Sumo Bump

Sumo Bump is a push-off duel for two people on the same screen. Both wrestlers are chubby, round and seen from above, each with a mawashi belt and a very determined face, and both are trying to do exactly one thing: put the other one over the rope. Movement has real weight, so you cannot turn on the spot — you lean, you slide, and a shove you saw coming is still a shove you have to absorb. Hold the dash button to wind up a lunge and let go to fire it: the longer the wind-up the harder you hit, but you are wide open for a moment afterwards, and a smart opponent will be waiting for exactly that.

Rounds are best of three, five or seven. Around fifteen seconds in, the ring starts shrinking, so circling each other stops being an option and the last stretch of every round is fought on a saucer-sized patch of clay. Pick-ups drop in while you fight: rocket boots for a much longer dash, freeze to leave your opponent sliding around with no grip, giant to double your mass for five seconds, and a banana peel you can drop under the other one's feet. Four wrestlers to choose from, each with a different weight and turn of speed — Mochi the cat is balanced, Bamboo the panda is a wall, Kero the frog is feather-light and quick, and Bolt the robot winds up a dash faster than any of them.

There are four arenas and each one changes the fight. The dohyo is swept clay with a rope edge and a cheering crowd under paper lanterns. The ice floe drifts on cold water and gives you almost no grip, so everything is momentum. The rooftop is ringed in neon with a long drop on every side. The lily pad tips toward whoever is heaviest and slides out from under you. Play two on one screen — on a phone the ring sits in the middle and each player takes an edge, with the top half of the display flipped so the phone can lie flat on the table between you — or take on the computer at Easy, Normal or Sharp. Sharp baits your wind-up, backs off, and punishes you the instant your dash leaves you flat-footed.