Fire Pro Wrestling | |
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Genre(s) | Fighting |
Developer(s) | Human Entertainment, Spike, Spike Chunsoft |
Publisher(s) | Human Entertainment, Spike, BAM! Entertainment, Agetec, 505 Games, Spike Chunsoft |
Creator(s) | Masato Masuda[1] |
Platform(s) | Various (see table) |
First release | Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag June 22, 1989[2] |
Latest release | Fire Pro Wrestling World December 18, 2017 |
![Wrestling Wrestling](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126247359/789625495.jpg)
Fire Pro Wrestling (ファイヤープロレスリング, Faiyā Puro Resuringu) is a professional wrestlingvideo game series originating from Japan, starting in 1989 by Human Entertainment, and developed and owned by Spike Chunsoft. The series is distinguished by its grappling system, which is primarily based on timed button presses and strategy. Another signature feature of the series is its Edit mode, a character creation feature with many options to customize appearances, wrestling moves and character A.I. behavior.
Unlike many other pro wrestling games, most Fire Pro games are not licensed by any major professional wrestling promotion, but feature likenesses of real-life wrestlers under different names. Games in the series generally utilize 2-D sprite-based graphics, with some later games incorporating 3D graphical elements. The spin-off King of Colosseum series features polygonal 3D graphics. Most of the titles in the Fire Pro Wrestling series have been released in Japan, although some of the games have seen releases in North America.
- 3Titles
Series Features[edit]
FIRE PROWRESTLING G by Human Entertainment for the SONY PLAYSTATION. (All Japan Pro Wrestling) Mr.Mitzunaka = Mr.Soranaka (Old UWF). Or wish to join the strategy section staff here at GameSurge, you can contact us through our email at [email protected].
Unlike many other pro wrestling games, most games in the Fire Pro Wrestling series are not licensed by any major professional wrestling promotion, but feature likenesses of real-life wrestlers under different names. Games in the series generally utilize 2-D sprite-based graphics, with some later games incorporating 3-D graphical elements. The spin-off series King of Colosseum features polygonal 3-D graphics.
The Fire Pro Wrestling series of games distinguish themselves from other wrestling games by combining several unique features. One feature is the focus on a timing-based grappling control system. The grappling control system encourages the use of complex strategy, built on working up to using increasingly powerful moves on your opponent. The timing-based system also stands in contrast to the button-mashing tactics with which most 2-D wrestling gamers are familiar.
Another feature of Fire Pro Wrestling games is the inclusion of a large roster of playable wrestlers and fighters from different promotions located around the world. The wrestlers and promotions are renamed from their real-life counterparts to avoid copyright, and represent many different styles of professional wrestling: North American WWE style sports-entertainment, Mexican lucha-libre, various styles of Japanese puroresu: athletic junior-heavyweight style, realistic strong-style, women's joshi wrestling, and violent hardcore wrestling, as well as different styles of mixed martial arts.
A variety of match types are available in the Fire Pro Wrestling series of games, with flexible settings for the rules within each match. This complements the variety of wrestlers available as playable characters. Different match types include conventional singles and tag-team wrestling matches, extreme hardcore matches such as the 'Landmine Death Match' or 'Electric Barbed Wire Cage Match', and various types of mixed-martial-arts matches.
Another distinguishing feature of the Fire Pro Wrestling series of games, particularly the later games in the series, is the inclusion of an extensive and highly detailed wrestler creation and edit mode. The edit mode of Fire Pro Wrestling games allows players to build game characters with a high level of attention to detail. Appearance characteristics, such as clothing and ring attire, and physical build, head and facial features, can be customized for a created wrestler. A detailed set of wrestling and fighting moves, drawn from the large pool of moves built into each game, can also be assigned to a created wrestler. The edit mode of Fire Pro Wrestling games also allows players to make detailed changes to the CPU logic of an edited wrestler, making it possible for a skilled creator to create a wrestler that behaves very much like his real-life counterpart, even when controlled by the computer.
Later titles in the series allowed for customization of other aspects of professional wrestling, including changing the design of the ring mat, creating customized championship belts, and creation and editing of referees. The detailed character creation and edit mode of the Fire Pro Wrestling games became an influential feature that was eventually added to other wrestling and sports games.
The combination of features included in Fire Pro Wrestling games allows players to create 'dream matchups' between wrestlers from different promotions, or different eras in the history of professional wrestling, as well as matches between real-life wrestlers and fighters, fictional characters and non-wrestling celebrities.
Overview[edit]
Beginning with the first title in the series from Human Entertainment, Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag for PC Engine in 1989, the Fire Pro Wrestling series eventually produced editions of games for many systems, notably the Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, Dreamcast and the PlayStation 2. Human also released a wrestling game outside the Fire Pro Wrestling series in 1989 for Game Boy. Titled Pro Wrestling in its native Japan, it was released internationally as HAL Wrestling. Most of the titles in the Fire Pro Wrestling series have been released exclusively in Japan, although some of the games have seen releases in North America.
The series became popular in Japan, but did not see an international release until after Spike took over the franchise in 2000. Early games in the Fire Pro Wrestling series were popular outside Japan with import gamers, and at least one game, Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium for Super Famicom, received an unofficial fan translation through video game console emulators. Fire Pro Wrestling A for the Game Boy Advance was released internationally as Fire Pro Wrestling in 2001, and was one of the titles initially available when the Game Boy Advance was launched in Japan and North America. Four editions of the game have received official English translations: Fire Pro Wrestling (2001) and Fire Pro Wrestling 2 (2002) for the GBA, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2 (2007), and Fire Pro Wrestling World for the Steam PC platform and PS4 (2017/2018) .
At the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, it was announced that a 3-D avatar-based version of Fire Pro Wrestling would be released for the Xbox 360 in 2011. It was not released until September 21, 2012. In hopes of appealing to a more casual audience, the developers decided on debuting a new gameplay engine that would use a button-mashing minigame system to perform moves, and not using the well-reviewed timing elements from previous versions of the game.
On February 24, 2017, Spike Chunsoft debuted a website featuring a teaser video of the series making a possible return.[3] Less than a week later, on March 3, Fire Pro Wrestling World would be officially announced, returning the series to its roots, in terms of graphical presentation and gameplay mechanics. Also, the new game would be the first in the series to incorporate online multiplayer gameplay on the PC via Steam and the PlayStation 4 console.[4] Fire Pro Wrestling World was released to Early Access on Steam for the PC platform on July 10, 2017,[5] and left Early Access, to a full release, on December 18, 2017.[6]
On June 30, 2018, Spike Chunsoft would debut a commercial featuring wrestlers Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi, announcing that the game would be released in North America for PS4 on August 28, 2018. Spike Chunsoft also announced that they had come to terms on official licensing with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, making Fire Pro Wrestling World the first title in the series to be licensed by the 'King of Sports',[7] and the first game to be licensed by the wrestling organization in over eleven years.
Titles[edit]
Human Entertainment[edit]
Title | Details |
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PC Engine Virtual Console |
Notes: Known in Japan as ファイヤープロレスリング コンビネーションタッグ | |
Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PC Engine Virtual Console |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Sega Mega Drive |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling 3: Legend Bout Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PC Engine Virtual Console |
Notes:
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Super Fire Pro Wrestling 2 Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Women: All Star Dream Slam Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Arcade |
Notes:
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Wrestling Universe: Fire Pro Women: Dome Super Female Big Battle: All Japan Women VS J.W.P. Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PC Engine (ARCADE CD-ROM²) |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Sega Saturn |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling G Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation PlayStation Network |
Notes:
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Spike / Spike Chunsoft[edit]
Title | Details |
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Fire Pro Wrestling CB Original release date(s): | Release years by system: card game |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling for WonderSwan Original release date(s): | Release years by system: WonderSwan |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling i Original release date(s): | Release years by system: i-mode |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling D Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Dreamcast |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Game Boy Advance |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling J Original release date(s): | Release years by system: J-PHONE |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: Game Boy Advance |
Notes:
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Fire Pro Wrestling Z Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation 2 |
Notes:
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Original release date(s):
| Release years by system: PlayStation 2 PlayStation Network (Direct port of PS2 version to PlayStation 3) |
Notes:
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Original release date(s):
| Release years by system: Mobage |
Notes:
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Original release date(s):
| Release years by system: Xbox 360 |
Notes: Xbox Live Arcade release [9] | |
Original release date(s): Steam:
| Release years by system: Steam PlayStation 4 |
Notes:
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Spin-offs[edit]
Title | Details |
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Original release date(s):
| Release years by system: Game Boy |
Notes:
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Original release date(s):
| Release years by system: PlayStation |
Notes:
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King of Colosseum (Red) New Japan x All Japan x Pancrase Disc Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation 2 |
Notes:
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King of Colosseum (Green) ~NOAH x Zero-One Disc~ Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation 2 |
Notes:
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Original release date(s): | Release years by system: PlayStation 2 |
Notes:
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Yin-Poole, Wesley (4 April 2014). 'Fire Pro Wrestling creator Masato Masuda dies'. Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^'Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag for Windows (1989)'. MobyGames. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- ^'Spike Chunsoft launches 'Pro Wrestling' teaser website'. gematsu.com. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- ^'Fire Pro Wrestling Returns to PS4 and PC With Fire Pro Wrestling World'. dualshockers.com. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- ^'Fire Pro Wrestling World Available Now on Steam Early Access'. gamasutra.com. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
- ^'Fire Pro Wrestling World leaves Steam Early Access'. destructoid.com. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^'Fire Pro Wrestling World PS4 Release Date Announced With NJPW Roster'. forbes.com. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
- ^http://battle-news.com/news/2011/11/000831.php
- ^http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/086/086584.html
External links[edit]
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 24, 2012)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fire_Pro_Wrestling&oldid=924166840'
Hey guys, big news for all Fire Pro fans out there! Fire Pro Wrestling World was just announced for Steam and PS4. Best of all, the Steam page lists both Japanese and English for the interface and audio. Which almost assures a North American release for the game, and hopefully Europe and Australia for the Fire Pro fans in those regions. There isn’t much news about the game yet, but there is an English trailer for the game which I will add below.
To celebrate the occasion, I thought I would do a special Ramblings column looking at the Fire Pro Wrestling series, or at least the entries I’ve played. Let’s go!
I’m a fan of Fire Pro, but I haven’t played every single entry in the series. This is because only three have ever made it stateside. The rest of the series has been Japan-only. But there are ways of playing games made for older systems no matter the region. You just need a guide to help you translate if you don’t know Japanese. That is the biggest barrier, but luckily it isn’t an insurmountable one.
The earliest game in the series that I played was Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium. Kind of a long name, but a pretty good game. It came out for the Super Famicom (SNES) in 1996. If you’ve played any of the more recent Fire Pro games and then went to SFPWXP, you’d find that the series really hasn’t changed a whole lot. If you dive into the legal gray area known as emulation, you’ll find that there is a fan-made translation patch that, once applied, replaces all Japanese text in the game with the English counterpart. Very handy stuff.
The main difference between SFPWXP and the more recent games in the series is that, when you do a move close to the ropes, you clip right through the ropes, and if your wrestler ends up on the apron or outside the ring, you’ll fall to the ringside floor. It looks kind of weird to give a guy a vertical suplex or a running powerslam through the ropes and to the floor, but it’s also kind of neat. In subsequent Fire Pro games, the ropes sort of move you away from them as you do the move.
Almost all Fire Pro games use sprite graphics. This makes the games age well, for the most part. The basic gameplay is simple, and yet it takes time to get used to. Button mashing will not do you any favors. It’s all timing-based. At least for performing moves. You move close to an opponent, and you automatically grapple. Then you have to time your button press as close to the moment you fully lock up as possible. If you hit the button(s) before your opponent, but after the lock up is complete, you do your move. Timing is everything.
There are three attack buttons: Weak, Medium, and Strong. In some situations, like grappling, holding different directions while pressing each button (or no direction at all) will perform different moves. Kind of like other wrestling games, but again, all timing-based. Stamina is a thing, as well. Your wrestler can lose his breath, and you need to hold a button to take a breather. So it’s got a bit of depth to it, too.
Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium is kind of your basic Fire Pro game. No death matches, no MMA-style matches, just your standard wrestling. Which isn’t bad. It’s still a really good entry to the series.
The next one is Fire Pro Wrestling G for the Sony PlayStation, released in 1999. It introduced “Gruesome Fighting” (MMA-style fights) and death matches. Both FPWG and SFPWXP have a max of four wrestlers at a time. Though I think the PlayStation probably could have handled more. There is only one death match available, and that’s an electrified cage with an explosion timer. What that means is if you’re whipped into the cage, your wrestler is hit with an electric shock and falls to the mat. When the explosion timer goes off, well, explosives placed around the ring explode, and cause damage to everyone, including the ref.
FPWG was a big improvement over the Super Famicom version. I highly recommend you try it out.
![Fire pro wrestling g translation patch 3 Fire pro wrestling g translation patch 3](https://snes.in/ss-translations/super-fire-pro-wrestling-queens-special-english/super-fire-pro-wrestling-queens-special-english.4.png)
Fire Pro Wrestling D was released for the Dreamcast in 2001. I can’t really play this one anymore, because of the lack of Dreamcast emulators for Linux. I often cry on the inside because of this. FPWD is a really great Fire Pro game. Six characters on screen at once, which is great. It has a second death match mode, which features barbed wire ropes and fluorescent light tubes tied to cardboard. Fun stuff. There’s also an SWA Official Rules match, and I forget the exact rules this operates under. The translation guide says Battlearts-style rules, but I don’t know what those are, either.
All in all, Fire Pro Wrestling D is fantastic. I just wish I could play it more.
The next three were the only ones released in the US. Fire Pro Wrestling (Fire Pro Wrestling A in Japan) for the Game Boy Advance came out in 2001. Due to the decrease in buttons, the Strong attacks were performed by pressing A and B at the same time. Otherwise, it’s the same standard FPW you’re used to, just with a smaller screen, and only four wrestlers at once. This was the first FPW game I ever played. I read some hype about it online and in magazines, that it was this awesome wrestling game series with a big cult following outside of Japan, but that it had never come out in the US. So I was intrigued. Suffice to say, I got hooked.
Fire Pro Wrestling 2 (Final Fire Pro Wrestling: Yume no Dantai Unei! in Japan) came out for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. Not much different from the first GBA version, though.
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns came out for the PlayStation 2 in 2005 (Japan) and 2007 (NA). It’s a fantastic game. Absolutely brilliant. Up to eight wrestlers at once, more match types, more options, it’s just incredible. It’s the only console Fire Pro game released in English, up until now. Fire Pro Wrestling World will hopefully change that. But I digress.
FPWR is just great on all accounts. I had a ton of fun downloading game saves off of Fire Pro Club, an online fan-club community for Fire Pro Wrestling, and transferring them to my PS3. I filled my game with fan-made edits of real-life wrestlers, logos, rings, etc. The edit mode in the game is just incredible. It really helps enhance the experience. It’s a lot of the same Fire Pro you’ve come to love, but presented in a great package.
So where do we go from here? Well, Fire Pro Wrestling World promises online connectivity, which hopefully includes being able to share your Edit mode creations. Hopefully all the Edit mode functions from the PS2 version come along, as well. I look forward to more match types, maybe more wrestlers on screen at once, and so on. Who knows?
I hope we get more details for the game soon. According to Polygon, the game comes out on Steam Early Access in the second quarter of this year. No official release date has been given for the PS4 version, but the developers have said it will be on Steam Early Access for “a few months.”
That will do it for me this time. I hope you enjoyed reading my take on Fire Pro Wrestling. I can’t wait for FPWW. You can find me on Twitter at @vgramblings. See you all next time!
Brandon Myers
The 'Rambling Gamer,' Brandon has been playing video games since 1988.From the NES to the PS4, he's played almost every major console.While he favors consoles, he's dabbled in PC gaming, and is an avid Linux user.Every Wednesday, he posts his latest Ramblings, which usually consist of video game reviews, best/worst lists, and on occasion a good old-fashioned rant.
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