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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 3, 2024 7:34:16 GMT
You know what would be cool? A Mortal Kombat game with WWE Superstars. Oh, wait.... I don't know how this never became a full game. It was one of the few mobile games I played. Like many pilot projects, I assume WWE Immortals never sold well. Kind of like how WWF In Your House buried whatever potential The Arcade Game had for a Mortal Kombat-WWF crossover in the 90's. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 6, 2024 1:55:11 GMT
More knockoff Wrestling games you can't play anymore.  A rip on Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson serves as the app's mascot.  Exhibit A: the body of John Cena, with the tattoos of Randy Orton, and the face of AJ Styles/Undertaker. My first guess was Drew McIntyre, but this game was released back in 2015 when McIntyre sported a slimmer build and less facial hair. Exhibit B: Hulk Hogan and Big Van Vader join forces with the above abomination of a created Wrestler.  Exhibit C: AJ Styles and Sin Caras' adopted son next to Macho Cold John Savage ....my chosen name to describe the hodgepodge of Macho Man Randy Savage, John Cene and Stone Cold Steve Austin. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 8, 2024 5:32:35 GMT
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 8, 2024 14:47:48 GMT
All 35 pages of the Saikyou Takada Nobuhiko game manual have now been posted.  We've briefly touched on Saikyou on the first page of this thread; a game by and large forgotten about in the spectrum of video gaming; Saikyou will never be known as the greatest 2D Wrestling game, nor 2D fighter of the 90's. More or less, Saikyou was a vehicle to promote the now-defunct UWFI, and promotion posterboy Nobuhiko Takada.  Like many Wrestling games of it's era, the lion's share of Saikyou's roster is comprised of look-alike competitors; all based on real-life Wrestlers. Many of which from other Shoot Fighting promotions such as RINGS, PANCRASE, Fujiwara Gumi, and even K-1.
You can check out the full game manual here: criticalclub.com/thread/1946/guidebook-saikyou-takada-nobuhiko-manual
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 9, 2024 13:46:20 GMT
One of the first Wrestling games ever, and an early example of Wrestler renames. Are you a supporter of the 'Ricky Fighters' ....or the 'Strongbad''s? All 13 pages of the Tag Team Pro-Wrestling game manual (1986) have been posted.  Check out the full manual here: Link: criticalclub.com/thread/1948/guidebook-team-wrestling-game-manual |
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Post by patmanqc on Mar 9, 2024 17:31:16 GMT
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Post by patmanqc on Mar 9, 2024 17:34:20 GMT
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you have done a great service to all wrestling videogame fans by preserving these rare manuals.
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 9, 2024 18:44:44 GMT
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you have done a great service to all wrestling videogame fans by preserving these rare manuals. That would be the Killer Khan-knockoff 'Lee Han Tao'. Han's moves are chop-oriented in reference to Khan's trusted Mongolian Chops, but Lee's appearance and fire technique are certainly dead-ringers for Karnov, too. It's funny how such an odd, unexpected Data East mascot became so enamoured in the Japanese gaming industry. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 10, 2024 6:32:41 GMT
For years, I looked at the following game's cover and thought:  "man, that girl looks like Japanese Joshi Wrestler Megumi Kudo". I'd then fire the game up, get lost in the barrage of Japanese text and forget about the game for a couple years. Well....  ... I was right! Megumi Kudo is one of several real-life Wrestlers who were featured in the game Twinkle Little Star on the Super Famicom. In case you were wondering why, Twinkle was made by Pony Canyon in 1995, who had just released the dreadful Atsushi Onita FMW two years prior on the system. Like Super Fire Pro-Wrestling Special, Twinkle follows the story of an aspiring female Wrestler, who joins the LLPW promotion among five other hopefuls in order to become the greatest female Wrestler of all time.
As Special had Akira Maeda as the protagonist's rival and Champion-to-beat, Twinkle featured real-life Wrestler Shinobu Kandori as the 'strongest woman in the world'. Other Wrestlers from the LLPW are also present, along with appearances by Yoshiaki Fujiwara from the Fujiwara Gumi and Atsushi Onita himself!  As such, I posted the entire manual for Twinkle Little Star (while identifying all of the Wrestlers featured in the game). You can check out the full manual here:  criticalclub.com/thread/1949/guidebook-twinkle-little-star-manual |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 11, 2024 13:15:26 GMT
Another day, another original game manual to share with everyone. Thunder Pro-Wrestling Retsuden was HUMAN's attempt at bringing the Fire Pro-Wrestling series to SEGA's Mega Drive console in 1992. After years of wondering, I've come to speculate over the reason as to why HUMAN decided to rename their franchise 'Thunder Pro-Wrestling Retsuden' on SEGA's hardware. My answer: SEGA most-likely wanted to distance themselves from HUMAN's Fire Pro output on the PC Engine and Nintendo's Super Famicom system at the time.   Personally speaking, I've always loved the character portrait of 'Masked Hell' (Jushin Thunder Liger) in Retsuden. It's one of Liger's most outlandish and creative looks ever. You can check out the full manual here: criticalclub.com/thread/1950/guidebook-thunder-retsuden-game-manual |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 12, 2024 19:13:28 GMT
Early in Street Fighter II's development, the character Blanka was originally intended to be based on Tiger Mask. Posted below are three concept sketches from the era:  Tiger Mask was the first design. The second looks closer to Geki from the original Street Fighter, while the third option is beginning to look reminiscent of the Blanka design we've all come to know and love. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 17, 2024 17:27:45 GMT
Speaking of Wrestler likenesses: fans of cult-classic Saturday Night Slam Masters may appreciate this next post. Provided below
is a link to the original game manual for Muscle Bomber; the Japanese Super Famicom port of Slam Masters:
  You can check out the full guide here: LINK:
criticalclub.com/thread/1952/guidebook-muscle-bomber-manual-1994
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 18, 2024 8:04:24 GMT
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 19, 2024 6:15:06 GMT
Before I joined the Fire Pro Arena (and later, Critical Club) forums, I spent the better part of the last 12 years posting FAQ's to
GameFAQs. Under the handle Fire_Pro_Fan, I submitted hundreds of guides, cheats and screenshots to GameFAQ's database;
many of which were dedicated to Japanese Wrestling games from yesteryear.
At the time, little information existed for these older titles; which inspired me to begin writing in the first place.
During this time, I came into contact with a number of helpful players, who went out of their way to contribute corrections,
identifying obscure Wrestlers, and even providing codes to unlock unfinished Wrestlers tucked away in older games.
For whatever reason, I decided to log in to GameFAQs just the other day; noticing a message in my inbox that was unread
from over two years ago. In it, a talented hacker sent me two screenshots, asking to verify the identify of these two
characters:
 After 34 years, the gaming community has finally done it. They found a way to hack the original Fire Pro-Wrestling's game code to play as the hidden boss characters RJ Phaze (Lou Thesz) and Karlos Krauzer (Karl Gotch)! For those that don't know, Phaze and Krauzer were the secret bosses found in the original Fire Pro-Wrestling Combination
Tag - which was released on the PC Engine back in 1989. To reach the bosses, the player(s) had to beat World Championship
twice in either the singles or tag team divisions. The singles tournament requires 30 consecutive wins, while the tag team
version involves about 16 to reach the hidden bosses.
At the moment, I'm reaching out to the hacker in order to get the codes they used to find Krauzer and Phaze's in Combination Tag. From the above screens, it shows that both bosses are being used in World Championship mode, which makes me
wonder if there are, in fact, endings for the bosses as well ...or will the game crash upon facing clones of themselves
at the end of World Championship mode?
Either way, I'm super excited. Playing as the duo is something I never thought was possible in Combination Tag. The power of Pro-Wrestling and retrogaming continues to be filled with surprises.
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Post by Shadow Master on Mar 21, 2024 14:33:07 GMT
This morning a hacker and I discovered a mysterious character hidden in the code of the original Fire Pro-Wrestling Combination Tag.
 The unnamed Wrestler has no character portrait; just a pause icon symbol.  The character uses the same sprite and moveset as Star Bison (Stan Hansen).   One of Hansen's secret moves in Combination Tag is an Argentine Backbreaker (Up + Button I + Button II - front grapple); much the same as one of Hulk Hogan's secret moves being a similar-looking Canadian Backbreaker (Down + Button I + II - front grapple) in the followup title Fire Pro-Wrestling 2nd Bout.
My theory is that the mysterious character was an unfinished Hulk Hogan. With similar looks and movesets, plus with Hogan being as popular as he was in the 1980's, it's not a far stretch to imagine HUMAN wanting
to put the Immortal One in the original Fire Pro.
In Combination Tag's character address, the mysterious Wrestler is listed after hidden boss characters RJ Phaze (Lou Thesz) and Carlos Krauzer (Karl Gotch). To access the character using the Magic Engine emulator, input the code: F820BD18While I can't say for sure why the mystery character was omitted; my best guess is that HUMAN either ran out of time or space to add an 18th character to Combination Tag's roster.
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