Super Muscle Bomber: The International Blowout

Kinda conflicted about this one. In presentation terms it's a strict improvement over the first, with some great stages, terrific new character designs, solid music, along some shiny new flashy special effects (comic SFX appearing with certain attacks is a great touch). It's also a pretty solid fighting game; really mobile and fast-paced, and the characters feel a lot more distinct than in the first game.

My problem is that I think Capcom had something pretty interesting going with the first Slam Masters, and it kinda hurts to see the wrestling elements stripped away to make it more like another Street Fighter derivative. To be fair, it's definitely more its own flavor of 2D fighter than, say Darkstalkers is to Street Fighter, but it's still a shame to see some of the identity smoothed out of what could probably have been a decent franchise of its own had Capcom committed more to its initial direction. I guess this is what people mean when they say something's a good game but a bad sequel.