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Arm Wrestling
Nintendo armwrestling arcadeflyer
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D3
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Producer(s)Genyo Takeda
Designer(s)Genyo Takeda
Artist(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
Composer(s)Koji Kondo
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Sports game
Mode(s)Single player
CabinetUpright
Display2 Raster horizontal monitors, 224×288

Arm Wrestling is a 1985[1] arcade game developed by Nintendo and released only in North America. As a spin-off of the Punch-Out!! series, and created by the same development team, Arm Wrestling features many of the same features, such as a dual-monitor system and quirky computer opponents.

Development[]

The game was developed by Nintendo R&D3, the same team that created the Punch-Out!! series. It is the final arcade game Nintendo independently developed and released before switching over to third-party arcade developers. The game's announcer uses some voice samples of Han (Shih Kien) from the 1973 film Enter the Dragon, as well as original ones.

Gameplay[]

Arm Wrestling 1 (Nintendo Arcade Game)

The first match in Arm Wrestling against Texas Mac.

The goal of the game is to become the World Arm Wrestling Champion by defeating as many opponents in arm wrestling as possible. In order to achieve this title the player must compete against five different computer opponents and pin them in a timed match. The opponents are:

  • Texas Mac, a stereotypical Texan in a cowboy hat
  • Kabuki, a Japanese sumo wrestler
  • Mask X, actually Bald Bull from Punch-Out!! in a mask
  • Alice & Ape III, a little girl controlling a monkey robot via remote
  • Frank Jr., an homage to Frankenstein's monster as popularized in the 1930s films

A match begins when the player taps left on the joystick. During the match the player must attack the computer character by pressing right on the joystick and tapping the button to increase the power of the attack. The game foreshadows a counterattack when computer character makes a strange face. In order to win a match the player must move the joystick back and forth and "surprise" the computer player before it has a chance to counterattack. After defeating Kabuki and Frank Jr., the player can earn bonus points by catching a sack of money thrown from above, pulling up on the joystick at the proper moment as it falls. Once Frank Jr. is defeated, the game begins again with increased difficulty.[2]

Legacy[]

A clone named Arm Wrestle for the ZX Spectrum was published in 1987.[3]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Arcade Release Date". Retrieved 2017-08-28. {{cite web}}:
  2. "International Arcade Museum". Retrieved 2013-07-22. {{cite web}}:
  3. "Arm Wrestle". Spectrum Computing. Retrieved 12 May 2019. {{cite web}}:

External links[]

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