fighters can pick up.

A and B buttons are used for punches and kicks respectively, while the C button is used to jump. By using various combinations of these buttons players can perform different offensive and defensive maneuvers. When both players approach each other they are automatically locked in a grapple contest, with the player which mashes the buttons the most winning the grapple. When the opponent is downed and with low stamina the player can use the D button to pin it down.

Development & Release
The game was released for the Neo Geo AES on April 23, 1993 and was later ported to the Neo Geo CD on April 21, 1995. 3 Count Bout was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch on October 11, 2018.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed 3 Count Bout on their May 1, 1993 issue as being the tenth most-popular arcade game at the time. In North America, RePlay reported 3 Count Bout to be the fourth most-popular arcade game in April 1993. The following month, RePlay listed it as the top-grossing arcade software conversion kit, while Play Meter listed 3 Count Bout as the 47th most-popular arcade game.

The game received generally positive reception from critics since its release in arcades and other platforms. AllGame 's Paul Biondich noted its attempt at mixing of fighting styles from game such as WWF WrestleFest and Street Fighter II, however, Kyle Knight stated that 3 Count Bout has an "identity crisis" due to this and regarded the controls as decent during fighting mode but poorly implemented during wrestling mode. Both Biondich and Knight felt mixed in regards to the audiovisual presentation, gameplay and overall replay value. In contrast, Consoles Plus ' Marc Menier and Jean-Loup Jovanovic praised the presentation, visuals, sprite animations, sound design, playability and two-player mode. However, GameFan 's four reviewers commended the graphical presentation but criticized the limited sprite animation, controls and gameplay mechanics, with Sgt. Gamer in particular recommending to play the title in arcades rather than on AES.

GamePro 's Scary Larry praised the visuals for being up to standards on Neo Geo and sound design but criticized the controls for being stiff and difficult opponent AI. Hobby Consolas ' Manuel del Campo highly commended the film-like presentation, music and sound effects but criticized one aspect of its playability and noted the high difficulty level on the easiest setting. Likewise, Joypad 's Nourdine Nini and Jean-François Morisse gave positive remarks to the number of moves for each character, graphics, animations controls and sound design but criticized the gameplay for being repetitive. In a similar manner as Larry, Mega Fun 's Philipp Noak and Ulf Schneider criticized the AI opponent for being unfair but gave positive comments to the technical presentation, number of moves and two-player mode.

Player One 's Christophe Delpierre praised the animated visuals, sound, difficulty and longevity but felt mixed in regards to the gameplay. Computer+Videogiochi 's Paolo Cardillo and Consolemania 's Piemarco Rosa also praised the animated graphics, audio, gameplay and number of moves but Cardillo criticized the game's originality, while Rosa criticized certain gameplay aspects and longevity. Play Time 's Armin Thielen highly commended the title for the technical and audiovisual presentation, as well as its difficulty level. A reviewer of Dutch magazine Power Unlimited reviewed the AES version in a negative light, stating that "The sounds and images may be beautiful, what good is it if the game is unplayable? 3 Count Bout feels like it's impossible to win, and of course you shouldn't have it." VideoGames ' Chris Bieniek criticized the method of executing special moves.

Characters

 * Terry Rogers
 * Blues Hablam
 * Roy Wilson
 * Leo Bradlay
 * The Red Dragon
 * Gochack Bigbomb
 * The Gandhara
 * Blubber Man
 * Master Barnes
 * Big Bomberder