Posted on November 21st, 2007 in Kenzan, Video Games, WrestleRetro by Sasha Kenzan
In 1993, Capcom was riding a wave of popularity that, at the time, most third-party developers failed to get. They had a revered home console series in Mega Man, an arcade smash in the Street Fighter II set of games, a popular brawler in Final Fight, and a litany of solid licensed titles, such as Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers. (Although the quality of Yo! Noid was questionable; I like the game, but I may have been the only one here that did.) Still, Capcom wasn’t above experimenting, and they decided to take one of their more popular characters, Mike Haggar from Final Fight, and flesh out his backstory a bit. Thus, we have Saturday Night Slam Masters (or, if you’re in Japan, Muscle Bomber).
Saturday Night Slam Masters was an arcade game first and foremost, which was a smart avenue to approach. There weren’t many wrestling games out in the arcades, as most were still pumping quarters into Technos’ roster-outdated WWF WrestleFest and not much else. Slam Masters failed to collect much of a market in the United States, so Capcom decided to challenge the home market, which was yet to see it’s first real breakout quality wrestling game. As such, Slam Masters was ported over to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis. It should be noted that all videos in this review are from the Super Nintendo version of this game.
The arcade game had two main features, a one-on-one story mode and a "team" story mode. Unlike most wrestling games, which have tag team matches, Slam Masters used "team battle royale" rules, where all four men were legal and the match was elimination, meaning that you have to beat both opponents to win. In singles matches, you can exit the ring and snag weapons to bash your opponent, which were perfectly legal to use, whereas in "team" battle royale, weapons are thrown into the ring for use. The gameplay featured not just wrestling elements, but also fighting aspects, such as Gunloc’s Sonic Fist, which was a rapid punch attack, complete with little energy trails.
The Super Nintendo port stayed true to the arcade version, and while the graphics weren’t as lush as the arcade version, the same element of fun was still there. "Team" battle royale was still as frenetic and fun, especially with multiplayer mode. However, the Genesis port seems as if it was rushed, and the quality of the game supports that theory. The music is poor, the graphics suffer from terrible slowdown at times, and even worse, the "team" battle royale was removed! To compensate for the removal, Capcom included two multiplayer modes not in other versions: a versus mode, which was 1P v. 2P in a singles match, and a deathmatch mode, where the ropes have exploding barbed wire and the sides of the ring have landmines. Even this fails to capture any excitement, because you are required to play a two-player game to access deathmatch mode.
Capcom also released a variant game, Muscle Bomber Duo, which focused solely on "team" battle royale and introduced a different grappling system. In Slam Masters, you have three buttons, attack/grapple when close, jump, and pin. In Muscle Bomber Duo, however, the pin button is the grapple button, which makes things a lot easier for those of you who like punch and kick frenzies. There was also a sequel, Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters 2, which was a straight-up fighting game and nowhere near as fun.
SOUND: The music in the game itself is great, if a little repetitive after some period of time. Each character has their own unique entrance theme, of which short clips can be heard in the options screen on the home versions. The punch and kick effects almost sound lifted from Street Fighter and Final Fight, which shows a bit of a lack of originality on Capcom’s part. The crashes to the mat sound more like a thunderstorm, and for that, I do have to take a bit off of my grade. The Genesis version sounds awful, but considering the Genesis’ poor sound in the first place, that’s not too much of a surprise. B (Arcade), B- (SNES), D- (Genesis).
GRAPHICS: As per usual with Capcom, the sprites are colorful and vibrant in the arcade version. Animation is fluid and it feels more like you’re playing an interactive wrestling cartoon than an actual game, which is a plus. The SNES version did the best it could for a home console, and considering how the SNES’ graphics processor handled sprites, it’s not a surprise to see a very slim dip in quality, but a rather faithful reproduction of the arcade work. The Genesis version, on the other hand, looks very blocky and pixelated, and there is the aforementioned slowdown. The graphics feel very muted, and although the different color wardrobes are nice, that doesn’t compensate for the horrible presentation. I can’t imagine how awful a "team" battle royale would look on here. The graphics honestly make me feel like I’m playing a Master System game; that’s how poor they are. A- (Arcade), B (SNES), D- (Genesis).
GAMEPLAY: Singles mode does tend to get a tad bit boring unless you have a friend nearby. The real meat in this game is the "team" battle royale, and the Genesis version got the shaft here with the exclusion of that mode. The deathmatch mode for the Genesis version is boring and slow, which hurts the gameplay. The arcade version is the superior version, and the SNES version does a respectable job with a bit of slowdown when four players are on the screen, but clearly the game to track down for gameplay fun is Muscle Bomber Duo, which has the better control scheme and is nothing but "team" battle royale. A- (Arcade), B+ (SNES), F (Genesis).
OVERALL (not an average): Poor Genesis owners really got hosed when it came to the translation of this game. It really feels like two different games. The clear, superior version is the arcade version, but the SNES version is an acceptable home brawler that is worth the $7-$10 you’ll probably find this game for at your local used game shop. Hopefully Nintendo considers putting the SNES on the Virtual Console; that would be a great download. B+ (Arcade), B (SNES), F (Genesis).
What are people saying about "WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters"?
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Axel Night Re: WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters Oh, the nights JD and I spent blowing through this title. I think we rented it enough to have paid for our own copy. Nostalgia... returning... To Ebay! I especially like the shirt ripping guy at the intro, who I'm fairly certain isn't in the game. |
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Sasha Kenzan Re: WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters Not bad for it's time. Any game with our buddy Haggar as a playable character is fine by me. Some of those other characters bared a resemblance to other Capcom Characters. Titan = T. Hawk Biff = Alex Gunloc = Cody Rasta = Werewolf Zangief  Maybe it's just me. I suppose a somewhat young company can only come up with so many designs. Titan and Biff predate T.Hawk and Alex, and Rasta was the preliminary design for Blanka. He fights in a very similar fashion. Also, Biff and Gunloc were supposed to be patterned after Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit in terms of looks (same as how Alexander the Grater is Vader, Great Oni is Great Muta, and El Stingray is Rey Misterio Jr). Oh, the nights JD and I spent blowing through this title. I think we rented it enough to have paid for our own copy. Nostalgia... returning... To Ebay! I especially like the shirt ripping guy at the intro, who I'm fairly certain isn't in the game. That would be Victor Ortega, who, yes, isn't in the game via some convoluted storyline. He is, however, playable in Ring of Destruction. |
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SaikyoCrusher Re: WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters It's a shame you couldn't be Hugo Andorese, I always liked that guy. |
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Sasha Kenzan Re: WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters Well, once again, the game predates the creation of Hugo. I'd imagine that if Capcom every redoes this title, he'd probably take the place of Titanic Tim. |
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Krotch Re: WrestleRetro #2: Saturday Night Slam Masters i vaguely remember this game. it was fun if i remember correctly. oh yeah i liked rescue rangers as well |
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