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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 8, 2023 14:03:12 GMT
Pro-Wrestling - Perfect Victory BookKnown in Japan as: プロレス 完全必勝本 Pages: 47 Year: 1986 Released by: Nintendo/JICC Considered to be the precursor to the Fire Pro-Wrestling series, We're going back to 1986 with a very rare guidebook for the NES/Famicom title Pro-Wrestling.
Keep checking back regularly, as I scan the full guide.
 Front and back dust jacket. The cover features a splendid illustration of Fighter Hayabusa (who is based on Antonio Inoki). Hayabusa's FWA belt is also a nod to the NWA Heavyweight Championship that Inoki himself was renown for holding during his championship reign in NJPW.  The inner dust cover mentions that Pro-Wrestling is the 14th title in JICC's Friday Special guidebook series. The right side of the dust cover lists the 17 other guidebook titles that were released up to that point.  The inner cover featuring all of the playable characters, plus the hidden boss Great Puma.  Page 1 - table of contents.
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 9, 2023 14:31:34 GMT
 Pages 2- 3. As this is my first 'Friday Special' guidebook, I am assuming the above character 'Terminator Tsuji' is a playful, Wrestler take on the real-life editor of these volumes. The bottom of page 2 lists the rules of Pro-Wrestling:
5 minute match limit in a two competitor matchup.
Whoever is outside the ring after a 20 second referee count will be counted out.
Any Wrestler who remains on the top ropes for the duration of a 5 second referee count will also be disqualified.
Page 3 begins listing the attacks found in Pro-Wrestling. The first and second techniques are 'punch to the face' and 'Rolling Solebut'. If you look closely at the top right corner, you may notice a small battery-looking icon in red and blue. This symbol represents the 'damage' of each attack, and is pictured next to every move in this guidebook.
The level of damage is indicated by the red portion.
In the 1980's, Umanosuke Ueda often paired with fellow heel Tiger Jeet Singh in All Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Tsuji's illustration in the above scan is a nod to the Japanese heel Wrestler Umanosuke Ueda.  Pages 4 - 5: feature an illustration of Fighter Hayabusa and Giant Panther, along with the techniques 'body slam' and 'brainbuster'.  Pages 6 - 7: feature the techniques 'piledriver' and 'dropkick'. The Wrestler applying the piledriver on page 6 looks like an unnamed Japanese wrestler to Fighter Hayabusa (Antonio Inoki). My guess is that this generic Wrestler was supposed to be
Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu or Akira Maeda, three distinct Japanese Wrestlers, who were all quite popular when
Pro-Wrestling was released back in 1986.
Interestingly, there are other Wrestler illustrations in this guidebook which have stirred my imagination, questioning whether there exists other unreleased Wrestlers locked away in Pro-Wrestling's original game code. 
Pages 8 - 9: featuring the techniques 'hammer throw' (Irish whip) and 'Lariat'. On page 8, the generic wrestler we just spotted on page 6 with the blue trunks is back. His heavier frame looks closer to Tsuruta or Tenryu. The Wrestler in the black trunks is certainly Antonio Inoki. Additionally, page 9 contains two more unused Wrestlers. The Wrestler applying the lariat on the left is most-likely based on Stan Hansen. The Wrestler even has Hansen's blonde haircut and black trunks. The Wrestler wearing the singlet on the right is a puzzling oddity. Personally, I am imagining a heel Wrestler such as Baron Von Rashke, Ox Baker, Ivan Koloff, or the likes.  Pages 10 - 11: includes the techniques 'jumping knee pat' and 'plancha'. Page 10 adds drawings of Fighter Hayabusa and Giant Panther. Though, Hayabusa contains the same blue trunks as the other generic Wrestler illustrations from the previous pages.  Page 12: the last batch of basic moves, featuring: 'flying body attack' and 'Knee Drop'. Page 13: the title page for 'The World's Strongest Throne Decisive Battle - Power Exciting Series ...has begun!' The Exciting Series is a nod to All Japan Pro-Wrestling's Excite Series, which are annual events held by the promotion, which are still held to this day.
Page 13 contains a splendid, coloured photo of the entire roster.
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 9, 2023 18:15:12 GMT
After covering the basic attacks found in Pro-Wrestling, the next portion of the guidebook covers the game's roster:  Pages 14 - 15: Fighter Hayabusa (Antonio). On Page 15, Hayabusa is performing his finisher, the Enzuigiri, to King Slender (Ric Flair). Under each Wrestler's illustration is the Wrestler's finishing move listed. The illustration on page 15 includes the text "DOCAO", which is onomatopoeia used to illustrate the force behind Hayabusa's Enzuigiri once connected.  Pages 16 - 17: Starman (Mil Mascaras). Page 16 includes Starman's special move 'Somersault Kick'. Page 17 contains screens of Starman's second technique 'Flying Cross Chop'. |
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Post by cobrettie on Jul 9, 2023 23:22:33 GMT
Thank you so much! I have been hunting for this book for years! Keep up the work!!!
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 10, 2023 0:05:45 GMT
 Pages 18 - 19: Kin Korn Kan (Killer Khan). Khan's special techniques are 'Mongolian Chop' (Page 18 - finisher), and 'Karate Kick' (Page 19).  Pages 20 - 21: Giant Panther (Hulk Hogan). Panther's special techniques are: 'Iron Claw' (page 20 - finisher), and 'Headbutt' (page 21).  Pages 22 - 23: The Amazon (Abdullah The Butcher/Tiger Jeet Singh). Amazon's techniques are 'Biting' (page 22 - finisher) & 'Weapon Attack' (Page 23).  Pages 24 - 25: King Slender (Ric Flair). Slender's finisher is the 'Schmidt-style Backbreaker' (page 24). The illustration on page 25 contains a depiction of King Slender performing a Backbreaker on Fighter Hayabusa. |
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 10, 2023 3:35:15 GMT
 Page 26: Hidden boss character, the 'Perfect Wrestler' Great Puma (Tiger Mask). Page 27: 'Pro-Wrestling Hour' is the title page of the next section of the guidebook. A play-by-play walkthrough of Pro-Wrestling's
1 player mode, featuring the guide's staff (with Terminator Tsuji being spotted once again) as commentators for the unfolding action.  Pages 28 - 29: the beginning of the walkthrough, with the first opponents being Starman and Kin Korn Karn.
If you look in the bottom left corner, you'll notice Fighter Hayabusa looking for the speedy Starman ...who is running around
the ring like a chicken. Only in this guidebook....
 Pages 30 - 31: the playthrough continues, as we move up the Pro-Wrestling pecking order. The bottom of page 30 features an intense photo of Giant Panther covered in a crimson mask. Even in Pro-Wrestling on the NES, Hulk Hogan was prone to blading! One small typo on page 31 is the misspelling of The Amazon's name.  Page 32 contains the final opponent of the first playthrough (King Slender) applying a Backbreaker to Fighter Hayabusa. Page 33: should you defeat the final opponent of the first playthrough, you will become the FWA Champion. The bottom of page 33 features defeated versions of the rest of the roster - a whole 1 year before the original Street Fighter had post match portraits of the beaten fighters.  Pages 34 - 35: the second playthrough begins. At the bottom of page 35, Kim is shouting "KARAMUCHO", which apparently is a Japanese snack food. I guess Kim is calling Hayabusa dry ...like a salty snack. Odd.  Pages 36 - 37: higher up the totem pole we go with the second playthrough. The Amazon's name is still misspelled to 'Amason', and there's another wacky illustration in the bottom right corner of page 37. This time around, The Amazon's fangs have dislodged themselves like denchers in Hayabusa's hair. In the process, Amazon looks quite embarrassed, in an apologetic fashion.
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 10, 2023 16:32:15 GMT
 Pages 38 - 39: the second playthrough concludes, and the final playthrough commences. At the bottom of page 39, Starman and Fighter Hayabusa are sitting on a star, overcoming their heated rivalry.  Pages 40 - 41: the third playthrough is underway. On page 41, our hero Fighter Hayabusa is being pummelled into the ground by Giant Panther! That's gotta hurt!  Pages 42 - 43: the third playthrough has reached the semi-finals. If you look on page 42, you'll notice Fighter Hayabusa approaching The Amazon in a dentist's garb!
 The final opponent is the hidden boss character Great Puma (Tiger Mask). On top of being incredibly strong, Puma knows all of the combatant's finishing moves.
 Page 46: Great Puma has been defeated, and the two championship belts have been unified! The bottom of page 46 shows the special game over screen should a player lose during a return match.
Page 47: for those who 'just can't win', the following screens showcase the cheapest way to win a match in Pro-Wrestling. Take the match outside the ring, and perform piledrivers until the 15 second count, then hurry back into the ring before the referee counts to 20.
Over the years, the countout trick has become the strategy of choice for many Pro-Wrestling players, as they took on the incredibly-tough Great Puma ...without the need of a turbo controller! The bottom of page 47 lists the book's credits.  The final page is an advertisement for the Rambo-Sensei manga. I'm not familiar with this particular manga, but I'm pretty sure it's an unlicensed parody of everyone's favourite action movie franchise. The covers for some of the manga issues are quite adult-oriented, to say the least.  The back inner-cover of the Perfect Victory guidebook.  And so, another guidebook has been shared from cover-to-cover. The Perfect Victory guidebook was an expensive find from Japan. but it's just the tip of the iceberg for rare, hard to find print materials from the land of the rising sun. If you're a fan of these scans and would like to support me, please consider donating to the project! All proceeds go directly towards tracking down more elusive game materials, shipping costs, duties/taxes, and other hidden fees when it comes to importing these grails.
With Pro-Wresling being my first 8-bit guide scan, I'm looking into tracking down more gems for the system (as well as other older consoles), to share with the community.
Every donation, no matter the amount, helps in the long run. And with all of your help so far, these guidebooks truly belong to YOU!
Thanks for reading!
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Post by cobrettie on Jul 10, 2023 19:51:16 GMT
Awesome work! I am starting to compile the scans into a CBZ format and cleaning the scans up a little (such as pure white background) to reduce the file sizes a little bit and will also give a clean base file for working on translations (eventually). My next scans are the manuals to Cutie Suzuki and Fire Pro 2nd Bout, but will work this in sometime!
Once again, thank you for finding this book!!!
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Post by BakFu on Jul 11, 2023 13:08:55 GMT
The Enzuigiri on page 15, along with “DOGAO” in the background, needs to be on a shirt, NOW!!!
Thanks for posting this! I used to love guide books, they seem like an artifact these days, but I remember spending time pouring through them, absorbing every detail and bit of info presented, enjoying the artwork and in game shots. It seems crazy that a game as simplistic as Pro Wrestling has a guide, but I guess at the time it was pretty cutting edge. Love the artwork, Starman with a cape and the black half mask, awesome stuff!
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 11, 2023 14:56:34 GMT
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Post by BakFu on Jul 11, 2023 17:43:23 GMT
Is that John Tenta getting lariatoooh’ed, uh, I mean, “crashed”?
Thank you for posting the illustrations! This guide is gold! 😁
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Post by patmanqc on Jul 16, 2023 1:26:24 GMT
Fantastic, I had no idea that Ric flair was in the game growing up
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 16, 2023 2:35:47 GMT
Fantastic, I had no idea that Ric flair was in the game growing up Yep. King Slender was the original name of Ric Flair, 8 years before Flair re-emerged as 'Dick Slender' in Super Fire Pro-Wrestling Special.  To answer BakFu's question, I don't think the mystery generic Wrestler with the beard is based on John 'Earthquake' Tenta. Pro-Wrestling was released in 1986, one year before Tenta made his debut in All Japan Pro-Wrestling.  Personally, I think the generic Wrestler is based on Mad Dog Vachon. Pictured here in 1986 wearing a similar singlet. 
Just to re-tread from my 'Wrestler appearances in other games' thread, The Amazon appears to have been inspired by Piranha Man, a baddie from the Tiger Mask anime.  Likewise, I believe Great Puma, while based on the real-life Wrestler Tiger Mask, may have some similarities to Tiger Mask anime villain Great Tiger as well. The duo definitely share the same white trunks and heelish dispositions.
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Post by scarlettbordeaux12 on Jul 27, 2023 23:28:11 GMT
Love this thank you so much .
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Post by Shadow Master on Jul 30, 2023 7:05:39 GMT
Love this thank you so much . You're welcome. More guides on the way! |
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