ID a wrestling game for me?

[The-Bavis]

Hey guys,

I have been wondering what this wrestling game was that I played at a USO as a kid was. The time was probably ~1986. I looked at klov.com under "W" for wrestling and it's not "Wrestle War". I didn't know how else to search through that list. Any ideas? I don't think it was a WWF game because I don't remember fighting over who could be the Iron Sheik.

Thanks in advance!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://www.arcadeathome.com:8080/snap/ringrage.gif

The only arcade wrestling game I could think of with an "Iron Sheik" clone would be Ring Rage.

Pit-Fighter esque wrestler.

But if you're talking 1986, that might be a bit too early for that ...

could be "The Main Event"

http://www.arcade-history.com/images/game/1540_1.png

[pookninja]

around 1986 im thinking it could of been mat mania or the main event maybe.you remember any of the wrestlers names in it?

[The-Bavis]

around 1986 im thinking it could of been mat mania or the main event maybe.you remember any of the wrestlers names in it?

http://klov.com/images/10/1095221655.jpg

YOU are right! It's Mat Mania!

Thanks for the help guys. That was the thing about it: I couldn't remember any names of anybody and I was pretty sure there weren't any.

Time to try and play it again. It's been over 20 years!

Thanks!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://klov.com/images/10/1095221655.jpg

YOU are right! It's Mat Mania!

Thanks for the help guys. That was the thing about it: I couldn't remember any names of anybody and I was pretty sure there weren't any.

Time to try and play it again. It's been over 20 years!

Thanks!

Mat Mania rocks.

Easily a STRONG inspiration for the NES version of Pro Wrestling.

Love the Darth Vader and the guy in the 80's new wave band logo shirt in the audience ... what band was it again? I thought it was Nitzer Ebb ... but I think it's something different.

http://www.klov.com/images/11/1181242137143.png

I wonder why the hell this game didn't end up on any Taito Legends collections!!

[The-Bavis]

Mat Mania rocks.

Easily a STRONG inspiration for the NES version of Pro Wrestling.

Love the Darth Vader and the guy in the 80's new wave band logo shirt in the audience ... what band was it again? I thought it was Nitzer Ebb ... but I think it's something different.

I wonder why the hell this game didn't end up on any Taito Legends collections!!

I read up on this game I didn't remember too clearly. After looking at the screens and stuff, it's obvious it was heavily borrowed from by Pro Wrestling. Of course, it looks like Mat Mania borrowed from a lot of things itself. I checked the U.S. Taito collections and was sad to see it didn't make it. Not sure about the superior Japanese collections, though.

Maybe this will inspire me to start using MAME finally.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://www.imheavyduty.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/einsturzendeneubauten.jpg

Einsturzende Neubauten

The shirt was definately a play on that.

[The 1 2 P]

Ah, Mat Mania. So many fond memories of beating the computers ass in it. I've always wanted to play a console version, but have been sadly unsatisfied. I can still hear the catchy music in my head today.

[Nightwing]

I used to love playing Mat Mania! I was the top rated player at my local arcade.Of course - that was eons ago...

[emceelokey]

Almost every mid 80's arcade wrestling had a cool charm about it. Especially the non WWF games because they had stereotypes of what wrestlers might be at that time. Most of them didn't play too well though but all are stillfun to look at.

[Flack]

Mat Mania is one of my favorite games. Years ago, I picked up a working cabinet for $25. Unfortunately I also sold it years ago, but I wish I hadn't. It's one of those games I can play literally forever. I've played it for a couple of hours before and just walked away.

I didn't know about the Nitzer Ebb guy, but there are a ton of people hidden in the audience including Stevie Wonder, ZZ Top (underneath Superman), Bruce Lee, and a bunch of others.

http://www.robohara.com/arcade/collection/mat_mania.jpg

That's the only pic I have of my old cabinet. So sad. Sniff.

[The-Bavis]

I'm glad this game had good reach and I didn't just have poor judgment or something as a kid. I only ever saw it in the one USO and never came across it again.

Flack - Twenty five bucks for that machine would be an awesome find. Too bad you don't have it now, but I'm sure you made at least 100% profit on it!

Despite the references from which it originally came, I don't think that a wrestler named Coco Savage that looks like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Cocosavage.png
would fly anymore.

[The 1 2 P]

Mat Mania is one of my favorite games. Years ago, I picked up a working cabinet for $25. Sniff.

Wow. I am so envious. I know you sold it, but the fact that you got it for $25 is amazing. I wish I found one on Craigs list for an affordable price like that. I would "make" room for it in my little ass apartment.

We should have someone bring one in for a Nava tournament. How sweet would that be? Really sweet:)

[Flack]

Believe it or not, I didn't make a profit on it. Back in 1994 I bought several games really cheap at auctions, before the coin-op crazy had really exploded. In 1996 I took a job cross country and ended up having to dump the games really quickly before we moved. I GAVE a broken (but really nice looking) Star Wars cabinet to one of the buyers just to get rid of it, a move I still kick myself over. :/

Mat Mania's not a particularly difficult game, but when you have one in your kitchen you tend to get really good at it.

[The 1 2 P]

Heres ALL the info you could ever want about this game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Mania. Not only does it list all the crowd celebrities, it also list the official sequal and....wait for it.....a few home console versions:)

[diskoboy]

Mat Mania is one of my favorite games. Years ago, I picked up a working cabinet for $25. Unfortunately I also sold it years ago, but I wish I hadn't. It's one of those games I can play literally forever. I've played it for a couple of hours before and just walked away.

I didn't know about the Nitzer Ebb guy, but there are a ton of people hidden in the audience including Stevie Wonder, ZZ Top (underneath Superman), Bruce Lee, and a bunch of others.

http://www.robohara.com/arcade/collection/mat_mania.jpg

That's the only pic I have of my old cabinet. So sad. Sniff.

Was that a Gyruss conversion? It looks like a golden age Konami/Centuri cabinet. Oh well, at least it got converted to another classic game...

It's weird - every time I've ever seen this game, it's always in an old Centuri cabinet.

Sorry.... just babbling

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Heres ALL the info you could ever want about this game: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_Mania. Not only does it list all the crowd celebrities, it also list the official sequal and....wait for it.....a few home console versions:)

The Wiki doesn't mention the einsturzende neubauten shirt guy!

I'm more observant than a Wiki article!

[Flack]

It doesn't mention Bruce Lee, either. I need to go through and update that Wiki for them!