Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book | Critical Club: Fire Pro Wrestling Universe

Shadow Master
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Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 20, 2023 6:53:52 GMT

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 20, 2023 6:53:52 GMT

Super Fire Pro-Wrestling III Final Bout Edit Wrestler Book
Publisher: Keibunsha
Year: 1994
Pages: 79

The tenth book in my guidebook scanning project belongs to Super Fire Pro-Wrestling III Final Bout on the Super Famicom.

Second only to Fire Pro Wrestling 3 Legend Bout on the PC Engine, Final Bout was the one of the very first Wrestling video games to feature

a create a Wrestler mode. As such, Keibunsha decided to create an entire guidebook dedicated to providing formulas to recreate many

popular Wrestlers, who were not featured in a Fire Pro game by that point.

When the internet was still in it's infancy, Fire Pro enthusiasts relied on these guidebooks to help them create the most authentic depictions

of their favourite Wrestlers as possible. While seemingly out of place in today's online community, the fact these guidebooks were released
on a yearly basis clearly demonstrated the passion Fire Pro players had for creating their own Wrestlers.

On top of edit formulas and a handful of Wrestler illustrations, the Final Bout Edit Wrestler Book also contains an interview and giveaway

featuring Ultimo Dragon!

The front cover utilizes the vibrant Final Bout cover artwork with four custom creations. The Wrestlers are: Jinsei Shinzaki, Harley Race, Satoru Sayama and Super

Strong Machine.

The inner sleeve features two Keibunsha publications. The publication on the left is the 'Fire Pro-Wrestling Encyclopedia', and features an illustration

of Keiji Mutoh applying a facebuster to Scott Norton. The book on the right is the regular Keibunsha guidebook for Final Bout (which I have already

posted in this forum).

Last Edit: Jun 20, 2023 7:16:08 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
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Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 22, 2023 9:41:04 GMT Melonbread likes this

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 22, 2023 9:41:04 GMT

Inner cover.

Page 1 and back of inner cover.

Pages 2- 3: table of contents and an introductory page, that mentions the 87 different Wrestler design ideas listed inside.

Page 4 explains the layout for understanding the Wrestler Edit formulas, while page 5 is the title page for 'Part 1 Edit Wrestler'.

Fans of Keibunsha's chibi Wrestler illustrations may be pleased to discover that there are a handful of character drawings featured in this guidebook.

Pages 6 - 7: Dream Gorgeous (Dusty Rhodes) uses Terry Gordy as a template & Yamaha Mock (Bock Roland) uses Hulk Hogan as a template.

As to my knowledge, this is the first time both legends were mentioned in the Fire Pro universe.

Pages 8 - 9: Great Panther (Satoru Sayama) using Mitsuharu Misawa as a base & Bobby Backlandy (Bob Backlund) with Dynamite Kid as a template.

Pages 10 - 11: Billy Robins (Billy Robinson) using Shinya Hashimoto & Harry Royce (Harley Race) incorporating Masa Saito.

Last Edit: Jun 22, 2023 17:38:40 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
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Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 22, 2023 18:54:53 GMT

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 22, 2023 18:54:53 GMT

The first batch of edits were fairly well-known Wrestling greats. For those of you who prefer deeper, more-obscure Wrestling cuts, I present the following:

Pages 12 - 13: Jinzan Shinzaka (Jinsei Shinzaki) using the body of Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masahi Onibe (Seishi Horibe),

Seishi Horibe was the master of the Japanese Koppu fighting style. A martial arts discipline that inspired the likes of Jushin Liger and Masakatsu Funaki.

Pages 14 - 15: Ugly Face (Leatherface) using the body of The Ultimate Warrior & Ultimate Power X (Uchu Power X) implementing the base of Mil Mascaras.

Personally, I wasn't familiar with Uchu Power X either, but appreciate his only known (as to my knowledge) appearance in a Fire Pro publication.

This next edit is clearly stretching it in the imagination department, but that's the beauty of these old guides. Limited resources didn't stop

Wrestling fans from attempting to import their favourite Wrestlers into Final Bout.

Pages 16 - 17: Mafu Daniel (Chief Wahoo McDaniel) using the template of Scott Steiner & an exclusive interview with Ultimo Dragon!

Last Edit: Jun 22, 2023 21:10:16 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
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Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 26, 2023 21:05:38 GMT

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 26, 2023 21:05:38 GMT

Pages 18 - 19: the Ultimo Dragon interview continued. It seems Ultimo is standing in front of the Tokyo Dome.

Pages 20 - 21. Conveniently enough, Final Bout already had Ultimo Dragon as part of the game's roster, so, of course Ultimo choose himself for a match

against Super Kaizer (Jushin Liger).

Pages 22: the final page of the Ultimo Dragon interview, which concludes with a contest, where readers could send in a postcard to receive one of
three autographed shikishi boards from Ultimo himself!

Page 23: the title page for Edit Wrestler Part 2. Notice the typo in 'Part'?

From here on out, the rest of the guide provides formulas to create a wide variety of custom Wrestlers, all of which use pre-existing Wrestlers

from Final Bout's roster as templates. It's worth noting that there are, in fact, no bonus Wrestler templates hidden away in Final Bout's Edit

mode. Unless you count the hidden bosses, which can be unlocked as templates in Edit mode via completing World Championship mode, or

by entering a specific password.

Let's take a look at the custom Wrestler formulas:

The first four Wrestlers are based on the famous Japanese faction Heisei Ishingun.

Page 24 (top): Shiro Koshinaka using the body of Bad News Brown & Kengo Kimura using the body of Keiji Mutoh.

Page 25 (top): Kuniaki Kobayashi (Kenta Kobashi base) & 'The Great Hannya' (The Great Kabuki - using the base of The Ultimate Warrior).

Page 26: top - Tatsutoshi Goto (Kotetsu Yamamoto base) & bottom - Akitoshi Saito (Masakatsu Funaki base)

Page 27: top - Michiyoshi Ohara (Kazuo Yamazaki base) & bottom - Satoshi Kojima (Kenta Kobashi base)

Page 28: top - Shinjiro Otani (Minoru Suzuki base) & bottom - Tiger Mask (Anime ver.)

Page 29: top - Masanobu Fuchi (Dory Funk Jr. base) & Yoshinari Ogawa (Masakatsu Funaki base).

Page 30: top - Masao Inoue (Toshiaki Kawada base) & bottom - Satoru Asako (Kensuke Sasaki base).

Page 31: top - Takao Omori (Keiji Mutoh base) & Tamon Honda (Genichiro Tenryu base)

Page 32: top - Jun Izumida (Rikidozan base) & bottom - Yuko Miyato (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi base)

Page 33: top - Yoji Anjoh (Mitsuharu Misawa) & bottom - Tatsuo Nakano (Toshiaki Kawada base)

Page 34: top - Kitoshi Tamura (Mitsuharu Misawa base) & bottom - Masahito Kakihara (Dynamite Kid base).

Page 35: top - Naoki Sano (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi base) & bottom - Minoru Suzuki (Newborn U.W.F. era).

Page 36: top - Ryushi Yanagisawa (Akira Maeda base) & bottom - Yoshiki Takahashi (Riki Choshu base)

Page 37: top - Mitsuya Nagai (Kensuke Sasaki base) & bottom - Yuki Ishikawa (Kensuke Sasaki base)

Page 38: top - Ashura Hara (Kazuo Yamazaki base) & bottom - Hiromuchi Fuyuki (Riki Choshu base).

Page 39: top - Takashi Ishikawa (Yoshiaki Fujiwara base) & bottom - Super Strong Machine (The Destroyer base).

I thought the next one was Bret Hart at first....

Page 40: top - Koji Kitahara (Kensuke Sasaki base) & bottom - Masao Orihara (Kotetsu Yamamoto base)

Page 41: top - Tarzan Goto (Masa Saitoh base) & bottom - Atranger (Battle Ranger with El Samurai base).

Page 42: top - Rocky Fuji (Ricky Fuji - uses Hiroshi Hase as base) & bottom - The Kempfer (The Gladiator - using Ultimate Warrior as base).

Page 43: top - Big Canton (Big Titan - using Sting as a base) & bottom - KATO (SATO with Scott Steiner as base).

Next up, AJPW's underappreciated tag team: 'The Wild Bunch', consisting of:

Page 44: top - Joe Beaton (Joel Deaton - using the base of Scott Steiner) & bottom - Kerry Braddock (Billy Black)

Page 45: top - Max Axslinger (Richard Slinger - using the base of Kensuke Sasaki) & bottom - Texas Mack (Cactus Jack - using the base of Gary Albright).

Last Edit: Jun 27, 2023 5:50:33 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
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Posts: 1,628

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 28, 2023 17:58:28 GMT Melonbread likes this

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 28, 2023 17:58:28 GMT

Page 46: top - Jurassic Nandes (Hercules Hernandez - using the base of Hulk Hogan) & bottom - Black Panther (Black Tiger - using the base of Tiger Mask).

Page 47: top - Jim Snuka (Jimmy Snuka - with Terry Funk base) & bottom - Gan Vernia (Vern Gagne - with Dory Funk Jr. base).

Page 48: top - Adrian Denise (Adrian Adonis - using Scott Steiner as a base) & bottom - Bruce Sanbalkan (Bruno Sammartino - using the base of Koji Kitao).

Page 49: the title page of Edit Wrestler Part 3.

Quite common with Japanese guides from the era, the rest of the book is presented in black and white.

Next up, we have, quite possibly, the very-first published Wrestler formula for Ric Flair:

Page 50: top - Ricky Flair (Ric Flair - using the base of Dick Vrij) & bottom - Coco Savage (Bobo Brazil using the base of Akira Taue).

Game trivia: Coco Savage is also the name of an opponent in classic Arcade Wrestling game Mat Mania.

Page 51: top - Big Maddick (Dick Murdoch - using the base of Scott Norton) & bottom - Steel Left (Steve Wright - using the base of Dory Funk Jr.)

Page 52: top - Power Kahn (Killer Khan - using Bad News Brown) & bottom - Mr. Axe (Mr. X. - using the base of The Destroyer)

Page 53: top - Strong Kobayashi (using Kensuke Sasaki base) & bottom - Kintaro Ohki (using Kotetsu Yamamoto base).

Last Edit: Jun 28, 2023 18:26:53 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
Super Kaiser

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Posts: 1,628

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 28, 2023 20:46:08 GMT

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 28, 2023 20:46:08 GMT

For Fire Pro enthusiasts and gaming historians alike, the Final Bout Edit Wrestler Book introduced many Wrestler likenesses to the Fire Pro series.

With only 64 Wrestlers to choose from, players had to stretch their imaginations to create certain Wrestlers. One of the greatest examples of

suspended-Wrestler-disbelief come as part of our next batch of Wrestler templates:

Page 54: top - Ooichiyou (Yokozuna - with the body of Bam Bam Bigelow) & bottom - Henohelo Moheshinoi (Anoalo Atisanoe - with body of Gary Albright).

Page 55: top - Moles Sammy (Maurice Smith - with body of Bad News Brown) & The Go To Hell (The Undertaker - using the body of Terry Gordy).

Definitely a stretch, but that's one of the reasons why these guidebooks are so valuable. "Wrestler limitations? Who needs 'em!".

Page 56: top - Yone Genjin (using the body of Dos Caras) & bottom - Lanksta Wilhem Jr. (Beef Wellington - using Dory Funk Jr. as base).

Page 57: top - Naoyuki Taira (Tsuyoshi Kikuchu base) & bottom - Don Nakaya Nielsen (Minoru Suzuki base).

Page 58 features another video game character reference! On top of that, the editors had a little fun, creating manga characters on page 59.

Page 58: top - Hana Hajime (Kotetsu Yamamoto base) & bottom - Super Raiden (Raiden from KOF - using Vader as a base).

Page 59: top - Tsukumo Mutsu (Dynamite Kid base) & bottom - Sanshiro Azuma (Antonio Inoki base)

Last Edit: Jun 28, 2023 22:36:51 GMT by Shadow Master

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Shadow Master
Super Kaiser

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Posts: 1,628

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 29, 2023 1:03:44 GMT Melonbread likes this

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 29, 2023 1:03:44 GMT

One argument that arises every now and then in the Fire Pro community is whether or not players should create fictional edits.
More specifically, edits based on movie characters, pop culture icons, video game mainstays, and so forth.

Well, the Final Bout guidebook from 1994 provides even more formulas to create such characters:

Page 60: top - Momo Chan (The Momotaroh - Ultimo Dragon base) & bottom - Noritaka Sawamura (using Minoru Suzuki base).

Page 61: top - Great Fei (Bruce Lee - Minoru Suzuki base) & bottom - J. Friday (Jason Voorhees - Barry Gaspar base).

Great Fei's name is most-likely a reference to Fei Long from Street Fighter, who himself was based on Bruce Lee.

Page 62: top - Cyclone Zan (Street Fighter's Zangief - using Road Warrior Animal as a base) & bottom - Super Brother (Cho Aniki - with Nobuhiko Takada as a base).

Page 63: can be roughly translated as 'Edit Intensive Course', which serves as the title page for the final section of the Edit Wrestler guidebook.

Pages 64 - 65: begins a section called 'Edit Wrestler Ability Assessment League Fight', which pits the created Wrestlers the staff at Keibunsha

have created against one another in a special tournament. The section mentions there are 91 matches, which will be used to determine who

among Keibunsha's custom edits is the strongest.

Granted, this section is pretty much filler material in these older guides, but still showcases the passion the staff at Keibunsha had for the Fire

Pro series. Especially during an era where it was harder for the general public to stream their favourite matches with other players.

Pages 66 - 67: More custom Wrestler league results.

Page 68 details Edit mode secrets. Entering the password KICHIJOJI allows players to use the hidden boss characters as templates in Edit mode.
The bottom of page 68 lists the critical techniques available for Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Volk Han and Karl Gotch. The trip of aforementioned Wrestlers

were the only characters in Final Bout who could perform criticals at the time.

Page 68 also explains how to get max stats in Edit mode with a simple trick (one method of doing so simply involves swapping out one of the hidden
Wrestlers with another Wrestler template - which would carry over their perfect stats).

Page 69 mentions Edit mode's power meter, with several techniques such as the Lariat, Punch, and Kick explained.

Pages 70 - 71: gameplay techniques further explained such as Logic, Lucha style, appeal, D.Q. tendencies, etc.

Page 72: more edit mode functions are detailed such as: Rule COM level (in terms of difficulty) and Technique Select.

Page 73: the start of the technique select list section. Here, the various moves found in Edit mode are organized by button input,
along with Wrestler size availability (certain Wrestler sizes cannot perform specific techniques).

Pages 74 - 75: the technique select list continues.

Pages 76 - 77: techniques select continues.

Page 78: the final page of techniques select.

Page 79: a blank form, which players can use as a template to write out the formulas for their own CAW's.

The credits page contains mailing instructions to enter the Ultimo Dragon autograph sweepstakes, along with corporate information and credits.

The inner back cover.

Well, that concludes another Fire Pro guidebook. As one of the very first Wrestling games to feature a Create-A-Wrestler mode,

I have to hand it to Keibunsha for releasing a guidebook just in time to accompany the start of the Edit mode craze.

From Ric Flair to Adrian Adonis. Bobo Brazil to Cactus Jack. Even The Undertaker to Jason Voorhees. There's lots of great edit

ideas to work with here. To me, these edit books remain a creative reminder in regards to just how detailed Fire Pro's edit modes
truly were. For a Wrasslin' game that came out in 1993, this was truly mindblowing stuff.

Don't forget to support the project! I have lots more guidebooks on the way, and every donation truly helps to acquire
more gaming goodies for everyone's enjoyment.

Special thanks to Phil Parent, along with the Critical Club board for uncovering the identities of numerous edit templates.

Thanks for reading!

Last Edit: Jun 29, 2023 5:06:35 GMT by Shadow Master

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kiano
JIM MINY

Posts: 95

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 30, 2023 5:42:42 GMT

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Post by kiano on Jun 30, 2023 5:42:42 GMT

Thank you for scanning, as always you are on top. But there are more questions than answers. Who created these formulas? Were Human employees involved in this? Or were the formulas created by simple gamers? It is also not clear what prevented you from combining it with the guide book? Did Human make any money from these books? Some secrets and mysteries.

Last Edit: Jun 30, 2023 6:00:04 GMT by kiano

Shadow Master
Super Kaiser

***Legendary Fire Pro Historian***

Posts: 1,628

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 30, 2023 13:28:46 GMT

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Post by Shadow Master on Jun 30, 2023 13:28:46 GMT

Jun 30, 2023 5:42:42 GMT kiano said:

Thank you for scanning, as always you are on top. But there are more questions than answers. Who created these formulas? Were Human employees involved in this? Or were the formulas created by simple gamers? It is also not clear what prevented you from combining it with the guide book? Did Human make any money from these books? Some secrets and mysteries.

The book publisher Keibunsha handled most of the legwork here. At the time, HUMAN not only published their own guides (which were pretty bare bones, in my opinion), they
also allowed other publishers to create guides based on their games. For Keibunsha to be involved with HUMAN's Wrestling games going back to 1990, I'm sure some form of
licensing agreement was made. I mean, the original staff members themselves were interviewed for the SFPW1 guide.

From the books I have gathered so far, it seems Keibunsha's involvement with the Fire Pro series lasted a solid six years. That involvement may be even longer.

On what would count as page 80, the players responsible for creating the custom edits are listed as:
PSY-A-CLONE (DOMCAT, Champ, J=Dekaiser, SHEWKAT) Yukinobu Yaegashi, Kei Ueki, Kazuo Yamamoto, Kazuki Ishihara

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kiano
JIM MINY

Posts: 95

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 30, 2023 13:50:36 GMT

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Post by kiano on Jun 30, 2023 13:50:36 GMT

Interesting information, thanks.

On what would count as page 80, the players responsible for creating the custom edits are listed as:
PSY-A-CLONE (DOMCAT, Champ, J=Dekaiser, SHEWKAT) Yukinobu Yaegashi, Kei Ueki, Kazuo Yamamoto, Kazuki Ishihara

I hope these guys were not hired from school and they were adults and well versed in wrestling. To create one wrestler, you had to constantly watch wrestling in the 80s and know all the moves. In general, the book is professionally designed, it is clear that the Japanese were not lazy.

I want to create some wrestlers from your scans and see how well they came up with this.

Last Edit: Jun 30, 2023 14:04:27 GMT by kiano

Shadow Master
Super Kaiser

***Legendary Fire Pro Historian***

Posts: 1,628

Guidebook scans #10: SFPW3 Edit Wrestler Book Jun 30, 2023 14:58:23 GMT

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