Wrestler appearances in other video games

Ha - in relation to the "Approved by New Japan and All Japan" wording in The Big Pro-Wrestling, I understand that the president of Technos Japan knew someone that was loosely connected to both promotions ... and that guy's ok was the only approval they got!  I suspect that no-one in either organisation knew anything about it.

It probably would have been a challenge to obtain anything more official (even if Technos were interested in doing so).  Even they themselves weren't convinced that The Big Pro-Wrestling was going to be a success - it was almost cancelled during development.  

This week Hard Time III and Wrestling Empire just released a batch of new armor edit pieces.

For today's obscure throwback, we're heading back to 1989 to take a look at a roster of fighters inspired by pop culture and
Pro-Wrestling likenesses.

Violence Fight (バイオレンスファイト) is a one on one arcade fighter released by Taito in 1989.




Violence Fight was most-likely inspired by the release of the original Street Fighter from 1987; making Violence Fight one
of the original Street Fighter clones.

Some say the look and feel of Violence Fight was lifted from Midway's Pit Fighter, yet Violence Fight predated Pit Fighter
by one year.



Much like the Double Dragon series, the base roster of fighters were created to cater to western audiences. The base roster consists of four selectable fighters:

Bad Blue (sometimes spelled 'Bat Blue'): a former Street Fighting champion from Los Angeles. His look reminds me of Chuck Norris and a mix of Joe Lewis.
As far as attributes are concerned, he is the most well-balanced and skillful. He is partnered with Blinks, who acts as his manager.

Ben Smith: a U.S. Marine veteran from Carson, Nevada that specializes in boxing. Ben's look reminds me of Rambo. If Street Fighter is concerned, Ben may
be based on Mike (the original name of Mike Tyson clone Balrog/Mike Bison). During Ben's marine career, he was known as 'Fierce Eagle' for his fast reflexes.

Lick Joe: (a Japanese misspelling of Rick) is an American Wrestler from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Joe was expelled from the Taito Wrestling Federation (a parody
of the World Wrestling Federation) after killing 13 opponents. Some say Joe was inspired by Gorgeous George. With his Wrestling boots, blonde hair and large
frame, I think Joe looks closer in appearance to Hulk Hogan or Stan Hansen.

Lee Chen: a mysterious Chinese martial artist from Miami, Florida. Although a natural-born U.S. citizen, Lee spent many of his childhood summers visiting
China with his father, who taught him the art of kung fu. Lee could very well be based on Bruce Lee, with a mention to Bruce's son Brandon Lee.



One of the first unplayable boss characters is Ron Max; a palette swap of Lick Joe. Ron is also an American Pro-Wrestler from San Antonio, Texas who
specializes in headbutts.

Appearance-wise, I feel Ron is closer in appearance to Big Van Vader or Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow was especially known for his headbutts.

In American Wrestling lore, it was Ox Baker who famously 'killed' a Wrestler with his dreaded Heart Punch. In 1993's Dead Dance/Tuff Enuff by Jaleco,
the boss character Gajet was barred from Wrestling for killing an opponent and 'liking it'. Then there's Akuma Shogun from the Kinnikuman series who
slaughtered multiple wrestlers.

So much death...



The final boss is Tony Won: the leader of the Black Willow gang. Tony is based on Mr. T.'s appearance as B.A. Baracus.

In the May 16th, 2020 update to RPG title Terraria, a new edit piece became available called the Fake Unicorn Horn.
The horn's in-game tooltip info states:

'It's a new day, yes it is!', which is the cathphrase of the WWE tag team The New Day.

First of all, welcome to the Critical Club forum. It's always a pleasure knowing there's Wrestling fanatics out there interested into delving deeper into the
connection between video games and the Wrestling culture that inspired them.

As for posting images, try signing up for postimages.org; it's been my go-to for posting images around the web for years. The picture icon (third from the
globe) is the insert image option.



I've often wondered why the localized port of Pro-Wrestling uses unused sprites instead of actual, in-game screenshots from the actual roster.

My theory is that Nintendo were aware that the roster of Pro-Wrestling was based on real-life wrestlers and didn't want to get sued by
promotions such as the WWF, NWA, or NJPW. Having two generic-looking wrestlers was a play it safe move on TRY (later-HUMAN)'s
part.

In Japan, copyright licensing was more-lenient; meaning the Famicom cover with a larger than life illustration of Fighter Hayabusa (
Antonio Inoki) was perfectly allowable at the time. Additionally, while Antonio Inoki was a national hero to Japanese Wrestling fans,
Inoki's star power outside of Japan wasn't strong enough to market Inoki to younger western Wrestling fans of the NES era.

As for the sprites themselves, I always felt like the Wrestler in the black trunks was based on Terry Funk. Large nose, bushy brown
hair, and incredibly-popular to Japanese audiences as one of the country's top babyface gaijins. The masked Wrestler has the colours
of El Canek or Fray Tormenta (the first choice was originally considered less than a decade later for HUMAN's Super Fire Pro-Wrestling
III Final Bout). Though, the masked combatant could be a recycled version of Mil Mascaras (who appears in Pro-Wrestling anyway as
the fan-favourite Star Man).

In Fire Pro lore, Funk's rename is Kerry Texan; while El Canek's is El Canarik. Likewise, Mil Mascaras is known as Mascaras Condor
throughout the Fire Pro series.

As for recent updates:



Jade Cargill's Eye of the Storm is being added as one of the newest moves set to be included in a future update from Wrestling
Empire.