Popeye and wrestling, eh? Now there's a tenuous link. Or is it? (He said in his best confidential no-it-isn't-and-I'll-tell-you-why-not voice.) Well, no. It follows the plot to one of the original Popeye cartoons. So that's all right then. (Phew.)
    To save the Earth ol' Pops has to defeat five alien opponents by whittling away their energy and pinning them to the floor. To aid him in this endeavour he's got a quartet of wrestley moves - the headlock, the piledriver, the ridiculously big fight and the shin kick.
    Popeye 3 is an out-and-out joystick waggler. While Zeppelin's Tag Team Wrestling used the old 'press fire with a direction' control method, to beat your opponent in Popeye 3, you have two stages of frenetic wrist-mangling. To win the bout, you have to grapple with the alien (by waggling the joystick), then try to force him into an energy-sapping headlock (more waggling). Naturally, while you're doing this, your oppo is struggling to do exactly the same thing. There's a nice bit of variety in that when your waggle meter reaches full power you can stab fire and perform a piledriver (where you pick up the alien and bounce him on his head!), but basically it's a case of whoever's misspent their youth murdering their joystick with Daley Thompson's Decathlon having the edge.
    
It's time for a tie-in!
The Popeye tie-in is limited to the cans of spinach that you can grab to initiate a pretty funny cartoon scrap, and as the gameplay is mostly limited to waggling (there's that word again) it gets boring very quickly. (Another prob is that on Level One, the energy-boosting hamburgers thrown by Wimpy totally refills your energy bar rather than giving you a little bit of extra power as in the later levels, so if an alien grabs a burger when you're on the point of defeating him, you have to go through the whole process again. Aie!)
    The presentation of the game also leaves a lot to be desired. The graphics are smart, but the playing area is small (most of the screen is taken up by an animated background) and the action tends to get confused and obscured by the front ropes. Soundwise, you've got just a few bleeps and bloops. The (very) basic waggling gameplay is repetitive and not even the two-player mode can save this game from the bottom drawer.
    
WRESTLE BETTER THE YS WAY!

... with these two flamboyant and sure-to-succeed new moves.
    
1. THE STEAMROLLER
Distract your opponent momentarily and run out of the stadium. Find the nearest heavy maintenance vehicle salesman and ask him to drive you into town. By questioning passers-by, make your way to a travel agent's and book an immediate flight to Ceylon, steamroller construction capital of the world. Once there, find a cafe and build up your strength with a cup of tea and a cream bun. Then ask the cafe owner where you can hire a steamroller. Use a current HGV or maintenance vehicle driver's licence and pay in advance for one day's hire. Drive the steamroller back to the airport, and smuggle it aboard the return flight. When you get back, drive immediately to the stadium. Use the steamroller to break into the general store next door, steal a kettle and a paint roller, run back to the ring and hit your opponent smartly with both.
    
2. THE NEUTRON BOMB
Simply detonate a Class Seven neutron bomb in the ring. NB: this move is illegal in Mexico, central China and some fishing villages on the Cornish coast.

Ratings given by other magazines

8/10

Info supplied by the SPOT*ON database

YS Cross-references
		Popeye III/Alternative	YS81	PRE
		Popeye III (in Popeye - The Collection)	YS87	45