There is no ring of honor in this one, folks. It’s just a combat zone.
Overview
Capcom Wrestling Association has had wonderful success with their first release of Saturday Night Slam Masters. However, where success happens, competition is sure to follow. Enter the BWA or Blood Wrestling Association who demanded to get some air time. This is one invasion that everybody want to see happen and find out who will reign as the undisputed champion between the two wrestling giants. Which alliance will hold strong and take out the trash that would be their fallen opponents? Get in the ring and let us settle the score once and for all. Everything is thrown out the window and elbow dropped into oblivion as we enter the ring of destruction.
Graphics 8/10
All the original locations from Slam Masters 1 are still visited, but act as a hometown for all the wrestlers. These areas are decorated with details to represent what the characters are all about, right down to what kind of ring ropes are put up. The BWA sites are not as common, but they fit right in with the wrestling melee. Rings made up of wood, ice, and hard shiny floors make for some nice variety and themes. Wrestling in front of the Queen of England, surrounded by the waters of Jamaica, or in front of a giant Japanese screen showcasing your name in Japanese is a good increase of features when all fighting platforms are inside a ring.
The portraits of the wrestlers make them look like they have more ruthless aggression then ever before. The new wrestlers are much more of the freaky nature that people would not take too seriously, as they have funky personalities. People like Black Widow or Wraith are just too hard to describe and let their wrestling skills speak for them.
Their looks of being winners and losers after the matches are very cool. They show no ring rust when it comes to doing suplexs, flying body attacks, a dozen snakes spewing from a man’s face, brushes of oni hair, and deadly projectiles…? Wait, am I still talking about a wrestling game? Anyway, I am not a big fan of seeing two life bars for each person, but the guys at Capcom made it work somehow.
Finishing the opponent’s remaining energy with a super slam will have them breaking through the ring canvas. It is a somewhat humorous end to the match and can be positioned in many ways. Legs sticking out or the whole body thrown in, it is a good kind of comic relief and kicking ass.
Gameplay/Controls 8/10
The ultimate cheap dirty move done by Capcom was turning the game from it original focus as a legit wrestling game into a Street Fighter-type game. While it extended the ability for wrestlers to perform more specials, it no longer felt like a full-fledge wrestling game. There is no pinning, no way to climb the top turnbuckle, no way to climb outside the ring, or grab an illegal weapon to smash your opponent’s head over.
Not only that, but you can say goodbye to the very cool four player tag team battle mode. It was one of the key features that stand out for the game and now, it is not there anymore. As for the actual fighting…I mean, wrestling, it does an okay job. You can still perform wrestling throws, clotheslines, and drop kicks. It more trouble-free now that you do not need to worry of facing a certain way and getting mix up in the execution of the moves. Still, it does neglect some elements needed for a wrestling game and any wrestling fan would be mad about that. I was hoping for submissions holds to been left in, but they got rid of that too. That took the in-ring action down a couple points.
When it comes to “the brain” of the enemy, the game will go full force once you defeat the jobber in the 1st battle. From then on, you got to have a strategy for nearly everybody because the game can be mister perfect in many matches, barely letting you throw in one offense move that will actually hurt them. They will show no mercy and are unforgiving to your mistakes and botches. The “madness” returns in this one, giving the abused a chance to make a comeback with more damage input on their moves, so it perks up the rounds a little.
At the end of your journey, you will face the two men who have been the bosses of the last game, Jumbo and Scorpion. Have defeating them, your final opponent is the CWA’s behemoth known as Ortega, a person who earned his status as champion for a reason. Come unprepared and you will be nothing more then squash match for him.
The buttons are given a new gimmick with five buttons laid out. There are two variations of the weak/strong kind for your punches and kicks, while the grab button remains from the first game. The specials are a lot easier to do under these circumstances, but trying to grab is a totally different obstacle in itself and is quite difficult to gain the upper hand with. Even though, some of the super slam demands some movement not seen in normal fighting games, the need to grab somebody, before inputting the orders, make it a safer approach for anybody to do. It is a big step up from the last game, if you ask me.
Sound/Music 8/10
Considering when the game came out, the sounds did not really portray what vibrates from the ring. However, they did well in making it sound authentic to what you really hear in real life wrestling. The ropes bending, body slamming, and smack hitting did what could be done and came out all right. The crushing sound, of an opponent being sent through the ring, is very pleasing to the ears.
All the areas where the battles take place still hold their original theme blaring throughout the fight, with all of them remixed. It really sounds adrenaline pumping hearing moments before the battle is to take place. The newer tunes are just as cool, but do not really hold a candle towards the past ones, really. The entrance music from the first game in still present for all the superstars, but this time it comes on only after the winner beat his opponent in two round victories and I do not mind that. In the end, Slam Masters 2 makes sense of organizing their music.
Replay Value 7/10
Fans of 2D fighting will enjoy the fact it copied some of the Street Fighter essence, but at the same time it leave a distaste for fans having wanting a wrestling game series to call there own. There is also the mention of that since all the people are wrestlers, some of these players might not like the wrestling grabs and throws aspect of the game.
With it being made public to very small areas of arcades and no ports to any home systems, you are more lucky to win a million dollars from the lottery then finding it existing somewhere in mint condition today. I can only see players who are not too casual or not too hardcore, wanting to play this. In other words, someone whose is not too judgmental of the street fighting and wrestling and just curious. I think I can say it is an okay game that deserves some sort of recognition.
Overall 8/10
If you are looking for the tag team battles option, you will have to stick with the first Slam Masters. Restricting it to just one arcade cabinet for two players will save money, but not the replay value. While the sequel has a lot to offer with new wrestlers and additional moves to let loose, it really puts a damper on being different and gears away from being completely original then the others fighting game clones. It’s as if to say Capcom did not believe it could not survive on its two feet. Still, I found it an amusing game. Have a nice trip, trying to find a copy of this!
- by Boombada
