Jabroni’s Corner: Public Service Announcment

I had promised that I would write about of one of my favorite WWF/E world title matches this week, but I’m going to put that off for one more week because there’s a more pressing issue that needs to be addressed at this time.

I’m not usually one of those “bleeding hearts” out there looking for people with their hands stretched out.  No, little j-bros, if you stick your hand out to me, I’m more likely to grab it from you and give you a short-arm clothesline followed up with a DDT (much like Jake Roberts in between drinking binges) before I’d give up any of the hard earned cash in my pocket.

Advice, words of wisdom, creative analogies, and outright tips on how to live a better life, however, come completely free of charge.  And that’s what I’ll be doling out today.

It’s come to my attention that there are people out there with who have not experienced that absolute PlayStation 2 greatness called “Fire Pro Wrestling Returns.”  Those people are not of my concern.  Those folks are beyond help.  It’s the people who have purchased the American version of this game who need my help.

This brings us to the public service announcement.  I am going to show you, step by step, how to download FPR created characters for your very own use.   You’ll be able to play as any of your favorite spandex clad heroes in no time.

Shawn Michaels?  Check. 

Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart?  Check. 

Harvey Whippleman?  Check.

Heck, someone has even created the Conquistadors and the entire NES Pro Wrestling roster.  Rumors are even out there that someone has created the roster from Saturday Night Slam Masters, which is a huge hit for those of us who enjoy Saturday Night Slamming.

Basically, you can turn Fire Pro Wrestling Returns into any wrestling game that you’ve ever wanted.   With just a little bit of cash and an Internet connection, all of your wrestling fantasies can be fulfilled.  What’s even best. . .  ewwww.  I just realized why people snicker when talk about Saturday Night Slam Masters.

Back to the topic. . .  What’s even best, is that the method I’m going to give you will also allow you download cheats for all sorts of games.  So without further ado, here are the easy steps to downloading new characters for Fire Pro Wrestling.  (Steps 1 & 2 may not apply to all readers.)

1) Buy a PS 2.

2) Buy Fire Pro Wrestling

3) Buy Action Replay Max.  It’s a CD for PS 2 that allows you to use the USB drives on the front of the unit.  Either buy the one that comes with a USB flash drive or the one that comes with a 16-bit PS2 memory card.  Choose wisely.  For Fire Pro Returns, you need two memory cards, but the PS 2 will only accept very small (less than 1 Gig) USB flash drives.  It varies which flash drives will work, but my PS 2 needed on that was 128 Meg.  It’s hard to find USB drives with less than a gig anymore, so if you don’t have a small drive you might be best off buying the AR Max set that comes with one.  All sorts of Action Replay packages are available at http://codejunkies.com/

4) Go to http://www.fireproclub.com.  You can download all sorts of characters and rosters there.  You need to first create an account on their forum to download anything. 

5) Download the files you want to your USB flash drive.  The AR Max uses files that have the .max extention, but a lot of the files you want to download might be compressed in .rar or .zip.  You’ll need something like WinRar (http://www.rarlab.com/) and WinZip (http://www.winzip.com/) to uncompressed those files. 

6) Put the Action Replay CD in your PS 2 and boot it up.  One it comes up, select “Memory Manager.”

7) Insert your USB flash drive and then select “My Devices.”

8 ) Select the USB flash drive as the primary device.

9) This will take you to a screen where it shows the contents of your flash drive and the contents of your memory card.  Click on the file you want to transfer and click “Uncrush.”  IMPORTANT: You must click “Uncruch” and not the copy option.  Copy doesn’t work.

Other notes…

1. The reason you need two memory cards is because the software won’t write to a card that already has a save for the same game.  You need to start up Fire Pro with both cards in and then transfer the new stuff to your old card from within the game.

2. Don’t use Action Replay to copy or delete data on your memory card.  It will corrupt the card.  Just use the regular PS 2 methods.

3. There are other methods of doing this besides Action Replay, such as Game Shark.  I only recommend AR Max because it’s the one that worked for me.

That’s it.  Enjoy, ya losers.  If you run into any trouble, leave a comment and I’ll try to help.

This week’s homework assignment:  Let me know what your favorite wrestling video game is why you like it.

Tags: action replay max, fire pro wrestling returns, playstation 2, Wrestling