Kayfab

I won't have the game until Friday and won't be able to play until early next week, but I think it's Matt Ghaffari who was the silver medalist in the '96 Olympics. The move you described fit the info here.

That should also be a great guide to use for renaming using the Signature Move/Finisher as the key for people you don't recognize. When I play I'll go through and double-check all the names.

Here's a pic of Ghaffari, I think WWE tried to get him.

Yeah, sounds like that's the guy. It was the bald guy in amateur gear thing (well, that and the Angle Slam) that made me think it was our favorite Olympic painkiller popper.

I played around a bit today (eight man battle royal with Sabu, KENTA, Marufuji, AJ Styles, Petey Williams, Danielson, Curry Man, and Low Ki) and had a landmine deathmatch last night with Abdullah The Butcher vs. Abdullah Kobayashi. It plays a lot like Super Fire Pro X Premium on the Super Famicom, but I don't like having to use the D-pad instead of the stick.

I've looked at some of the CAW features, but I definitely feel overwhelmed by the number of choices before me.

Thankfully, the deprogramming from WWE games has been short since I hadn't played one in months.

I had an eight man endless battle royal last night with Vader, Low Ki, Steve Corino, Steve Williams, Muta, Abdullah the Butcher, Bruiser Brody, and KENTA.

It came down to Corino and Dr. Death but time ran out. Players who are eliminated turn grey but can keep on fighting in and out of the ring.

I was Muta and got eliminated first (no thanks to Abdullah's incessant forking) but the match (which ended in a time limit draw) had several notable moments which made me mark out.

- Don't know how I did it but I hit the Shining Wizard on a dazed Low Ki.
- KENTA was killing people with Go To Sleep.
- Low Ki kicks the bejeezus out of people.

So, digging even deeper through other forums, you'll need a PS2 Action Replay to get those Edit packs onto your memory card. If you have a PS3 that still has backwards compatibility, you might be able to stick the Edit packs onto a USB drive, and then transfer it to the virtual PS2 memory card on your PS3.

Meanwhile, if you use the templates from older FPW games, you might be able to find some CAW sites like these:
http://www.angelfire.com/rings/fpcomplete/
http://www.gswf.org/stats/show_feds.asp

ECW Roster: http://fpaecw.tripod.com/roster.htm

It seems the Fire Pro Club board is the place to go for download packs for wrestlers, rings, logos and belts. It seems like people just use the massive downloads to create new guys, instead of a formula for each one. I've never done it myself, but I may give it a shot one of these days.

Yesterday I made a ROH ring (instructions are on that forum) and I'm working on the logo. Making a new ring is fairly easy but logos ... are not. But I think I'm getting the hang of it.

I've also discovered that I can do a lot better at this game when I lower the CPU down to one. Apparently, when you grapple and go for a move, what button you press determines your outcome. Circle moves are pretty easy to pull off, but you need to wear down your opponent to have more success with the triangle button.

I finally have the game via Amazon.ca...but the manual's in French! DAMN YOU AMERICA! DAMN YO....oh wait I downloaded the English version from Agetec's website. All is well.

Oh man. Life is good. :)

Edited to add: After a few hours spent on this game I have to say that FPR is right up there with NO MERCY in terms of open-ended and fun gameplay (after getting used to the controls/timing scheme). Created the World X Title and my champion Tiger Mask has made two successful defences thus far in his reign. (Ultimo Dragon and Jushin Lyger respectively).

Also had a brutal 20 minute landmine deathmatch between Funk and Abdullah that kicked all sorts of ass. Goddamn. I LOVE THIS GAME!

That's pretty impressive for a budget title that had little to no advertising outside of gaming sites and word of mouth. I can imagine that Agetec is happily surprised that it's doing better than they estimated.

Hopefully the people at SPIKE are watching this as well. ;)

I agree, the controls definitely have a very steep learning curve. I played it before on a Saturn import but it was a decade ago and I can't really remember.

What's getting me is every time I lock up with the opponent, he always gets the drop on me. Occasionally I time it right, but it's frustrating.

I also have CAW troubles: specifically, the colors. How does the coloring scheme work? Can I color a specific piece of clothing or not? I wanted to color someone's kneepads red and I got a red eyed red shouldered space monster.

But the sheer amount of options and moves is staggering. You could spend hours just futzing around with the CAW.

--Dan

Has anyone got the necessary equipment to download and use any of the edit packs? I have an idea. I'll need a third PS2 memory card soon, I could set up a "chain" so to speak, with me sending the memory card to someone with the edit packs, them copying it to the memory card and sending it on to the next person, etc. I'd pay the postage to the first person, but from then on it should't cost more than $2 for a bubble envelope and postage.

Only downside is you'd lose any new guys you've made, and I'm assuming all the edit packs have the default characters names corrected.

Also for Mitch, Dan and anyone else having trouble with the grapple timing, try setting the speed to 125% or 150% (that's the one I prefer) and it plays more like previous FPW games.

I would be up for it, but I need to read the edit pack FAQs more closely to see how it would be done. I'm more than happy to pay a little and send my memory card to someone to get the edit packs on it.

I did buy the Max Drive set, but I get a weird flicker on my system whenever I try to access the memory drives (which apparently is an occasional problem from the research I did). I hope to take the drive back for a replacement this weekend, so I'll let you guys know how that goes.

So I attempted to return my faulty Max Drive, only to find out Best Buy stopped carrying it, so I can't get a replacement from them. I may order it from Amazon in the next few weeks, so hopefully that will work out.

I got my AR Max Drive via Amazon (which in turn got it from Target, I think).

I haven't done near as much as I thought I would with this game, now that my household will be increasing by one.

New wife or baby? Either way, congrats!

Engaged as of Christmas Eve '07 and been in the whirlwind of planning a November 08 wedding ever since.

We both own houses but my place is 3 miles or less from the school where she teaches, as opposed to the current 30 minute commute from her house to the school. With gas at $3 a gallon, it makes more sense to live closer to her work.

We've spent the last several weekends doing minor projects at her place to get it ready for sale. It is currently listed. Soon as it sells, she'll move in with me. We're footing the bill ourselves for both wedding and reception. The mantra has been save and save some more.

But back to FPR topic, I've been playing this on and off at night and have learned that I stink at it - but the fun factor and game depth overrides what would normally be very frustrating. I struggle with having the comp difficulty set at 2, so I set up squash matches with the heavyweights like Vader against the luchadores.

I need to get another PS2 memory card in order to transfer the edit packs I downloaded.

Hey, congratulations.

Thanks, man.

Currently in the second round of the epic DUO BATTLES! tag-team tournament to determine the #1 contender. The World Tag Titles are currently being held by 2 Cold Scorpio & Rick Steiner and they are quite formidable. The other night I recreated the Misawa/KENTA vs. Marufuji/Morishima tag match from GLORY BY HONOR VI and oh boy was that ever fun. When KENTA goes off...he really goes off!

Terry Funk (me) and Stan Hansen had two brutal exploding barbed wire deathmatches over the Brass Knuckles championship. He LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOO'd me like a mofo in the first match and got my belt but in the rematch (at around the 21 minute mark) we were both battered, bloody and worn out. Funk then cracked a bat over Hansen's head and unloaded a flurry of punches that knocked him right out for the win. It was a glorious brawl.

I have an unholy amount of love for this game.