Saturday Night Slam Masters

"I used to have way too much fun with this game."

[Insert Story Of How Purchase Of Subject Was Made Here]

The Super Nintendo wasn't famous for its wrestling games, and for good reason - they sucked. Simple enough, but Capcom was up for a challenge and didn't want to make the squared circle look all-bad on the SNES, so they went and created Saturday Night Slam Masters, a game that fuses the ever-successful fighting game genre with wrestling games. Enthusiasts of the latter may likely not be pleased, but those looking for something new and rather original, like a side-scrolling beat'em up placed in a wrestling ring, will be delighted to play this game.

Unlike most of the modern-day wrestling games such as WWE Smackdown! #: [Insert Random "Intimidation" Line Here], SNSM's matches take place only in the ring and the area that hugs it. The surroundings of the ring have four types of weapons available for use - the table, beer bottle, bucket, or what looks to be a safe. Fire-proof, even. You can even throw them into the ring if you wish. The ring itself is as any squared circle is - four climbable turnbuckles semi-connected by four "ropes" that go from each turnbuckle to the next. Throw the opponent into them and they bounce back at you for you to deal punishment to them as you see fit. Yep, that's the same ol' stuff you always get in a wrestling game. However...

Final Fight fans should know the name of Haggar. He's the mayor of Metro City and whatnot, but he's also a character in SNSM. Now, call me silly, but didn't Haggar brawl more than wrestle? Why, yes he did. And so do the nine other highly obscure characters in this game. Instead of the constant grappling you see in standard wrestling games, this hybrid has got you doing spinning handstand kicks, diving and twisting horizontal dive attacks, ultra-fast "Patty Cake Slaps," (courtesy of Capcom's "E. Honda" character from their very own Street Fighter franchise) and many other moves that you'd normally find in, you guessed it, a fighting game.

Thusly, instead of your blah blah wrestling matches that are all about groping your opponent in ways not even suitable for the Jerry Springer show, most of the damage you do is done by the fighting half of this conjoined... thing. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing, unless you're a wrestling fanatic who loves the genre and the touchy-feely concept. Keep in mind that this is the Super Nintendo, though - this twist on this type of game was much needed. It makes it more fun and hella' easier to just pick up and play, but it also makes it easier to complete than a one yard dash.

When Capcom developed this game they were obviously thinking very much along the lines of a non-stop, action-packed, undepthful and possibly multiplayer "frestling" romp. If they weren't, well then that's just too damn bad 'cause that's what they made.

The first mode of play is your run-of-the-mill one player mode where you simply travel to nine other real-life locations such as Moscow, Russia and Los Angeles, California to frestle the homeboy. The problem here is that's all you do. You get nothing for winning except the right to continue on to fight the next wrestler. That wouldn't be too bad if it didn't get so bloody borin' after you've beaten the first five guys. After that, the mode loses its fun appeal. The characters you haven't yet faced ain't all that - they've got practically the same entrance scene as the next guy and they're just about as simple to beat. Saturday Night Slam Masters has a one player mode that blows... it's just too damn boring and there is no feeling of depth at all.

However, the multiplayer Battle Royal mode is a different story. With four frestlers in the ring at one time, the game triples in fun. It's the same system of play, but the magnitude of it has been heightened. Even if your teammate (WWE fans think "Tornado") is computer controlled, he is usually smart enough to come and bail you out of trouble. But, that's only if he can take time out of his precious schedule of barging around the ring, climbing the ropes and taunting his opponent and jumping off and missing and generally acting like a damn foo'.

Suffice to say that if you have no friends, you won't like Saturday Night Slam Masters. This game thrives and survives purely on its Battle Royal mode, but that is only if your teammate is human-controlled. You can't do any double-team maneuvers, which is very disappointing because the premise of the game left the door wide open for some innovative techniques on that part, but you can and will find yourself hitting both of your opponents simultaneously, knocking them down and capitalizing on the opportunity. If you or your teammate is pinned (with a healthy "1, 2, 3!" from the referee) then the fun ends and you get a chance to restart the match with a Street Fighter-esque countdown screen, complete with generic threats or taunts and all.

Saturday Night Slam Masters has a cast of frestlers that obviously have their own very different lifestyles, though all you can tell that by is how they look and by the clothing they wear. You've got Gunloc, who from his short biography page is related to a famous street fighter (think about it). There's also The Great Oni who looks like a cross between a wingless pink owl and a drag queen. Then there's Scorp who is easily the most badass frestler in the game. His taunt is a self-electrocution-like deal, but it doesn't hurt him and plus, if you win a mitch, he disappears, seemingly splitting in two to reform somewhere else in the sqaured circle. It's pretty cool.

The size of each character is a big factor in the game. Titanic Tim is a whopping 7'9'' behemoth, so when facing him it's all about speed and execution. Smaller enemies such as the miniscule El Stingray won't have no trouble beating him as long as you do hit-and-run kind of attacks. Frestlers who are caught in the middle like Biff "The Rocking Ruskie" Slamkovich have a distinct advantage over any frestler of another size, but that depends solely on how the person controlling Biff is using him. The size factor is really what decides the matches - it feels way out of place - and perhaps it was inevitable that some stereotypical base would be implanted in the game.

There's no storyline behind any of the matches, just to get the title belt. Once you get it in either mode of play, you have a chance to defend your championship - which translates to merely running the same obstacle course you just got done with. That's kinda lackluster if you ask me, seeing as CPU opponents always have something of a pattern that they follow and if you figure it out, the game is a cakewalk.

Sometimes, the frosting is what saves the game. SNSM is a prime example of this. There are no glitches to be found here, no slowdown, none of that nonsense. Everything is detailed and crisp, portrayed in bright, vibrant colors that grab your attention from the other side of the room. There's even a bit of facial animation to go along with the mug which is as defined as the muscles that are carved out of stone and textures of the clothing. The character models themselves are akin to those seen in Final Fight or Street Fighter and flow as such - it's not all too fluid, but it does work out well.

A lot of people get good things, but never enough of it. This is the case with the sound in Saturday Night Slam Masters. What you do get is crystal clear booms from bodies hitting the canvas, rubber-sponge kinda sounds from being thrown against the ropes, and three types of speech - the crowd, which tends to go "Aaah," from time to time, the aforementioned referee who counts "1, 2, 3!" and then there's the guy whom I will call the narrator, who says "You lose," "Continue," and "Fight!" Sounds like it was taken directly out of Street Fighter, and perhaps it was, but that's not a bad thing.

There's a lot of music in the game and all of it does sound good, but it gets repetitive really fast. The most noticeable track in the game blazes at The Great Oni's stage - it's really upbeat and life-like which keeps it in sync with the action.

Saturday Night Slam Masters is by no means the greatest wrestling game on the SNES... well, maybe it is... and it's also not the best fighting game, neither. It's the child of both of these... it's not great but it damn sure is good. You'll find yourself coming back to the game a long time from now and playing it over and over again. It's simple to pick up and play, which is really all you can do because there's no depth to the game whatsoever. Which isn't so bad - Capcom nailed the arcadey gameplay which gives this game so much replay.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/09/06