Sports Entertainment. Puroresu. Lucha Libre.
The bell rings for the definitive intercontintental match!
The bell rings for the definitive intercontintental match!
Royal Pro Wrestling: Jikkyō Live!! is a Professional Wrestling video game developed for the ill-fated 3DO console by Natsume (also responsible for the Super Nintendo AJPW and the Game Boy Advance WWE video games), released in 1996.
The game's main gimmick is that the player can compete in three different promotions, each modelled after its home country's style:
- WWA: An American promotion based on '90s WWE and WCW, booked by Rich Flair and covered by Wrestle Magazine.
- JAW (Japan All Wrestling): A Japanese promotion based on '80s-'90s AJPW and NJPW, booked by Big Kiba and covered by Weekly Pro-Wrestling.
- MDLL (Mexico de Lucha Libre): A Mexican promotion based technically based on CMLL and LLI\UWA legends, but has also talent based on NJPW Junior Heavyweights and early Michinoku Pro Wrestling stars; it's booked by Aaron En Mascarado (Mil Máscaras) and covered by Mexico De Colosos.
Although the gameplay itself is fairly similar to other contemporary wrestling video games, Royal Pro Wrestling's main mode, "Sankan Tōitsu Sen" (Triple Crown Unification competition), gives equal importance to winning a match and to create a good performance for the crowd... However, the player must act accordingly to each promotion: Americans value over-the-top spectacle (complete with chair shots, Titantron promos and meddling managers), Japanese lean towards pseudo-realistic sports matches in the vein of Strong Style and King's Road storytelling, and Mexicans prefer flashy chain wrestling and aerial moves.
- Captain Ersatz: Just like most non-licensed professional wrestling video games, all the cast are thinly-veiled versions of wrestling superstars:
- WWA: Golden Lips (Hulk Hogan with Jimmy Hart), Andy Savage, Oyakata the Kokina (Yokozuna with Mr. Fuji), The Rhino Warriors Mike and Johnny Warrior, Skunk, Bigbang Bull Power, The Underdise Morgan (The Undertaker with Paul Bearer), Kong the Godish and Rich Flair.
- JAW: Dynamic Iwaki, Dragon Fujiyama, Shinya Hashitomi, Great Budo, Dr. Kill, Mr. Aabuu, Koji Izawa, Jumbo the Tomo, Texas Longhorn and Big Kiba.
- MDLL: Santo Caras, Little Giants (Gran Hamada
), La Dolphin (Super Delfin), The Sarutobi, Tigre Mask, Negro Tigre (Black Tiger), Kaiser Yamada, Kid the Wolf, José En Mascarado (Dos Caras) and Aaron En Mascarado (Mil Máscaras).
- Cultural Translation: The player must act accordingly to each national wrestling style to get the best ratings.
- Gameplay Grading: An essential part of the game, since the match's critical rating determines if you can keep wrestling or not, and your promotion's booker gives your character a private review with appropiate scolding / advice / appraisal after the match. Your character can have up to five gold stars (one gained per match) or, inversely, up to four black stars — this means that you've failed to generate enough interest to keep the crowd coming to your events, which basically means game over. If your character manages to get and/or stay with five gold stars, the promotion's magazine will feature him — this means that technically, a wrestling magazine could award a five-star match with, for example, Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Unavoidable since 1/3rd of the cast belongs to a Mexican organization, but some names are incorrectly written, such as Mexico de Lucha Libre ("Mexico from Lucha Libre"), La Dolphin (Should be the male "El Dolphin"), Negro Tigre ("Tiger Black") or the En Mascarado brothers ("Enmascarado" - splitting it loosely translates to "In Masked"). On top of that, there is mistranslated stuff: "Tigle", "Hose" and "Alon" were originally meant to be "Tigre", "José" and "Aaron". note
- Hoax Hogan: Has one in "Golden Lips", named after Hulk Hogan's Thunderlips character in Rocky III. Golden Lips is clearly based on Hulk Hogan's late WWE-early WCW era (1993-1995), since a Jimmy Hart Expy acts as his manager and partner.
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Spiritual Sequel: To Natsume's own Zen Nihon Puroresu 2: 3.4 Budokan, as the game mixes an arcade engine with a strong emphasis on getting liked by the crowd over winning the match quickly. - Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny / Anachronism Stew: Although the game has a mix of well-known legends, some of the wrestlers would have never possibly matched in real life (i. e. El Santo "Santo Caras" died half a decade before The Great Sasuke "El Sarutobi"'s debut).
- Tag Team: Possible in most gameplay modes.
- Theatrics of Pain: By holding the L button, the characters can react heavily to a blow. Using it appropiately is key to winning the crowd; inversely, a unjustified streak of No-Sells or exaggerated reactions can quickly sour the crowd's opinion.
- Wrestling Game: Has the distinction of being the only wrestling video game for the 3DO console.
- Wrestling Psychology: One of the few non-Fire Pro Wrestling titles which focus on it, having to behave accordingly on each promotion (American / Japanese / Mexican) to get over with the crowd.
