Tag Team Wrestling

From HandWiki - Reading time: 9 min


Short description: 1983 arcade video game
Tag Team Wrestling
North American arcade flyer of Tag Team Wrestling.
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Arcade, Apple II, Commodore 64, IBM PC, NES
Release
Genre(s)Sports (wrestling)
Fighting
Mode(s)Single player, multi-player (alternating turns)

Tag Team Wrestling, known as Lua error in Module:Lang/utilities at line 332: attempt to call field '_transl' (a nil value). in Japan , is a wrestling video game developed by Technōs Japan and released for arcades in 1983. The arcade version was published by Data East both in Japan and North America, but only the North American version mentions the name of Data East in-game. It was later ported in the mid-1980s to computers and the Famicom/NES.

Gameplay

In the original game, the player controls a professional wrestling tag-team, two identical wrestlers with black hair, orange trunks and brown boots named Sunny and Terry (Jocko and Spike in the U.S. version) who must defeat a couple of masked wrestlers known as the Heel Team (Mad Maulers in the U.S. version): one of them a skinny wrestler with an orange mask and boots and white trunks, the other a fat wrestler in a black mask and tights with white boots. The player's team must continually beat the Heel Team in order to win trophies and maintain gameplay. After the tenth match, the player's team is designated the world champions and must keep playing in order to maintain their title. In the event of the Heel Team winning or tying a match, the game is over.

The player is provided with a joystick and two buttons: a "select" button and an "action/pin" button. The player uses the joystick to move Sunny or Terry around the ring, where they must make contact with the member of the Heel Team (in the first match, the skinny wrestler from the Heel Team starts, then the fat one in the second, and it continues that way from there on in, as does with the player's wrestlers). Upon making contact with the opposing wrestler, the two wrestlers will immediately grapple. The player then releases the opposing wrestler by pulling away, then grappling again, waiting for the "Action" command to flash onscreen. Due to being one of the earliest professional wrestling video games, Tag Team Wrestling has a limited number of wrestling moves and characters. Moves and counters are performed through the use of a real-time, menu-based action-reaction fighting module. After engaging in a grapple with the "Action" command flashing, players quickly scroll through a menu and choose a maneuver to perform.

This means that the player has an advantage over the opponent, and must utilize the "select" button to go over the list of wrestling moves provided, and then the "action" button to choose the desired move. The player has 3 seconds to choose the desired move, or else the opposing wrestler will gain an advantage over the player's wrestler and execute their own move. If the Heel Team wrestler in the ring has not been grappled with in a while, they will enter their "red" mode: The wrestler will turn all red and, moving at twice the normal speed, attack the player's wrestler in the ring with an immediate advantage. In this situation, the player can only tag out with the "Action" button (if the wrestler is weakened and the tagged-in wrestler is strong enough to withstand the attack) or keep away from the Heel Team wrestler until their "red" phase runs out.

The wrestling moves the player may execute (when the "Action" command flashes) consist of:

Nutter - a headlock (200* - 300 points)

Straight Jab, Karate Chop (300* points)

Kick (200* - 300 points)

Rabbit Killer - jumping kick to the back of the opponent's head (800 - 900* points)

Body Slam (500 - 700* points)

Drop Kick (500 - 700* points)

Pile-driver* (600 points)

Brain Buster* (800 points)

W. Lariat* (1,000 points)

Rear Drop* - German suplex (600 points) - if executed when the opponent (the skinny Heel Team wrestler) is considerably weakened, it will count as a pin

Cobra Twist* - also known as the "Abdominal Stretch", a submission move: if executed on the skinny Heel Team wrestler after he has lost most of his energy, the wrestler will submit (the words "Give Up!" will flash on screen) and the player will win the match. If executed while the skinny wrestler is too strong, the fat Heel Team wrestler will interfere, running into the ring and pounding the player's wrestler until he releases his opponent. This is the only case in which one wrestler will interfere for another.

All of these wrestling moves can be executed on the skinny Heel Team wrestler. The ones marked with an asterisk (*) cannot be used against the fat Heel Team wrestler. If the player attempts any of these moves on him, the fat wrestler will simply counter it and nail the player's wrestler with his own move.

Once a wrestler is considerably weakened (usually via 3 or more major wrestling moves), they will try to tag out with their tag team partner, who will enter the ring at full strength. While being tagged-out, the wrestler will slowly begin recharging his energy. If a weakened wrestler isn't able to tag out in time and has lost too much energy, they will fall over, leaving them vulnerable to a pin (executable by the "Action/Pin" button). If a wrestler still has strength left, they will throw the pinning opponent off them, the player executing this move by shaking the joystick and hitting the "Action" button.

If a wrestler executes a move on another wrestler too close to the ring ropes, they may end up knocking their opponent, or themselves, out of the ring entirely. In this situation, the on-screen scene will change from an upper-view of the ring to a side-view. The wrestler who has been knocked out has a count of 20 to re-enter the ring to avoid being counted out. Often, in the situation where the player's wrestler has been knocked out of the ring, the opposing wrestler will follow them in order to execute one of the 4 moves allotted in the given situation. The first three moves are similar to The Straight Jab and The Karate Chop, the fourth, The Corner Bar, causes the wrestler executing the move to bash his opponent's head into the ring post. As inside the ring, the execution of these moves depend upon the "Action" command flashing to determine who has the advantage. The purpose of these moves is to hopefully keep the wrestler from re-entering the ring in time and be counted out. The instant a player's wrestler re-enters the ring, the on-screen scene immediately cuts back to the original one.

In some situations where the player's wrestler is knocked out of the ring, a spectator, an odd man in a turban sporting a goatee will come running out of the cheering crowd, attack the player's wrestler with some hard blows to the head, then storm off, thus making it take longer for the player's wrestler to re-enter the ring. This person is most likely the Heel Team's manager, especially since the fat Heel Team's wrestler waves at the man whenever this occurs, although this has never been confirmed. The player's wrestler(s) have no defense against this character, except to hopefully re-enter the ring before the man reaches them.

Points are scored by the type of moves executed against one's opponent, as indicated above. Point scores with an asterisk (*) indicate the number of points scored if move is executed against the fat Heel Team wrestler. In addition, the player earns points by the amount of time it takes to end the match. For example, a match lasting only 30 – 40 seconds will give the player a bonus of 8,000 points, where a 40 - 50 second match will be worth 6,000 points, 50 second - a minute long match will be 5,000 points, and so forth. Sunny and Terry each earn their own individual scores for their time in the ring; these points are added together for the player's full score.

In the NES version, two professional wrestling tag-teams, the Strong Bads and the Ricky Fighters, battle against each other in tag-team action, or a single player competes in a series of tournaments to win ever larger trophies. Each of the four characters has a unique move that can only be used against one other rival wrestler.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Tag Team Wrestling on their January 15, 1984 issue as being the top-grossing new table arcade cabinet of the month.[4] It later topped Japan's table arcade game charts in February 1984.[5][6]

In 1984, the arcade game was ported to the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC in the United States by Quicksilver Software and published by Data East. U.S. Gold released Quicksilver's ports in Europe for the IBM PC in 1986 and the Commodore 64 in 1987.

Arguably, the most well known port is the Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System version created in 1986. The development of this port was a joint venture between Data East (for graphics & sound) and Sakata SAS (for programming). It was published in Japan by Namcot as Tag Team Pro Wrestling (タッグチーム プロレスリング) on April 2, 1986. In North America, this version was released on October the same year by Data East for the NES, keeping the Tag Team Wrestling title. This was Data East's first title for the NES and one of the earliest third-party video games for the console in North America.[7]

See also

  • Strong Bad, a fictional character inspired by the video game
  • Mat Mania

Notes

References

  • Tag Team Wrestling at arcade-history
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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