Wrestler appearances in other video games

Before we discuss WCW Vs NWO World Tour and Saturday Night Slam Masters' rosters, I'm going to throw
another random thought out for everyone's consideration:

Mortal Kombat's Shao Khan. Khan's attire looks similar to He Man. The shogun skull helmet looks like a cross between Skeletor
and TMNT's Shredder.

Come to think about it, different coloured headbands for the turtles...different coloured Mortal Kombat ninjas.
Or...they're just likely palette swaps.

^in contrast, I think MK used palette swaps in MK1-Trilogy to save time and money. Can't say it didn't work for them as almost all of the palette swapped characters remain relatively popular among the fandom (and thus, people happily buy them when they're withheld from base rosters and released as DLC; can't say that I like the practice but I can't argue with the success of that model, sadly)

it amuses me when people create online furors over certain characters being omitted

I say wait enough "seasons," and they'll show up eventually

unless it's Reptile whom Ed Boon personally detests xD

Shaman: Shunji Takano's portrait looks like Sean Waltman to me.

Growing up in the early 90's, I was fortunate enough to catch the tail-end of the fighting game craze and arcade scene.

For a short time, my family lived in Southport, North Carolina from 1996-1998. Every Friday after School my parents would take my brother and I
to Southport Video (which was a 5 minute walk from our house). I still remember the layout: SNES games next to the register while PS1 games
were at the back of the store.

At the other end of the store was a small room that served as a mini arcade. On one end, you had a Wheel of Fortune pinball game;
the other, Tekken 1, Darkstalkers and Samurai Shodown all side-by-side.

In the impossible quest of playing every SNES game Southport Video had, the one rule my parents had when renting games was: "never rent the same
game twice".

Street Fighter Turbo, Alpha 2 & New Challengers, WWF The Arcade Game, Tuff Enuff, TMNT Tournament Fighters, Donkey Kong Country 2 & 3, Fatal Fury,
Primal Rage, Kirby 8 games in 1 and World Heroes were just a sample of the games we rented.

Having purchased a Sony Playstation just before we moved back to Canada in 1998, we sadly never did get to rent all of the SNES games Southport Video
had to offer. But, just before we moved, our last rentals were: Fighting Force and the recently released Tekken 3.




All the big gaming publications in the west were talking about Tekken 3. The covers caught your eye immediately.



The first game we played on our Sony Playstation was Fighting Force; which hasn't aged too gracefully.




Then it came time to pop in Tekken 3. I'll never forget what my Dad said after watching Heihachi step out of his helicopter
during Tekken 3's movie-like CG intro "wow, this game is already better!"
One game that I never had the privilege of renting was Saturday Night Slam Masters/Muscle Bomber:




Biff Slamkovich / Aleksey Zalalof - refers to Street Fighter's Zangief as a comrade and looks like the prototype of Street Fighter's Alex. Has a Tombstone Piledriver.
                      
Gunloc / Lucky Colt - from his name alone, I always thought this was supposed to a loose reference to Stan Hansen. His finisher is the Powerslam
                             and is said to be one of Mike Haggar's apprentices.

The Great Oni / Mysterious Budo - A mixture of The Great Muta and The Great Kabuki.

Titanic Tim / Titan The Great - Andre The Giant.

El Stinger / El Stingray - some speculate that Stinger is based on Luchador's El Volador and Blue Demon.

Mike Haggar - over the years, fans have speculated that Mike Haggar is based on Jesse The Body Ventura's appearance in the 1987 flick
                   The Running Man.

Alexander The Grater /Sheep The Royal - Big Van Vader

King Rasta Mon / Missing IQ Gomes - Bruiser Brody




Hidden boss characters The Scorpion / Astro is based on Luchador Tinieblas while Jumbo Flapjack / Kimala The Bouncer is a
mixture of Earthquake and Kamala.

Victor Ortega is obviously based on Hulk Hogan.

While browsing facebook today, these screenshots appeared on my newsfeed:



In the recently released Retromania Wrestling (which is being billed as the "official sequel to Wrestlefest"), you may notice a cameo
appearance of a Wrestler likeness we already talked about from another modern Wrestling title.



Lazer (Sting - Surfer Sting era) from 80's Mania Wrestling Returns.

If more likenesses were added (such as the Muta, Liger, Brody, etc look-alikes), I'd definitely consider
purchasing Retromania Wrestling.

Speaking of new discoveries: this month's update to 80's Mania Wrestling Returns adds another recognizable legend
to the game's roster:



Willy Mammoth - whom I believe is based on the late Giant Haystacks.

Also, these photos were sent to me by our good friend Apathy. More behind the scenes shots of Minoru Suzuki performing
motion capture duties for King's moveset in Tekken 3:

I wanna see some 80's Mania Wrestling Returns chars in Retromania Wrestling.



I remember. I've seen those photos in an old german video game magazin back in the days!