Beast Wrestler is a wrestling beat 'em up video game containing two modes: Match and Tournament. Match is a single-round that can be played with two human players or one player and a computer opponent, whereas Tournament has multiple rounds and requires the player to showdown with every beast in the game.[6]
The presentation, although generally the most-well received aspect of Beast Wrestler, garnered a mixed response. Joystick called it the best part.[11]
Paul Rand of Computer and Video Games found the premise of monsters in a wrestling game interesting, but strongly dismissed its gameplay as "dull, simplistic and annoying in equal parts", heavily attributed to unresponsive controls.[9] He also criticized the unsuitable music and visuals.[9] Although appreciating the monsters' design, he was critical of the sprites' animation, shadows, their identical sizes, and flickering.[9]Mega also found it a "tedious" experience with very few attacks to experiment with.[14] He disliked the graphics, such as the "boring empty ring-type arena thingy" and choppy animation.[14]
Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss also called the gameplay tedious, despite its "thumb-busting array of holds and throws".[13] He praised the presentation, such as the "electrified, three-dimensional playing field" and "appropriately gruesome creatures (which look like something out of a David Cronenberg movie)", although also joked, "When the monsters tangle it up in the ring, you're reminded of those intricate mating rituals Marlin Perkins used to narrate on Wild Kingdom."[13]
