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Post by Melonbread on Jun 14, 2023 6:26:51 GMT
Very topical … I was just in the process of translating an interview with a few Fire Pro staff members (using ChatGPT so usual caveats apply) and that came up in the conversation:
Mr. Sasazawa:
Ah, I’m sorry I’m late. As for my involvement with Fire Pro? I was involved in the development of the PC Engine’s “Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag” and 2nd BOUT. I was creating pixel art and drawing illustrations for the packages.
After that, I was involved in public relations and marketing, and served as a liaison with All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling. As I was already in a management position, my involvement was somewhat indirect, such as overseeing the production of promotional videos.
Mr. Yamazaki:
You were involved in the package design, weren’t you? I heard that the package for “Super Fire Pro Wrestling” was modeled after Riki Choshu.
Mr. Sasazawa:
That’s a common misconception, but it’s not true. The person on the cover was a model. It is true that the physique on the package of 2nd BOUT is modeled after Ricky Fuji. We had a relationship with FMW at the time.
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Post by cobrettie on Jun 14, 2023 14:20:33 GMT
Please do, the more information the better! We are planning to review and rank every game we can! I love the extra deep dives and don’t want to be a channel that is real life “text to speech” from Wikipedia
Phone cards are crazy! When I search for games I’ve been surprised by how many of them are worth more than the games
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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 15, 2023 2:58:18 GMT
For quite some time, I thought the cover model for 2nd Bout was a Wrestler impersonating Riki Choshu (sorry, Koriki Choshu), or the late Samson Fuyuki. Though, Riki Choshu did sponsor a game on the Famicom by the name The Adventures of Dino Riki.  Over the years, I specialized in tracking down hard-to-find autographs for Wrestling collectors. Eventually, I came across a series of autographs that were signed by the All Japan roster for 1993 video game Zen Nippon Sekai Saikyou Tag on the Super Famicom. These autographs were signed on shikishi boards - Japan's traditional method for collecting celebrity autographs since the dawn of Puroresu. Usually, shikishi boards are signed on 8x11 pieces of rice paper, that contained gold-coloured frames and cardboard backings. These particular shikishi's were slightly smaller than the average shikishi size.  The signatures provided are Mitsuharu Misawa (left), and Giant Baba (right). In the past, I've also seen autographs for rival promotion New Japan's Shin Nippon games on the Super Famicom. |
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Post by cobrettie on Jun 18, 2023 23:35:37 GMT
Looking into Champion Wrestler (arcade archives on switch and PC Engine) and scanning the manual to translate. If you know of any fun history you would like to share let me know, I would like to include it in the secrets and tricks add-on (I have yet to go through magazine articles, focusing on scanning first) Thanks in advance!
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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 19, 2023 0:11:42 GMT
Looking into Champion Wrestler (arcade archives on switch and PC Engine) and scanning the manual to translate. If you know of any fun history you would like to share let me know, I would like to include it in the secrets and tricks add-on (I have yet to go through magazine articles, focusing on scanning first) Thanks in advance! Last year, a hacker emailed me over gameFAQs in regards to the discovery of hidden character Big Ben Howitzer.  This recently-discovered character is an unfinished tribute to Big Van Vader.  Since Ben was never intended to be used for regular play, the game crashes while trying to use him.  In the process, unlocking the hidden boss character King The Brute (Bruiser Brody) was also disclosed. Neither of which could be used/unlocked by regular means outside of hacking. If you'd like to try both characters out yourself, I wrote a lengthy article on loading them in the PC Engine |
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Post by cobrettie on Jun 19, 2023 0:50:54 GMT
If you'd like to try both characters out yourself, I wrote a lengthy article on loading them in the PC Engine Awesome work! Thanks for letting me know! Let me know if there is anything you would like me to link in the video for your credit! |
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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 24, 2023 4:56:18 GMT
Today, I received a peculiar Japanese guidebook in the mail. The guidebook is called ァイヤープロレスリング 列伝 (Fire Pro-Wrestling Retsuden), which was released by Keibunsha in 1992. Retsuden covers the first three Fire Pro titles with Wrestler illustrations, gameplay secrets, and button inputs. Though, the most interesting aspect, in my opinion is page 94, which lists the movesets of hidden boss characters Karlos Crowther (Karl Gotch) and R.J. Phase (Lou Thesz). What's even more interesting is both bosses' moves contain the actual inputs, leading me to believe that there is, in fact, a code out there to unlock the duo for regular play.  R.J.'s moves read: Dropkick Cobra Twist Kick Backdrop Punch Backdrop Dropkick (running) Elbow Pat Shoulder Tackle Armbar Knife Edge Chop Cobra Twist Brainbuster Piledriver Backdrop (Finisher) Arm Whip ________________________________ Karlos' moves read: Dropkick Cobra Twist Kick Backdrop Punch Backdrop Dropkick Elbow Pat Shoulder Tackle Armbar Knife Edge Chop Cobra Twist W. Arm Suplex Piledriver German Suplex (Finisher) Side Suplex Another thing I noticed is that the guidebook mentions the secret front and back grapples for most of the Wrestlers, but doesn't list the actual inputs to use them. Furthermore, Gotch and Thesz do not have secret moves listed. Though, this is to be expected as both characters were never intended for use through regular means.
Unfortunately, the Retsuden guidebook doesn't mention how to unlock the bosses....
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 6, 2023 14:59:31 GMT
Playing through Combination Tag again recently, I noticed the stage theme for Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody is simply the chorus of Hansen's AJPW theme 'Sunrise'
played on repeat. You can certainly hear the lines "Suuuun-riiiise, woah oh oh", with a bit of modification.
Easily one of the first instances that I can think of where the Fire Pro series began creating themes based on a real-life Wrestler's actual entrance music.
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Post by cobrettie on Jul 8, 2023 2:02:00 GMT
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Post by scarlettbordeaux12 on Jul 27, 2023 23:23:25 GMT
Can you please post pics of the comics of the wrestling games I can't seem to find them on your links. |
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Post by cobrettie on Aug 1, 2023 22:26:48 GMT
Can you please post pics of the comics of the wrestling games I can't seem to find them on your links. Unfortunately there has seemed to be a purge of Famitsu magazines on Retromags.com and Archive.org I found out. Which REALLY stinks for all of us, I was able to piece 125 issues from 1986-1993 prior to the purge but will refrain from posting images to keep Critical Club out of trouble. I'll work on putting the comics together (they are in Japanese) in a CBZ together and will send you a link when it is done. Currently working on a mock up manual for the unreleased NES prototype of UWC (Universal Wrestling Corporation) that needs to be wrapped up by this week. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Aug 2, 2023 6:20:09 GMT
Can you please post pics of the comics of the wrestling games I can't seem to find them on your links. Unfortunately there has seemed to be a purge of Famitsu magazines on Retromags.com and Archive.org I found out. Which REALLY stinks for all of us, I was able to piece 125 issues from 1986-1993 prior to the purge but will refrain from posting images to keep Critical Club out of trouble. I'll work on putting the comics together (they are in Japanese) in a CBZ together and will send you a link when it is done. Currently working on a mock up manual for the unreleased NES prototype of UWC (Universal Wrestling Corporation) that needs to be wrapped up by this week. In contrast, the Critical Club forums have been okay with me posting the Fire Pro guides here over the last two years. Though, I have thought about creating a scanning blog as a backup archive.
In related news, bethebooker.net has a relatively active Wrestling community, too. The forum seems to be a hotspot for old and new Wrestling games.
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Post by cobrettie on Aug 2, 2023 18:25:00 GMT
I wouldn't worry too much about it except that there seems to be an active copyright holder out there requesting the issues be removed. It is probably the most probable cause for magazines being removed from both sites. Eventually I'll look into using MediaFire to upload all the wrestling related content and link it to the spreadsheet.
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Post by scarlettbordeaux12 on Aug 2, 2023 18:37:27 GMT
I wouldn't worry too much about it except that there seems to be an active copyright holder out there requesting the issues be removed. It is probably the most probable cause for magazines being removed from both sites. Eventually I'll look into using MediaFire to upload all the wrestling related content and link it to the spreadsheet. Thank you I can't wait to see what is out there. I've found a few here and there. I'm really interested in Tag Team Wrestling ,Nes Pro Wrestling ,Temco Pro Wrestling and a few others . I love some of the background info I've seen so far. |
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