Jikkyou Power Pro Wrestling '96 Max Voltage

The Game

Max Voltage is Konami's 1996 pro-wrestling game for the Super Famicom, from the same family as the long-running Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu baseball series. As the word jikkyou ("live play-by-play") suggests, matches are called by a commentator in the style of Japanese wrestling TV.

What sets it apart:

• Four fictional promotions, each with its own style. There's a strong-style Japanese company, an American entertainment federation, an outlaw deathmatch group and a realistic shoot-fighting promotion. Each style is backed by its own ruleset.
• A timing-based grapple system. Most big moves come from a lock-up, and whoever inputs closer to the "best timing" cue wins it. Learning this cue is the core skill of the game (see the grapple system).
• Max Voltage mode, a career and training simulation. You create a rookie, guide them through years of a branching story, and try to hold all four championship belts at once. Finished wrestlers can be saved and used in every other mode.
• A roster of 50 wrestlers. Many are affectionate parodies of 1990s Japanese wrestling stars, and the American promotion is full of in-jokes about other Konami games (see Konami Cameos).

Game Modes

Tournament and League take 0 to 4 human players (more than two need a multitap). Wrestlers saved from finished Max Voltage careers join the wrestler select as a fifth group, Legends.

Match Setup and Rules

From the guidebook; the menus checked against the game.

Before every match you get a SET UP screen. Its entries are the number of participants, match time, venue, extra rules, which corners are human or CPU, start, and back. There are three rulesets, and they play very differently.

Standard Rules

Normal pro wrestling, and the default for most promotions.

• Ways to win: pinfall (three count in the ring), submission, opponent disqualified on a five count for a foul, count-out, or referee stoppage for injury.
• Draws: double count-out, or the time limit running out.
• Fouls: illegal moves such as chokes, refusing to release a hold after a rope break, and climbing the turnbuckle from inside the ring.

Shoot Rules

A realistic, sport-style ruleset built on strikes and submissions. It's the home ruleset of REAL'S and is always fought in the REAL'S ring. Shoot matches are always singles.

• Ways to win: KO (ten count), KO by accumulated down points, submission, count-out, TKO/referee stoppage, or a points decision when time runs out.
• There are no pinfalls. Big suplexes are worth much less here.
• The lost-point system:
  • Each rope escape from a hold costs you one escape point. Three escape points become one down point.
  • Each knockdown is also a down point.
  • Five down points is a KO loss.
  • At the time limit, the wrestler who has lost fewer points wins. Equal points is a draw, except in Tournament mode, which needs a winner.

Deathmatch Rules

BOM's specialty, always fought in the BOM ring and always singles. Win and foul conditions are the same as Standard, with two hazards added:

• Electrified ropes deal heavy damage on contact.
• Landmines on the floor outside the ring.

Both hit hard and often cause bleeding, which stops stamina recovery.

Setup Options

The Five Rings

Controls

From the guidebook, except where marked.

Button Map

The face buttons follow a small, medium, big pattern for strikes, grapple moves and dives alike.

Movement and the Ring

• Entering and leaving the ring: touch the ropes or apron and double-tap the D-pad in the direction you want to go. From outside, the same double-tap toward the ring puts you on the apron.
• Dashing: R + direction. You bounce off the ropes and keep running.
• Rope stop: press any attack button or R the moment you rebound off the ropes. REAL'S wrestlers, and everyone in a deathmatch, can also stop dead after being whipped by holding A toward the ropes.
• Climbing the turnbuckle: D-pad toward the corner + X. Press X on top to climb down.
  • Climb from inside and you face the crowd, which sets up back-facing dives (moonsault, Phoenix Splash). Climbing from inside is a foul under Standard rules, so expect a count.
  • Climb from the apron and you face the ring, which sets up front-facing dives (flying body press, missile kick, shooting star).
• Rolling away: when you're down, hold up or down to roll clear of follow-ups. There's a time limit.
• Dragging: X on a downed opponent grabs the head or legs. Use the D-pad to drag them to the middle, away from the ropes, so your hold can't be broken. You can also haul them to their feet.

Attacking

The Grapple System

Grappling decides almost every match. Strikes alone won't win. If you can win lock-ups, you can land your big moves.

1. Press X near the opponent to lock up.
2. Watch and listen. A sweat-splash graphic appears and you hear a sharp "pachin" slap. That instant is the best timing.
3. Enter your move (Y B A + direction). Whoever enters closer to best timing wins the grapple.
4. Pressing before the cue is the worst possible timing. Pressing too late lets the opponent go first.

Winning the grapple isn't enough on its own. Success also depends on move size and the opponent's stamina:

• Y small moves have the highest success rate, B medium moves are in the middle, and A big moves have the lowest.
• A big move against a fresh opponent usually fails even after a perfect lock-up.
• Each move also has its own difficulty (0–9), separate from its size. See Move properties.

Grapple Position

Back Grapples

Press X from behind the opponent. This leads into the game's best suplexes: German, dragon, tiger and Exploder. The timing is tougher than a front lock-up. If someone gets behind you, a well-timed X reverses it (back elbow, jawbreaker and the like).

Hardest Moves to Land

For reference, these are generally considered the hardest moves to pull off. All are aerial:

• the Saizo Special
• topé suicida
• springboard quebrada
• springboard topé suicida

Defense and Recovery

• Kick out of a pin: mash L / R.
• Escape a hold: hold the D-pad toward the nearest ropes for a rope break, or mash L / R to power out. To release your own hold, press L or R.
• Get up: mash L / R to reach one knee, then press up to stand. Don't linger on one knee, because there are attacks made for that position.
• Catch your breath: on one knee, hold down to recover a little stamina. This doesn't work while you're bleeding.
• Groggy: mash L / R to shake it off.
• Pinning: most suplexes don't pin automatically. Press L yourself near the downed opponent.

Damage States

From the guidebook.

The Move System

Move stats, prices and the move list are read from the cartridge; the advice is the guidebook's.

Every wrestler has a fixed move set that maps one move to each situation and input: strikes at close and long range, running attacks, five directions for each grapple size, back grapples, ground attacks at the head and feet, turnbuckle dives, springboard and floor dives, and a reversal. Where a wrestler has nothing for a slot (many shoot fighters have no turnbuckle moves, for example), that input does nothing.

Grapple variations are chosen with the D-pad: neutral, up, left, down or right, combined with Y, B or A. That gives up to fifteen grapple moves per wrestler. Experiment in Versus mode to learn a wrestler's set.

Move Properties

Behind the scenes, every move in the game has the following stats, read from the cartridge (the table at $82:C431):

Notable Moves

A selection of moves worth knowing about, either for picking a wrestler or for spending points in Max Voltage mode:

• The two biggest throws (18 damage, difficulty 7): the vertical-drop DDT and Splash Mountain share the game's highest grapple damage. They have the same difficulty and the same target. The DDT is a little more likely to leave the opponent confused. Splash Mountain is one of the most expensive moves to learn.
• Other heavy finishers: Illegal Driver, SSD, Tiger Driver and Doctor Bomb are just behind the two above. From a back grapple, the release German, dragon suplex and tiger suplex are the strongest options.
• Best dives: the moonsault press and Phoenix Splash are the hardest-hitting turnbuckle moves. The Phoenix Splash costs a lot to learn. The shooting star press is cheaper but weaker.
• Heel hold: difficulty 0, 12 damage (the most of any hold, tied with the cross heel hold) and a 1 in 64 chance of a broken leg, twice that of any other hold. 80 PTS to learn: the best value in the game.
• Poison mist: 1 damage and difficulty 9, but a 1 in 16 chance to confuse.
• Fire breath: difficulty 9, but it confuses one time in four when it lands.
• Iron claw: a strong chance to draw blood, and it works like a hold, so you can also win by submission with it.
• Axe kick: 10 damage and a 1 in 8 chance of injury, confusion or bleeding. 100 PTS.
• Rolling axe kick 浴びせ蹴り: the hardest-hitting strike, with a small bleed chance.
• High kick: the strongest medium strike, and a reliable damage source for kickers.
• Giant swing: a crowd-pleaser more than a weapon: 2 damage, with a 1 in 16 chance to confuse.
• Octopus hold 卍固め: iconic and expensive, but weak. Learn it for style, not results.

Every Move

All the game's moves, read from the cartridge: the price in Max Voltage (free moves are known from the start) and the wrestlers who have each one. Click a wrestler to jump to their move set in the roster.

Diving Guide

• Face the right way. The most common mistake is climbing so you face the wrong direction and diving into empty space or out to the floor. Climb from inside to face out (back-facing dives), or from the apron to face in (front-facing dives).
• Aim with the D-pad. Press toward the opponent as you dive, whichever way you're facing.
• Don't rush. Wear the opponent down near a corner first, so they're still on the mat when you come off the top.
• Wait them out. For springboard dives, stand on the apron and do nothing. The CPU often starts appealing to the crowd and leaves itself open.
• Turn Lumberjack off if your plan involves dives to the floor.

Appeals

Press Select to play to the crowd. Appeals do no damage, but they're part of the fun, and the commentator reacts to them. There are eleven poses in all. They include taunting, beckoning, clapping, a series of muscle poses, and the karate "osu!" salute.

General Strategy

The guidebook's advice.

1. Learn the grapple cue first. Spend time in Versus watching for the sweat splash and listening for the slap sound. Everything else depends on it.
2. Small, then medium, then big. Open with Y moves, step up to B once they're worn down, and save A for when they're exhausted or groggy.
3. Always pin manually. Most suplexes don't pin automatically. Press L.
4. Drag before you hold. Pull the opponent to the middle of the ring so they can't reach the ropes.
5. Be careful with dives. They're the hardest moves to land, and missing hurts you. Set them up near a corner on a worn-down opponent.
6. Stay on your feet. Being on one knee or flat on your back invites attacks made for those positions. Get up fast.
7. Bleeding changes everything. If you're cut, your stamina won't come back, so go for the win. If they're cut, slow down and grind them.
8. Pick the right wrestler for the rules. A REAL'S kicker shines under Shoot rules and struggles to get pins. A BOM brawler is at home in a deathmatch.

Roster

Names as the translation shows them; nicknames, styles and signatures from the guidebook; move sets read from the cartridge.

Fifty wrestlers across four promotions, plus Max Mercury in the Legends group. Names are the English translation's, with the Japanese below; other guides may spell them differently, and the search matches the Japanese too. "Signature" is each wrestler's best-known move, as the guidebook names it.

The wrestler select shows each group under the names the translation uses; R moves to the next group.

Showing all 50 wrestlers.

No wrestlers match. Try a different name or move, or clear the search.

Konami Cameos

WWK in particular is a love letter to Konami's back catalogue:

Max Voltage Mode

The calendar, rules, branches and endings are read from the game's code and checked in an emulator; the build guides and the Max Mercury advice are the guidebook's.

The heart of the game. You join Super Japan Pro-Wrestling (SJPW) as an 18-year-old trainee in March 1996, train and wrestle one month at a time, and the career ends five years later, in March 2001. Along the way you earn points that raise your abilities and buy moves, follow a story that changes with your promotion and results, and try to become the Quadruple Crown champion 4冠王者 by holding all four promotions' belts at once.

Your wrestler has three kinds of move points, which grow with the moves you actually use in matches, so whatever you lean on is what develops: STR (strikes) 打, THR (throws) 投 and SUB (submissions) 極. You spend points (PTS) to learn new moves on the Moves screen. The coach reports on your Stamina, Power, Flexibility and Speed.

Creating Your Wrestler

The receptionist fills in your entry form: name, birthday and sports background. Everyone starts with the same basic move set; the background adds a move or two and sets your build and starting abilities, so choose it to fit the wrestler you want to make.

Heights and weights get a random 0 to 7 cm and 0 to 15 kg on top. Each sport also raises one to three of your starting abilities; with None all five start level. "Best for" is the guidebook's advice.

A Month

1. Intro: "It is now 7/1996" and a Pro-Wres News headline.
2. Start-of-month event: the month's story scene, or a random happening, or a dojo raider.
3. The hub: Profile, Record, Magazine, Transfer, Moves, Costume, Diet and Options. Choose Proceed when you're ready. Trainees can't change costume.
4. Training or a show. Even months (and March and May 1996) are training: split your points between W (Power), S (Flexibility) and R (Speed), or rest, then a two-minute sparring match and the coach's report. In odd months your promotion runs a show: your bout is a real match, and the other bouts on the card are decided by rank.
5. After-show event: results the story reacts to, such as your debut, tournaments and title changes.
6. Month end: the game saves to your slot ("This month's activities are done"), and a planned transfer happens.

Promotions, Belts and Transfers

• Title shots need a rating of 140 with your promotion. Ratings are kept per promotion and grow with your matches there. Before each show, if you hold the belt the show is a defense; otherwise a rating of 140 or more gets you a shot.
• After a title match you sit out the next show ("By the rules, you can't go for the title this month"). Tournaments and special cards never have title matches.
• Transfers: every open promotion makes an offer on the Transfer menu. "Count me in!!" plans the move, which happens at the end of the month. Transfers are locked for a month after a move and during the America tour. To hold all four belts you have to move around.

The Calendar

The story runs on fixed dates; what you see depends on your promotion, choices, ratings and results. "After" means after that month's show. Months not listed have only random events.

Random Events

• Happenings. In a month without a story scene, half the time something happens: chanko stew, a lucky tea stalk, a black cat, a ghost in the dorm and more, sixteen kinds, each raising or lowering a stat.
• Fame events, once each per career: a theme song from PICNICS JAPAN, merchandise, a talk show, an autograph session, a film role, a quiz show and a meeting with the receptionist in town. Each asks a joke question, and your answer changes stats.
• Dojo raiders: Mister Saizo, Kengoro Yagyu and Masked Kraken. They can turn up in a quiet training month (one in four) once any of your ratings reaches 80, until BOM opens; each comes once. Say "Leave it to me!!" to fight them yourself. All three end up in BOM.

Build Guides

Orthodox 正統派, the Balanced Wrestler

• Background: Wrestling.
• Focus: throws. Use them constantly so your THR points climb.
• Learn early: brainbuster (easy and reliable) and a salto suplex (eats stamina).
• Early in a match: body slam → stomps → neck throw. Low-difficulty grapples only.
• Mid-match: brainbuster → salto → submissions. If they keep kicking out at two, grind them down with joint locks first.
• Finishers: Splash Mountain, or a tiger or dragon suplex hold from a back grapple.

Heel ヒール, the Rule-Breaker

• Background: anything fast. Track is a good fit.
• Focus: speed and stamina.
• Learn:
  • Poison Mist (80 PTS) and Fire Breath (100 PTS); fire breath can leave the opponent groggy in one hit
  • the heel hold, the likeliest of all holds to break a bone
  • low blows and chokes
• Don't overdo the mist and fire. They're easy to spam, but if you lean on them your other points stop growing.
• Early in a match: backhand → low-blow stomps → choke sleeper. Or take it outside and send them into the steel railing to draw blood, but watch the count.
• Mid-match: poison mist → hell thrust → kenka kick.
• Finishers: iron claw (draws blood and can force a submission), Illegal Driver (150 PTS), or snapping an arm with the armbar.

Shoot シュート, the One-Shot Finisher

• Background: Karate. You start without kicks, but it suits the style best. Then train speed.
• Focus: submissions. A broken bone ends a match instantly.
• Learn early: heel hold (80 PTS). It's easy, hits as hard as any hold, and breaks a leg one time in 64, twice as often as any other hold.
• Don't rely on one hold. Winning everything with a single move keeps your other points flat.
• Early in a match: backhand → low kick → heel hold. Knock them down and lock it on before they rise.
• Mid-match: chain low kick → middle kick → high kick, then use dependable suplexes, not flashy ones.
• Finishers: under Shoot rules, rack up down points with high kicks and knees. Under other rules, go for a heel hold or cross armbar submission.
• Rating: REAL'S is the shoot promotion, and a REAL'S rating of 30 by August 1997 gets you into the Fight Tourney.

Boss: Max Mercury

WWK announces its blond rookie in December 1999, with a plan to take every belt. From January 2000 he moves to a different promotion each month and challenges for its belt, so you can only fight him in the promotion he's in that month. He's the toughest opponent in the mode, with great speed, enormous stamina and excellent grapple timing. Power moves alone won't beat him.

1. Don't lock up carelessly. His timing is sharp. Fight him from range with strikes such as spin kicks and enzuigiri, and work submissions once he's down.
2. Build to groggy. Knock him down and stomp him. After about five rounds of that he goes groggy, and then you can hit your biggest move and pin him.
3. Change the rules.
   • Under Shoot rules, strike-and-stomp can win on points by itself.
   • Under Deathmatch rules, send him into the hazards to make him bleed so his stamina stops recovering. Stay off the hazards yourself.

The Legends' Room

When your career reaches March 2001, whatever belts you hold, your wrestler is kept in the Legends' Room. It holds seven; when it's full, the game asks you to erase someone to make room. From then on the wrestler select in Versus, Tournament and League has a fifth group, Legends, after the four promotions, with your finished wrestlers and Max Mercury. See Secrets for a way to get Max Mercury early.

The developers say Max Voltage doesn't have to be played as a belt chase. Build whoever you like and enjoy the ride.

Endings and the Story Map

There are five endings. Two are game overs; the other three come in March 2001 and depend only on the belts you hold, wherever you are by then. The details below spoil every branch.

Secrets

Each item says how it was checked.

Unlockables, codes and a hidden debug menu. Each is marked by how it's known. The full technical write-up, with unused text and leftover code, is in HIDDEN_CONTENT.md.

Legends Without Finishing Max Voltage

You need two controllers. On the title screen, while GAME START is showing, hold Up on controller 1 and press Up on controller 2, then press Start. Max Mercury is in the Legends group until you switch the console off. (Verified in an emulator.)

First Strike Before the Bell

While the wrestlers wait for the gong, press L, then run at your opponent to attack before the match starts. (From Japanese tips sites; not tested for this guide.)

Cyclone Clutch That Won't Let Go

Japanese tips sites report a Cyclone Clutch that keeps working even after the opponent escapes. (Not tested for this guide.)

The Debug Menu ("OPTION MODE")

The title screen once had more entries than GAME START. They were taken off the menu, but their code is still there. One is a developers' menu with:

• difficulty and stereo/mono settings;
• a music test (22 tracks), a sound-effect test (70) and a voice test with all 467 commentary clips;
• four debug switches, of which only NO GRPL still does anything (probably turning off the grapple contest);
• a live display of all five controller ports.

The other is a credits viewer whose menu labels are missing; both items play the staff credits. Neither can be reached without a cheat code. (Verified in an emulator.)

Cheat Codes

Pro Action Replay codes. They were tested by writing the same values to memory in an emulator, not on a real cheat device.

Moves You Can and Can't Get

• Every special move can be bought in Max Voltage: Psychic 20 PTS, Poison Mist 80, Fire Breath 100, Illegal Driver 150, Captured 200, and Saizo Special, Phoenix Splash, Splash Mountain and Cyclone Clutch at 300, the most expensive.
• Two moves have names but can never be used: Weapon Attack and Tackle. No wrestler has them and no move slot accepts them.
• There are no hidden wrestlers beyond Max Mercury.

(From the game's data tables.)

Japanese Glossary

Terms you'll see in the menus and on screen of the original Japanese cartridge. The English translation shows the English terms.

Q&A

Is there an English version?

Not an official one: the game was only released in Japan. This guide was written alongside an English fan translation, released as a patch for your own copy of the game.

Does the patch change the game itself?

Only to fix two story bugs in Max Voltage mode: the side you pick in the May 1999 revolt is now recorded, and SJPW's "faction war's on hold" reaction to Max Mercury now shows. Everything else, the hidden menus included, is as Konami left it.

Quick Answers

• Big moves keep failing: win the lock-up first, and wear the opponent down. See The grapple system.
• A finisher didn't end the match: most throws don't pin by themselves. Press L. See Defense and recovery.
• No pins under Shoot rules, and no tags under Shoot or Deathmatch: see Match Setup and Rules.
• Your finished career wrestler: see The Legends' Room.

Credits and Legal

This is an unofficial fan project. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Konami. Jikkyou Power Pro Wrestling '96: Max Voltage and all related names and characters are trademarks of Konami. All game content belongs to its respective owners.

The guide text was written from scratch from the game's 1996 official guidebook, the game's code (read for the English translation) and play in an emulator. It contains no scans or images from that book. The controller diagram is a simplified original drawing; the screenshots are from the English translation.

The guide was written with the help of an AI assistant (Claude). Secrets found in other guides are credited to kakusi.jp and uw.netlify.app. For the technical details behind the Max Voltage and Secrets sections, see MAX_VOLTAGE.md and HIDDEN_CONTENT.md.

The text of this guide is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. You're free to share and adapt it, as long as you credit this guide and share alike.

Contributing

Corrections are very welcome, especially for anything marked (unverified). Open an issue or a pull request on the translation's GitHub repository.