Natsume Championship Wrestling
Natsume Championship Wrestling was developed by Natsume Co., Ltd. and published by Natsume Inc. for the SNES, releasing in North America in June 1994. It is widely described as a conversion of the Japanese Super Famicom title Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyō Tag. The original Japanese version held an official license from All Japan Pro Wrestling; the North American release, however, used an entirely fictional roster and was not licensed by any major wrestling promotion. The game was later re-released on Wii Virtual Console (February 18, 2011 PAL / March 21, 2011 NA), Wii U Virtual Console (November 20, 2014 PAL / December 18, 2014 NA), and Nintendo Switch (July 15, 2020). Reception was mixed, ranging from very positive to very negative across different reviews.
Availability: Nintendo Switch Online — Super Nintendo Entertainment System app (Nintendo Classics)
This is a systems/mechanics guide rather than a linear walkthrough — a fixed step-by-step route isn't the useful format for a wrestling title.
Controls
In addition to the standard face buttons, the control scheme requires use of the L and R shoulder buttons, which was noted by reviewers as unusually complex for an SNES wrestling game and as giving the game a steep learning curve. Different move sets become available depending on the wrestlers' current ring situation — such as grappling, holds, dashing, ground positioning, or attacking from the ropes.
Roster and Systems
The fictional North American roster contains 12 wrestlers: Asteroid, The Viper, Spike, Python, M. Roach, The Phantom, Big Ape, K-Bruto, H. Snake, Fangz, J. Kraze, and Conan. Each wrestler has an extensive move set that varies by ring situation, though at a fundamental level every wrestler shares a common core of moves — punches, kicks, and bodyslams — supplemented by a few unique signature moves such as piledrivers and powerbombs. Wrestlers have six energy/stamina bar levels, color-coded blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and black, tracking their condition through a match. Over 50 total moves are available across the roster. The game includes an AI opponent system described as intelligent, and recovery time for a downed wrestler increases the more severely they have been damaged in the match.
Modes
Match types include 1P vs. CPU and 1P vs. 2P, along with regular and tag-team tournament formats, plus a round-robin tournament option. A separate championship tournament mode offers easy, medium, and hard difficulty settings. Standard matches run for a 10-minute time limit.
Practical Strategy
Because recovery time increases the more damaged a wrestler becomes (tracked via the six-stage energy bar), pressuring an opponent once their bar reaches the lower (orange/red/black) stages to prevent recovery is likely the correct aggressive strategy implied by the stated damage/recovery mechanic. Since move availability depends on ring situation (grapple, ground, ropes, etc.), deliberately maneuvering an opponent into a specific position (e.g., toward the ropes) before attempting a situational signature move such as a piledriver is a reasonable technique consistent with the stated situational-moves system, though no dedicated move-list guide was reviewed in enough depth to confirm exact situational triggers per move.
Still confirming
- Exact list of situational triggers for advanced moves (piledrivers, powerbombs, etc.) per wrestler was not itemized in the sources reviewed at this research depth.
- Precise stat/move differences between the 12 individual wrestlers were not confirmed.
- Full comparison of mechanical differences between the Japanese Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash source game and this North American conversion (beyond the roster/licensing change) was not verified.