Natsume Championship Wrestling

Natsume Championship Wrestling is a 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game that was released in North America.

Natsume Championship Wrestling
Natsume Championship Wrestling
Cover art
Developer(s)Natsume[1]
Publisher(s)Natsume[1]
Composer(s)Iku Mizutani[2]
Kinuyo Yamashita[2]
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki[2]
Platform(s)Super NES
ReleaseSuper NES
Wii Virtual Console
  • PAL: February 18, 2011
  • NA: March 21, 2011
Wii U Virtual Console
  • PAL: November 20, 2014
  • NA: December 18, 2014
Nintendo Switch
  • WW: July 15, 2020
Genre(s)Action[1]
Fighting[1]
Wrestling[1]
Mode(s)Single-player
Multiplayer (up to four players)

This game is widely based on a conversion of Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyō Tag (全日本プロレス’ 世界最強タッグ ダッシュ, Zen Nippon Puroresu Sekai Saikyō Taggu Dasshu, lit. "All Japan Pro Wrestling World's Strongest Tag Dash"),[3][4][5] a Japanese video game for the Super Famicom based on the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. Players must become either the Triple Crown Champion or the Triple Crown Tag Team Champions and achieve the limits of professional wrestling.

Natsume Championship Wrestling was added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in July 2020.[6]

Summary

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This game is an unlicensed wrestling game, lacking a license from a professional wrestling promotion like World Championship Wrestling or the World Wrestling Federation.[7] The Japanese version, however, included a license from All Japan Pro Wrestling.

The player has a choice between an exhibition, a round-robin tournament, and a championship tournament.[7] Players must choose between 12 wrestlers who have ten minutes to knock each other out.[7] Each wrestlers has a very extensive set of moves depending on their situation in the ring.[7] Every victory screen with have both wrestlers' taunts, the time of the match, and the condition that caused the victory. The championship tournament has three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. Criticism for this game was mixed from very positive to very negative.[7]

There are more than fifty moves to master and an intelligent AI offers up plenty of might for the player.[8] Six levels of energy bars (in order from best to worst: blue, green, yellow, orange, red, black) and the ability to heal help to separate this game from the other wrestling games of that era.[9] However, recovery time is increased when the player is severely hurt.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Release information". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  2. ^ a b c "Soundtrack Information". SNESmusic.org.
  3. ^ "Translation and Description". Superfamicom.org.
  4. ^ "Japanese title" (in Japanese). super-famicom.jp.
  5. ^ "Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyō Tag". GameFAQs.
  6. ^ Bankhurst, Adam (July 7, 2020). "Donkey Kong Country Leads July 2020's Nintendo Switch Online SNES and NES Games". IGN. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Basic overview". MobyGames. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
  8. ^ "Advanced overview". Neoseeker. Retrieved 2011-05-31.
  9. ^ a b "Health bar information". RVG Fanatic. Retrieved 2011-05-31.