Saturday Night Slam Masters, known in Japan as Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion, is a 1993 pro wrestling arcade game released for the CP System by Capcom. The game features character designs by manga artist Tetsuo Hara, famous for Fist of the North Star. The game was followed by an updated version titled Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle in 1993, and a sequel called Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II in 1994.
The original Slam Masters plays like a traditional wrestling game, only the game used a view similar to that commonly used in the fighting game genre. The game uses a three button configuration (grab, attack, and jump). Each character has two special attacks: a non-grappling technique and a finisher. When an opponent's life meter is depleted, he must either be pinned for a three-count or forced to submit. Defeating all of the other wrestlers results in winning the championship belt, which must then be defended against the entire roster.
There are two game modes: Single Match, where the player fights in a series one-on-one matches against the CPU; and Team Battle Royale, where the player and another partner (controlled by another player or by the CPU) competes in a series of two-on-two matches. The game can be played by up to four players.
The game features a playable roster of ten wrestlers. Only eight of the wrestlers are selectable in the Single Match mode. The remaining two: Jumbo and Scorpion, are non-playable boss characters in Single Match and selectable only in Team Battle Royale. In the English localization, Capcom changed the names of all the characters and modified much of the backstory. The English names are used in this article, followed by the original Japanese names (when they differ) in parentheses.
Biff Slamkovich (Aleksey Zalazof) – The main protagonist of the series. In the Japanese version of the game, Zalazof is a Russian wrestler who trained under Haggar alongside his rival, Gunloc. No such character connection is established in the English version, although Biff makes a reference to 'Comrade Zangief' in his losing quote. Alex from Street Fighter III bears a strong resemblance to Biff.
Gunloc (Lucky Colt) – In the Japanese version of the game, Colt is another apprentice of Haggar and Zalazof's rival, explaining the similar fighting styles. The English version implies that Gunloc is a relative of Guile (from Street Fighter II), a character relation that was mentioned again in the Street Fighter: The Movie arcade game where it is revealed that Gunloc is Guile's brother.
The Great Oni (Mysterious Budo) – A Japanese wrestler who dresses with a kabuki-like theme. He is apparently a rival of El Stingray.
Titanic Tim (Titan the Great) – A huge English wrestler who uses both his size and strength to intimidate his opponents. His backstory explains that he was once a tag team partner to Birdie of the Street Fighter series.
El Stingray (El Stinger) – A Mexican luchador who amazes the crowds with his high-flying speed and techniques.
Mike 'Macho' Haggar – Originally one of the main characters from Final Fight. The Japanese version establishes that Haggar's appearance in this game takes place before being elected mayor in Final Fight. However, the English version refers to Haggar as the 'former Mayor of Metro City'. His daughter, Jessica (also from Final Fight), sometimes enters into the ring to celebrate with him when he wins a match.
Alexander the Grater (Sheep the Royal) – An Australian wrestler who has a merciless attitude in the ring.
King Rasta Mon ('Missing IQ' Gomes) – A wild and feral-like man who acts like a savage beast in combat. He is always accompanied by his pet monkey, Freak, who happens to be his 'manager'.
Jumbo Flapjack (Kimala the Bouncer) – A very large and sadistic wrestler who enjoys making his opponents bleed. He is the right-hand man of the Scorpion who serves as the penultimate sub-boss of the game.
The Scorpion (The Astro) – The game's final boss and main antagonist of the series. A mysterious masked wrestler whose true identity and history is shrouded in both mystery and darkness. He is also known to be the leader of the BWA (Blood Wrestling Association).
The original Slam Masters was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis and FM Towns Marty. The Super NES version retains the Team Battle Royale mode (which can be played with the multitap for up to four players), while the Genesis version replaces it with an exclusive Death Match mode. The Genesis version is also the only version of the game that allows the player to select The Scorpion and Jumbo for the Single Battle mode. In contrast to the arcade version, which only used Tetsuo Hara's artwork for promotional illustrations, the console versions of Slam Masters for the Super NES and Genesis use Hara's actual artwork in the game.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Videogame Console:
This version of Saturday Night Slam Masters was designed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which was an 16-bit video game
console of the fourth generation manufactured by Nintendo in the years 1990 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling 16-bit video game console with superior
graphics and sound
compared to its competitors. Worldwide, almost 50 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 200 per unit. More information about the
SNES console can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
5 different online emulators are available for Saturday Night Slam Masters. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Saturday Night Slam Masters are summarized in the following table:
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This version of Saturday Night Slam Masters was designed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which was an 16-bit video game
console of the fourth generation manufactured by Nintendo in the years 1990 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling 16-bit video game console with superior
graphics and sound
compared to its competitors. Worldwide, almost 50 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 200 per unit. More information about the
SNES console can be found 
