Tag Team Wrestling
Early arcade wrestling game with tag-team action and menu-based grappling.
Tag Team Wrestling, released in Japan as *The Big Pro-Wres!*, is a 1983 arcade wrestling game developed by Technōs Japan and published by Data East. It was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Apple II.
In the original arcade version, players control a tag team of two identical wrestlers—Sunny and Terry (named Jocko and Spike in the U.S. version)—who face a pair of masked opponents called the Heel Team (the Mad Maulers in the U.S. version). The Heel Team consists of a skinny wrestler in an orange mask and white trunks, and a fat wrestler in a black mask and tights. The player’s team must repeatedly defeat the Heel Team to win trophies and continue playing. After ten matches, the player’s team becomes world champions and must keep winning to hold the title. If the Heel Team wins or ties a match, the game ends.
Controls consist of a joystick and two buttons: one for selecting and one for action or pinning. Players move their wrestler around the ring to make contact with an opponent, which triggers a grapple. The player then releases the opponent, grapples again, and waits for an “Action” command to appear onscreen. A real-time menu then lets players scroll through and choose a move. As one of the earliest wrestling video games, *Tag Team Wrestling* offers a limited set of moves and characters.
The NES version, released in 1986, features two tag teams—the Strong Bads and the Ricky Fighters—battling each other, or a single player competing in tournaments for larger trophies. Each of the four characters has a unique move usable only against one specific rival.
The most well-known port is the 1986 Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System version, a joint project between Data East (graphics and sound) and Sakata SAS (programming). Namco published it in Japan as *Tag Team Pro Wrestling* on April 17, 1986. Data East released it in North America in October of the same year under the original title, marking Data East’s first NES title and one of the earliest third-party games for the console in the region.
Quicksilver Software ported the arcade game to the Commodore 64 in 1986 and the Apple IIC in 1987, both published by Data East.
- Developer
- Technōs Japan
- Publisher
- Data East
- Release Year
- 1983
- Platform
- Arcade, NES, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Apple II
- Genre
- Professional wrestling video game
- Notable Port
- NES version (1986) co-developed by Data East and Sakata SAS
Lore & Background
In the original arcade game, the player controls a tag-team of two identical wrestlers named Sunny and Terry (Jocko and Spike in the U.S. version) who must defeat a masked Heel Team (Mad Maulers in the U.S. version). The Heel Team consists of a skinny wrestler in an orange mask and a fat wrestler in a black mask. The player's team must win matches to earn trophies; after the tenth match, they become world champions and must keep playing to retain the title. A loss or tie ends the game.
Reader's Guide
Tag Team Wrestling is significant as one of the earliest professional wrestling video games, introducing a real-time menu-based action-reaction fighting module for moves and counters. The NES port, released in 1986, was Data East's first title for the console and one of the earliest third-party games for the NES in North America. It featured two tag-teams, the Strong Bads and the Ricky Fighters, each with unique moves. The arcade version was a top-grossing new table cabinet in Japan in early 1984. The game later saw re-release by Hamster Corporation as part of their Arcade Archives series for modern consoles in May 2026.
Did You Know?
- The arcade version was listed as the top-grossing new table arcade cabinet in Japan in January 1984.
- The NES port was a joint venture between Data East (graphics & sound) and Sakata SAS (programming).
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