Saturday Night Slam Masters

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Saturday Night Slam Masters (Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion in Japan) is a Wrestling Game-slash-Fighting Game released by Capcom in 1993 for the arcades. The original game is a typical Wrestling Game set on the viewpoint used by Fighting Games, with the winning conditions being either a 3-count pin, 20 seconds ring out or forcing the opponent to give up. The story revolves around the CWA (Capcom Wrestling Association), which was formed by 8 different wrestling groups all led by Victor Ortega. When Ortega suddenly vanishes, the group falls into chaos and the BWA (Blood Wrestling Association) takes advantage. A tournament is started to find the new chief of the CWA. The game itself has no actual story, and the endings are just the winning character bragging about his victory.

There are 10 original characters, almost all of which have Dub Name Changes. They are presented English name first:

• Alexander the Grater (Sheep the Royal): Hailing from Autralia, a former Rubgy player who moved to America and gained notoriety for being way too violent. After being kicked out of Football, he turned to pro wrestling.
• Biff Slamkovich (Aleksey Salazof): A Russian wrestler from a bureaucratic family who trains under Mike Haggar. He hates when people don't take wrestling seriously. Alex bears more than a passing resemblance to him.
• El Stingray (El Stinger): Mexican Masked Luchador with a highly flashy and acrobatic style, which he's very proud of.
• Gunloc (Lucky Colt): American wrestler very popular with the crowd. He trains alongside Biff with Haggar, and has the bad habit of hitting on Jessica whenever he can, gaining the hatred of Jessica's boyfriend Cody. The English localization threw in hints about him being related to a certain Street Fighter, which were picked up by Street Fighter the Movie, where the Cyborg character Blade is revealed to be him, as well as Guile's brother (rather than being hinted about it).
• Jumbo Flapjack (Kimala the Bouncer): A BWA wrestler from Chicago and The Dragon to Scorpion. He enjoys seeing blood dripping from his victims. Before joining Scorpion he worked first as a bouncer and later as a wrestler's bodyguard, in both cases losing his job after getting a bit too violent.
• King Rasta Mon ("Missing IQ" Gomez): Hailing from the Dominican Republic, Rasta Mon lived peacefully among monkeys until he was found and his abilities tested, which led to him joining pro wrestling. He has a monkey buddy, Freak, which serves as his manager.
• Mike "Macho" Haggar: Everyone's favourite Metro City Mayor, in his pre-elections wrestling career (changed in English as being post-mayoral career; Haggar comes out of retirement to show all the young punks in the CWA what a real wrestler is).
• The Great Oni (Mysterious Budo): A flashy and speedy wrestler from Japan, which excites the crowd with his style. He's got a rivalry with El Stingray due to their fast and flashy styles.
• The Scorpion (The Astro): The mysterious leader of the BWA, whose past is unknown. The closest the game has to a Big Bad.
• Titanic Tim (Titan the Great): An English wrestler who uses his large size to intimitade his opponent. He's acquaintances with Birdie and at times they formed a tag team nicknamed "500 Trillon Power."

Following ports for the SNES and Mega Drive, an Updated Rerelease titled Muscle Bomber Duo was released in arcades, focusing on the tag team mode of the original. Finally, a third game was released under the name Ring of Destruction - Slam Masters II (Super Muscle Bomber: The International Blowout in Japan), which ditched the wrestling mechanics for a pure Fighting Game experience (in other words, it featured round-based matches and victory by K.O.), under the excuse of Scorpion changing the rules. Outside that, the game follows the same non-plot as before, now with Ortega coming out of retirement to hold the final bout for the championship. 4 new wrestlers are joined by the 10 originals:

• Black Widow: Hailing from Germany, she's the only female wrestler, albeit she's actually hiding that fact (she uses a masculine voice in-game and all, and her ending has her ditching the act).
• Rip Saber: A Canadian BWA wrestler and former military, which uses any means necessary to attain victory.
• The Wraith: An Indian wrestler with a ghastly appearances, who fights using his long fingernail and a host of snakes hidden within his clothes.
• Victor Ortega: Legendary wrestler and the founder of the CWA, he retired after finding no one able to beat him, and is later invited by Scorpion to participate in the third game, prompting him to return to pro wrestling. He's seen in the first two games in the intro and endings.

Tropes used in Saturday Night Slam Masters include:

• All There in the Manual
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Green-skinned Wraith, though he's meant to look like the undead.
• Amazonian Beauty: Black Widow.
• Amplified Animal Aptitude: Rasta Mon's monkey Freak is said to have a basic understanding of human language... and then again, he's also Rasta Mon's manager.
• Arachnid Appearance and Attire: Black Widow.
• Ascended Extra: Victor Ortega started out as just a story-only character, but became the Final Boss of the third game.
• Badass Beard: Victor Ortega.
• Badass Mustache: Haggar, who else?
• Bald of Evil: Jumbo Flapjack and Alexander.
• Beard of Evil: Jumbo Flapjack.
• Blood Knight: Victor Ortega.
• Breath Weapon: Jumbo Flapjack.
• The Brute: Alexander and Jumbo Flapjack.
• The Cameo: Jumbo Flapjack and Biff Slamkovich appear in Ken's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2, along a bunch of other "Capcom universe guests" for his wife (then-girlfriend) Eliza's birthday party.
  • At times, Jessica would appear and enter the ring to cheer with her father in his victory pose.
• Captain Ersatz: Several. Victor Ortega = Hulk Hogan, El Stingray = Lizmark, The Scorpion = Tinieblas, Alexander the Grater = Big Van Vader, Great Oni = Great Kabuki, etc.
• Combat Pragmatist: Rip Saber, reflected in his movelist in which he employs things such as hand grenades to fight.
  • Jumbo Flapjack will choke out opponents with his wrist tape and he breathes mist.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: Every player in Team Battle mode. Strangely enough, mirror matches were not allowed until the Duo version, even though every character has a different palette for each player in Team Battle mode in addition to the standard palette used in Single Match mode.
  • Player 1
  • Player 2
  • Player 3
  • Player 4
• Dumb Muscle: King Rasta Mon, or as his Japanese game puts it, "Missing IQ."
• Canada, Eh?: Rip Saber.
• Dub Name Change: As seen above, all of the wrestlers in the first game except Haggar.
• Everything's Better With Spinning: Several techniques, Haggar being the best known example with his Spinning Clothesline and Spinning Piledriver.
• Fat Bastard: Jumbo Flapjack and Alexander.
• Final Boss: Scorpion at first, Ortega in the third game.
• Finishing Move: Each character has both a signature and hidden finisher.
• Fan Service: Aside from all of the macho men (for the ladies and maybe some guys), there's also Black Widow's reveal. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the only female of the cast sheds her concealing disguise to reveal herself wearing nothing more than a Leotard of Power cut to resemble a training bra and thong.
• Fragile Speedster: El Stingray.
• Garbage Wrestler: Rip Saber utilizes foreign objects such as shovels and hand grenades in his special moves.
• Genre Shift: The original Slam Masters was a belt scroll-style wrestling game in which players were required to pin their opponents to win a match. Slam Masters II on the other hand plays like a Street Fighter II clone with multiple attack buttons, a completely 2D playing field, victory by KO, and a round-based format.
• The Giant: Titanic Tim, officially standing over 7'9".
• Hair of Gold: Biff and Ortega.
• Heroic Build: Everyone. Not for nothing the art is done by the author of Fist of the North Star, Tetsuo Hara.
• Husky Russkie: Biff is actually an inversion, being a more balanced character and not even the tallest.
• Impossible Hourglass Figure: Black Widow.
• Inevitable Tournament
• In-Series Nickname: All wrestlers are given nicknames in their bios. Also, certain tag teams in Duo are recognized by the computer and given a specific nickname, like Biff and Gunloc being the "Hyper Cannons."
• Jack of All Stats: Biff Slamkovich.
• Lightning Bruiser: Jumbo Flapjack is quite agile for a man of his size.
• Market-Based Title: Strangely enough, the second game (Muscle Bomber Duo) kept the original Muscle Bomber name for its World version, while the third (Super Muscle Bomber: The International Blowout) is localized as Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II.
• Masked Luchador: El Stingray and Scorpion.
• Mighty Glacier: A few, Titanic Tim being the most prominent.
• Mirror Match: Absent in the first arcade game.
  • Added in the Genesis version, where each character has four palettes that are selected depending on which button of the standard Genesis controller the player uses to pick their character. The standard palette for each character is selected by pressing the B button.
  • In Muscle Bomber Duo and Ring of Destruction, the characters' color palette are automatically assigned depending on the player selecting the character (unlike in the Street Fighter series, in which players get to choose their palette). Because of this, Player 2 in Ring of Destruction always uses the character's alternate palette no matter what and all the players use alternate palettes in Muscle Bomber Duo to make it easier to distinguish everyone since all the matches are 2-on-2.
• Mission Pack Sequel: Muscle Bomber Duo is this to the original Slam Masters.
• Multiple Endings/Cliff Hanger: In the first game, simply beating the game has your character challenged at the championship ceremony by three unnamed wrestlers who, judging by their attire, have formed a Power Stable. Beat the game without continuing, and instead you are challenged by a returning Victor Ortega. Either way, you don't get to play, or even see, the fight; instead, the game ends as the new challenger(s) climb into the ring, with the phrase "The next battle begins..."
• Mysterious Past/Shrouded in Myth: The Scorpion.
• Name's the Same: The Scorpion isn't a Mortal Kombat ninja, though.
• Non-Player Character: The game's referee, Harry Hicks. He's even graced with his own bio. Also Jessica, as well as Ortega in the first game only.
• Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The names of the English versions are all over the place.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: All of the characters' and backstories were changed in translation in the overseas version of the first game. The setting was even changed from being set before Final Fight to being set afterward.
• Prequel: To Final Fight (in the Japanese version at least).
• Professional Wrestling
• Pro Wrestling Is Real
• Raised By Monkeys: King Rasta Mon.
• Rated "M" for Manly: Like it even needed to be said.
• Retired Badass: Victor Ortega.
• The Rival: Oni and Stingray have a rivalry over their flashy styles, while Gunloc and Biff are both rivals and training partners.
• Ryu and Ken: Biff and Gunloc have similar techniques, and are differentiated by their grappling moves. This is Justified Trope in-story the same way, by both being training partners and rivals.
• Samus Is a Girl/Sweet Polly Oliver: Black Widow.
• Shared Universe: By virtue of the fact that Mike Haggar is a playable character and various Street Fighter II characters (such as Chun-Li, Honda, Zangief, and Balrog) can be seen in the backgrounds of certain stages.
• Shock and Awe: Scorpion can somehow generate lightning, thought he's only seen using it the intro and his taunt.
• Shout-Out/Continuity Nod: In Hugo's ending in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, his opponents in a Tag Team match are presented as either Biff and Gunloc or Black Widow and Haggar.
  • Biff Slamkovich mentions a "Comrade Zangief" in his losing quote.
  • Haggar's Limit Break in Namco X Capcom is named after this series.
  • In the Creative Closing Credits of Capcom's RPG game Breath of Fire II, a group of bouncer Mini Bosses are given names. Which ones? Kimala (Flapjack), Gomes (Rasta Mon), Titan (Tim), Sheep (Alexander), and "Astoro" (mangled Astro, a.k.a. The Scorpion).
  • The logo for Super Muscle Bomber, the Japanese version of Ring of Destruction, uses the same fonts to spell "SUPER" that was previously used for the Super Street Fighter II logo. The SUPER word sprite also appears whenever a successive special throw is performed right after a taunt.
• The Smurfette Principle: Black Widow is the only female character.
• Statuesque Stunner: Out of all the women in Capcom fighting games, Black Widow is the largest, dwarfing them all at 6'6", 209lbs. Judging by her ending, at least 60% of that height is in her legs.
• Suspiciously Similar Songs:
  • The player select music sounds is a combination of the chorus from Sister Sledge's song "We Are Family" and the intro riff from Heart's "Barracuda."
  • Biff's entrance theme started like the stage clear theme from Axelay.
  • Alexander the Grater's entrance song had a section similar to that of the verses in Metallica's "Blackened."
  • The New York stage music has a hint of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."
  • Scorpion's stage music in Ring of Destruction has a Sagat feel to it.
• Title Drop: At least in the original version, as it's the In-Series Nickname of Ortega ("Master of Muscle Bomber").
• Tag Team: One of the play modes, made the central focus in Muscle Bomber Duo.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Most characters.
• Wild Samoan: Rasta is from an Atlantic island rather than a Pacific one, but otherwise, he's a perfect example of the trope, fighting with bites and headbutts and running around with a monkey.
• Wrestling Game: Only applies to the original game and Duo. Slam Masters II is really more of a competitive fighting game with wrestling gimmicks.