Bizarre, yet gripping 3D sumo game

Sumotori Dream is a Windows sumo wrestling game starring giant robots. Sumo wrestling isn’t a sport that many combat games developers choose to make simulations of. Based on the gameplay in Sumotori Dreams perhaps it’s time they did.

The characters in this excellent 3D game aren’t actually real sumo wrestlers, rather robotic characters made out of blocks. The object of each bout in Sumotori Dreams is to knock down your opponent before you fall yourself. This is easier said than done due to the clumsy way that the blocky wrestlers stagger around as if they’re drunk.

The key when you play Sumotori Dreams seems to be to get in early and push the other fighter before you inevitably topple over yourself. You score a point for each knock down and the first to five points is declared the winner.

Incredibly, Sumotori Dreams weighs in at just 96Kb in size. This is particularly hard to believe given the slickness of the animation, the realistic game physics, the uber-cool lounge music soundtrack, and the various lighting options you can choose between. There’s even a two player mode where you and a pal can tough it out on the same keyboard. Oh, and there’s an awesome hidden game mode lurking inside Sumotori Dreams (I’ll leave it to you to discover it, though).

Playing Sumotori Dreams gave me the biggest laugh I’ve had from a game in ages, and it’s hard to fault it all. Perhaps in a future release they could add different fighters with different special abilities.

On seconds thoughts, that might take away the simplistic magic of Sumotori Dreams, which is a charming little game.