One fighter that doesn't get enough praise is Hudson Soft's 1995 title:
Saikyou Takada Nobuhiko - The Pro-Wrestling.
Saikyou is essentially a tournament fighter with Pro-Wrestling rules thrown in (point deductions for downs, escapes, suplexes,
being able to submit an opponent, etc). The referee even calls for a "break" when either player is staying on their opponent too
long.
Rage mode has been activated!For a fighter released in 1995, Saikyou is one of the first fighting games that I can think of that had both a
rage and
guard impact system.
When either player's health bars are low, rage mode is activated where super combos can be implemented for a short
period of time.
Be careful when trying to punch Fujikawa ...he might reverse it!Besides guard impacts, certain Wrestlers had special reversals in their movesets.
Fujiwara can reverse standard punches into a Fujiwara Armbar, Akira Maeda can reverse certain kicks
into a Capture Suplex, Big Van Vader can throw an opponent off their feet and (when laying on the ground),
Volk Han can inflict a heel hold if a player tries a ground submission on Han's legs!
2 on 2 tag matches are possible!Like many Japanese Pro-Wrestling games from the era, only UWFI star Nobuhiko Takada was licensed. The
rest of the roster is made up of recognizable faces (all under different aliases to avoid licensing costs) from
different promotions.
Big Nova Geiger (Big Van Vader) and Gary Briant (Gary Albright) are from the UWFI. Murder Wolf (Volk Han) and
Akitoshi Hishida (Akira Maeda) are from the RINGS promotion.
Move over Balrog: there's even a kickboxing Mike Tyson knockoff called Morris Pison (Mike Tyson)!
I made Big Van Vader look like Mugapepe from SFC Wrestling title Funaki Masakatsu Hybrid Wrestler.Long before the likes of Tekken 5 and Virtua Fighter, players could adjust the colours of their characters.
You could even change the names of each Wrestler, too.
There are four selectable stages to choose from. This stage is the UWF dojo. In the background, there is a poster
of Nobuhiko Takada to the left.
Wrestling experts may also notice three other faces in the background: Billy Robinson (far left), Lou Thesz (left)
and Danny Hodge (far right).
Thesz, Robinson and Hodge were respected legends with legitimate Wrestling backgrounds. Robinson and Hodge
served as head coaches while Thesz acted as head commissioner and provided the specific Championship belt
used for the UWFI promotion.
