Champion Road

How it works

The story moves forward on your heroine's rating, not on time.

Each chapter repeats a series (training weeks on the schedule screen, then a card of matches) until your rating reaches a target. The first target is 440; the last ones reach 850 on some routes. Title and special matches are different: the chapter repeats until you win them. Losing anything else only costs time, and there is no game over.

Between series, story scenes offer choices that move the heroine between promotions. Most routes finish with the Athena Climax league and then a title match for the IWWF Heavyweight belt; winning it plays the ending your route has earned.

When a card is announced, the coach's comment tells you the win odds: "a wrestler on a different level" means under 3 stars, "seize the flow" 3 to 5, "give it your all" 6 or more.

Heroines and factions

Getting stronger

Every session on the schedule adds experience to one value; 256 experience is one point. Base stats stop at 16. Each type's attack and defence stop at 31, and together at 32: past that, raising one lowers the other.

Experience per session

Fatigue decides which kind of day you get: at fatigue 3 or less every session is a good day; at 30 the average is 124 (lowest tier), at 50 it is 97, at 99 only 46. A drill also turns into a bad day when that type's attack + defence is already twice its base stat (Throw uses Str, Holds Dex, Power Sta, Hits Rec, Air Spd).

Practice Match Guts: beating someone rated 100 or more above you gives a full point (255); losing to someone 300 above still gives 128.

Rating

Rating = 4 × (every attack and defence value + the six base stats + a move bonus + the finisher's level). The move bonus counts moves per category: 1 move is worth 5, then 10, 14, 17, 19, 21. The first move in each category is worth +20 rating, as much as four stat points.

The fastest way up

1. Train hard early: gains drop at 550, 700, 900 and 1100 rating.
2. Keep fatigue under about 40 with one Play a week.
3. Raise base stats before drills; a base stat of 16 lets its type reach the 32 cap.
4. Fill each type's attack + defence to 32: that pool is worth up to 640 rating.
5. Learn one move in every category early.

Winning matches

Only HP ends a match: a 3-count or a submission. There is no count-out.

• Pins stick only when the opponent is under 1/16 of her HP, and even at HP 4 or less she kicks out with a chance of Guts/128.
• Submissions need the targeted part (HP, arm or leg) below about 3/16; Dex helps escape.
• The Logic pattern is read bottom-up. The bottom row is used while the opponent is fresh, the top rows when she is nearly finished. That row's move type is picked about half the time.
• Which move: the strongest move of that type whose level is below 16 − the opponent's HP rank + a bonus from your attack minus her defence in that type. Higher move levels come out earlier.
• Damage = the move's damage at its level × (1 + spirit/128) + Str. Spirit fills when you are hit and drains when you hit, so a beaten-down wrestler strikes back up to twice as hard.
• Logic style (Safe, Even, Fight, Rush) does not change matches you watch; it only shifts the luck of matches that are resolved without being shown.

Strategies (A / X / Y / B)

Raise the attack of the types your pattern uses; put types with your strongest high-level moves in the top rows; never leave a type with no moves (it becomes a weak poke). In tag matches the Assist style breaks up pins fastest. Computer teams never use strategies.

Routes and endings

Spoilers from here on: every route, choice and ending in the story.

Everything above is enough to play Champion Road. The rest of the guide is for when you want to find a particular ending or see where your choices led.

Ending finder

Each recipe below was played through to its ending in an emulator. Choices not listed can go either way. "Show route" lights the path up on the map.

Choices that matter