Saturday Night Slam Masters

Overview

Saturday Night Slam Masters (known in Japan as Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion) is a 2D belt-scrolling wrestling game developed and released by Capcom for arcades (running enhanced CPS-1 hardware) on July 13, 1993.

Capcom's entry into the professional wrestling genre pits ten wrestlers in a worldwide tournament of the fictional Capcom Wrestling Federation (CWF), including Mike Haggar from the Final Fight series. The game is known for its use of fighting game mechanics (including the ability to jump and the ability to perform special moves).

The game includes two game modes chosen from the start: Single Match mode (which uses traditional one-on-one matches) and Team Battle Royale mode (which uses two-on-two tornado-tag matches, where all wrestlers fight simultaneously). Arcade cabinets that support four players (or two linked-up two-player cabinets) can play four-player Team Battle Royale matches.

Saturday Night Slam Masters was ported to the FM Towns Marty (in Japan only) on November 1993, and then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Genesis throughout 1994. While the SNES version was the only version to include Team Battle Royale mode (which can be played in four-player thanks to multitap accessories), the Genesis version includes an exclusive Death Match mode, which grants more weapons to use, covers the ropes with barbed wire and proximity explosives (making it impossible to bounce off the ropes, but allows players to damage their opponents by throwing them at the ropes), and lays land mines outside the arena.

An updated version of the arcade release (titled Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle in the international version and Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors in the Japanese version) was released on December 1993, removing Single Match mode entirely while refining the grappling mechanics, adding new moves for all characters, and allowing players to select the same character. On September 2, 1994, the game received a sequel, titled Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II, which refined it to a traditional fighting game.

Gameplay

The game controls not unlike a simplified Capcom 2D fighting game, including a single button for attacks, a jump button and a grapple button. Wrestlers can also run against the ropes of the ring, creating a new set of running attacks. Each wrestler featured has one unique special move as well as a finisher they can perform from the grapple once they had depleted their opponents health bar low enough. Once the opponent's health bar is either completely empty, or close to empty, the wrestler can attempt a pin to win or use a submission move to make their opponent quit. Matches can also end with a 20-count ring out.

The game features two play modes: Single Match, which featured traditional one-on-one wrestling matches, and Team Battle Royale, which featured two-on-two elimination style matches. In Team Battle Royale, both members of a team have to be pinned or submit for the other team to win. Players could either form a cooperative team, or a single player could have a CPU controlled partner. If playing Team Battle Royale in single player, the match ends in a "No Contest" if the player character is pinned and his CPU controlled partner is not.

The game also features the ability to leave the ring. Various weapons can be found that allow a wrestler to greatly damage their opponent. The game features no disqualifications for using weapons.

Characters

Character	Bio
	Alexander "The Grater" (known in the Japanese version as Sheep the Royal) is an American wrestler (Australian in the Japanese version) and butcher (from Kentucky, U.S.A.). He is based on the real life wrestler Big Van Vader.
	Biff Slamkovich (known in the Japanese version as Aleksey Zalazof) is a Russian wrestler (from Kiev, Ukraine) and the main protagonist of the series. Also known as "The Rocking Ruskie", he is an apprentice of Mike Haggar, and considers fellow apprentice Gunloc as his rival. He seems to know a famous Russian street fighter.
	El Stingray (known in the Japanese version as El Stinger) is a Mexican luchador (from Acapulco, Mexico) noted for his speed and high flying acrobatics. He is based on the real life luchador Lizmark.
	The Great Oni (known in the Japanese version as Mysterious Budo) is a Japanese wrestler (from Osaka, Japan) who dresses in a kabuki-like theme and uses high theatrics in his matches (including the green "Asian mist" attack). He is based on the real life Japanese wrestler Great Kabuki.
	Gunloc (known in the Japanese version as Lucky Colt) is an American wrestler hailing from "Slam Town", U.S.A. An apprentice of Mike Haggar, he considers fellow apprentice Biff Slamkovich as his rival. He is also rumored to be related to a famous American street fighter.
	Jumbo "Flap" Jack (known in the Japanese version as Kimala the Bouncer) is a Canadian wrestler (from Yellow Knife, Canada) and the right-hand man of The Scorpion. He is unplayable in the Single Match mode in arcades and serves as the penultimate boss.
	King Rasta "Mon" (known in the Japanese version as "Missing IQ" Gomes) is an American wrestler (from Venice Beach, California). A wild ape-like man, he is always accompanied by his pet monkey, Freak.
	Mike "Macho" Haggar is an American wrestler (from New York, U.S.A.) who trained over Biff and Gunloc. The international version of the game takes place after Haggar retired from being the mayor of Metro City (to return to wrestling). The Japanese version of the game takes place prior to Haggar becoming the mayor of Metro City.
	The Scorpion (known in the Japanese version as The Astro) is a myserious masked wrestler and the main antagonist of the series. He is unplayable in the Single Match mode in arcades and serves as the game's final boss.
	Titanic Tim (known in the Japanese version as Titan the Great) is a gigantic English wrestler (from London, England). He was the former tag-team partner of a certain English street fighter.