Saturday Night Slam Masters (Arcade)

Saturday Night Slam Masters is a wrestling game which is probably best known for two things: having Mike Haggar as a playable wrestler (before retiring and become the mayor of Metro City), and character designs by manga artist Tetsuo Hara (himself best known for Fist of the North Star).

Regional Differences#

Intro/Title Screen#

Japan	International

The game is called Muscle Bomber: The Body Explosion in Japan and Saturday Night Slam Masters internationally.

The Japanese version shows Victor Ortega along with thunderbolts, the game's title, and the Capcom logo. In the international versions, Ortega disappears and the game title appears on a black background along with the Capcom logo.

Credit Screen#

Japan	US	World

Aside from the logo change, the US version adds a credit for Capcom USA.

Team Battle Royal Waiting#

Japan	International

In the Japanese version, the lights and the ceiling are teal-colored, and the crowd is colored with a brownish tint. In the International versions, the lights and ceiling are lilac-colored, and the crowd is colored with multiple colors, feeling more natural.

Additionally, the Japanese version has a female announcer announcing something in Japanese that was removed in the International versions.

Characters Name#

All the characters have different names between versions, excluding one and you probably know who is.

Note: The names in bold are the ones seen during gameplay.

Matches Order#

Colors' key: Red (matches that take place in North America), Blue (matches that take place in Europe), Gold (matches that take place in Asia) and Green (the only match that takes place in Australia).

Smartly enough, the first match is held in Tokyo in the Japanese version, while it is held in Los Angeles (America) in the International versions. Also note that the stage order is the same between versions besides the starting points, going around the map counterclockwise.

Pin/Fall#

In the Japanese version, when you or the opponent gets pinned, the refree will shout FALL, while in the International versions, he shouts PIN.

Second Refree#

During a Team Battle Royal match, when you and your partner pin both opponents at the same time, another refree will count along with the current refree. In the Japanese version the second refree is a female, while in the International versions is a male.

Of course, Fall was changed with Pin.

Revisional Differences#

In a similar Street Fighter II fashion, the game received an updated version called Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors in Japan and Muscle Bomber Duo: The Ultimate Battle internationally. Strangely, this the only instance where the Japanese name is used internationally.

Intro/Title Screen#

In Muscle Bomber Duo, during the intro, a red "MUSCLE BOMBER DUO" sign briefly appears four times.

Muscle Bomber/Slam Masters	Muscle Bomber Duo

In Muscle Bomber Duo, Victor Ortega is more tanned, his red shirt was recolored to blue, his black trunks were recolored to bordeaux and (if you manage to look very closely) his belt was moved one pixel upward.

Japan (Original)	Japan (Revision)	International

In Muscle Bomber Duo, the lightning bolts' color was changed from blue to red, and the logo was also recolored (coincidentally using the same color scheme as Street Fighter II: Champion Edition). A DUO was added, and the subtitle was changed. Unlike the original, which featured a unique font, Duo uses a standard typeface instead.

Credit Screen#

Muscle Bomber	Slam Masters	Muscle Bomber Duo

The background was recolored from blue to teal.

Gameplay#

Game Modes#

Muscle Bomber	Slam Masters

Muscle Bomber/Slam Masters has two game modes: Single Match (one vs one) and Team Battle Royal (two vs two). Muscle Bomber Duo omits the former mode and focuses solemnly on the latter. As result, the screen above was removed in Muscle Bomber Duo.

Character Select#

Muscle Bomber/Slam Masters	Muscle Bomber Duo

Aside from the obvious background color change, the cursor box was recolored to pink to purple and flashes faster, The "XP" label was moved a few pixels upward and positioned in the top-left corner of the box and the characters' icons were moved a bit upwards and the position of two of them were shuffled.

Muscle Bomber/Slam Masters has two character select themes in both modes: the first one is used when the game is played by one player, while the second one is used when the game is played by two or more players. Muscle Bomber Duo only uses the second theme regardless if the game is played by one or more players.

Misc.#

• The International version of Muscle Bomber Duo retains all the localization changes made in Slam Masters (e.g. Characters' names).
• Despite having only Team Battle Royal mode, every waiting time after a match are removed in Muscle Bomber Duo.