Pro Wrestling (Sega Master System)

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This article is about the Sega Master System game. For the NES game, see Pro Wrestling (video game).

Pro Wrestling

Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	1986 (Japan)
Genre(s)	Wrestling
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Platform(s)	Sega Master System
Media	Cartridge

Pro Wrestling (Gokuaku Doumei Dump Matsumoto in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game released for the Sega Master System by Sega. An early wrestling game, the title had several features that were quite unique for its time - including usable weapons and a basic face/heel system.

1 Gameplay
2 Features
3 Japanese version
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The single player game has the player selecting one of four sets of tag teams:

The Crush Brothers - two blonde men, one big and older and one younger and smaller
The Orient Express - two Asian men, one smaller and one bigger and bearded
The Mad Soldiers - stereotypical muscle bound team in the vein of the Road Warriors
The Great Maskmen - two mysterious masked wrestlers

Mad Soldiers face off against the Orient Express

The game's characters are all cartoony and appear in a super deformed style. The player's selected tag team contests for three titles against the other three teams in this order: the Mexican League title in Mexico, the Pacific League title - in Hawaii and finally, the World Title in New York City. The opponents faced are not specific to each city. Each match is a ten-fall match up, which means that the player has to pin one of the opponents for a three count or make him submit in ten matches before winning the title. If the opponent wins, the match must be wrestled again, but all the falls the player previously won are retained.

From a standing position, only punches, kicks and running body attacks (running into the opponent) can be performed. Once the opponent is on the ground, the player has the options of performing a grappling move by holding button one, whipping the opponent into the ropes or going for the pin by pressing button two. Grappling moves vary from ground attacks like knee drops to pinning/submission holds like the Boston crab or German suplex. Additional moves can be done by pressing button one or button two while the opponent is running towards the wrestler after having been whipped into the ropes.

Each wrestler has an energy bar, which is replenished by standing on the apron. When the wrestler is low on energy, the energy bar turns red, indicating that he is vulnerable to a pin or submission. Pins or submissions that are unsuccessful result in the wrestler performing the pin or submission to be flat on his back. Two of the teams can also use aerial moves. The two teams that can't use aerial maneuvers cab instead go outside the ring and grab a steel chair to hit the opponent with to cause maximum damage. There are barriers outside of the ring that do damage if the player runs into them.

A two player mode is also available, but there are restrictions on the match ups players can choose.

[edit] Features

The game was also one of the first games to feature usable weapons as part of the gameplay. The steel chair can be picked up and used by two of the teams and collected for points by the two other teams. This hints at a basic face/heel system, where only the heel (bad guy) teams can use weapons. The "face" teams can't fight each other in the two player mode and neither can the "heel" teams. This is a precursor to the face/heel systems in place in such games as the WWE SmackDown! titles and Rumble Roses. Wrestlers have heel/face style entrances with theme music as well.

The game also features referee who counts pins with an audible voice, a feature seen infrequently even in some sixth generation wrestling games.

[edit] Japanese version

The Japanese version, Gokuaku Doumei Dump Matsumoto is directly based off of a Sega System 16 arcade game Dump Matsumoto (also known as Body Slam), which was featured the real-life Japanese professional wrestler of the same name. Despite featuring female professional wrestlers exclusively , gameplay is almost the same, with some moves and move names being different. Instead of just a steel chair, there are a variety of weapons for use - including the ring bell. The title screen, a few graphics and some music were altered as well.

The teams are also different - there are two teams, "Gokuaku" and "Freshgals" (the latter apparently representing Dump's rival tag team the Crush Girls) and each apparently has a different version. The restrictions on the match ups in the North American version may be a holdover from the Japanese title - the teams that can't face each other in two player mode in the North American version apparently correspond to different versions of the same team in the Japanese version.