I like the SNES version of this game more than this one. They have the same basic arcade-style gameplay, but the SNES version is more fun. This is still a great version of the game.
Saturday Night Slam Masters is an easy game to play. The game has little depth, but the over-the-top characters and great controls carry you through everything. It also looks fantastic!
This is a port of an arcade game. It has simple controls and is easy to pick up and play. Given the few wrestling games on the Sega Genesis and the fact that I couldn’t get the Japanese games to work, I believe this is the best on the Sega Genesis.
TLDR: The Graphics and Gameplay are Fantastic!
Narrative
There is a very loose story in Saturday Night Slam Masters. It is centered around a tournament that these wrestlers are taking part in. It isn’t all that deep, but the game doesn’t need to be.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Saturday Night Slam Masters is fantastic. The controls are the easiest to understand. There are only three buttons to learn, and all the moves are easy to perform.
Saturday Night Slam Masters is set up like a Street Fighter game. There is a “tournament” where you travel around the world and fight some colorful characters. This is how the game modes play out, and a short story is told along the way.
There aren’t too many game modes in Saturday Night Slam Masters. It mimics how Street Fighter and other fighting games are set up. However, this does eliminate stipulation matches like a Steel Cage or Royal Rumble. Here is a list of the game modes:
- Single Match
- Vs. Match – Two Player only
- Death Match – Two Player only
The controls are great! They’re simple and mirror the arcade game that this is a port of. You only need three buttons, which works great for the standard Genesis/Mega Drive controller. Here are the controls:
- A Button – Action button, Attack, Grapple, etc.
- B Button – Jump
- C Button – Pins your opponent
Like fighting games and unlicensed wrestling games, Saturday Night Slam Masters has a few parodies of real wrestlers. We also have some callbacks to other Capcom games like Final Fight and Street Fighter, specifically Mike Haggar and Zangief. Here is the roster:
- Jumbo
- Scorp
- Titan
- Gunloc
- Oni
- Biff
- Stinger
- Haggar
- Grater
- Rasta
Overall, the gameplay is great, even with limited game modes. The controls are excellent, and the moves are easy to do. It would be nice if there were more of a story in the game, but for an arcade game, it is excellent. I like this one a little more than WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade.
Visuals
This game looks great! It has the best graphics out of all the wrestling games on the Sega Genesis. It uses hand-drawn sprites similar to Street Fighter II. It looks like a fighting game.
The entrances for each of the wrestlers are great. There are also some awesome taunt screens, like in Street Fighter II. The animations for the moves are very good as well.
Overall, the graphics are spectacular. It is a beautiful game to look at. It looks much better than the WWF games, and the only one close is the WWF arcade game.
8.5/10. This is the best wrestling game on the Sega Genesis. I like everything about the game. The limited game modes are the only thing I can criticize about the game.
Pros
- Pick-up and Play
- Great Controls
- Great Graphics
Cons
- Limited Game Modes
- No Story
Conclusion
This is one of my favorite games. I don’t think this is the best version of the game. I prefer the SNES version of Saturday Night Slam Masters. I would like to play the arcade game at some point.
There is a joy that I feel while playing this game. It makes me smile while I’m playing it. Mostly, I don’t get that when playing the WWF games. I do have more nostalgia for WWF games, but those games’ nostalgic memories are of the PlayStation 1 games.
Going back to play these games has been a ton of fun! Out of the SNES, NES, and, now, Sega Genesis, Saturday Night Slam Masters is my favorite. At the time of writing this, I have one more Genesis wrestling game to review. I don’t think the Sega Genesis version of WWF RAW will be better than this game.