Professional Wrestling Video Games
While growing up in the 1990s, I have watch professional wrestling as a kid. I remember watching WWF (later change to WWE) and WCW (World Championship Wrestling) back in the day. Seeing wrestling doing finishing moves, coming out with heavy metal music during entrance and using weapons. Of course, its for entertainment and fake that’s why there is a disclaimer in the beginning. Kids doesn’t try this at home because someone will get hurt or jail. There is one news story talking about a certain incident involving death of sibling. Anyways, wrestling is my go-to entertainment on a Mondays and Thursdays nights on TV. There was Raw and Smackdown that comes and remember tuning in. Enough of that, I will talk about video games of professional wrestling. Very first professional wrestling video game was WWF Super Wrestlemania on SNES, it was not a bad game. The game features Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker and Macho Man along with other.
Another was WWF WrestleMania The Arcade Game, developed by Midway Games that work with Mortal Kombat. This game was one of the best sports games in the 90s. WWF WrestleMania the Arcade Game consist of two mode Championship and Intercontinental, which has endurance matches along with one-on-one. The game features The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Shawn Micheals and Razon Ramon during cartoonish moves. I had so much fun with this game and love how characters fly on the screen. The game is very similar to NBA Jam which is the same company who developed it. Next professional wrestling game was during Nintendo 64 era with WWF Attitude, I remember character creation and funny noises that characters make.
Other Professional Wrestling Video Games
WWF Attitude was dedicated to Owen Hart who passed away before game release. ECW Hardcore Revolution and WWF Warzone uses the same engine as Attitude. In the game, you can create stables, take on challenges and many more. The creepiest thing I have experienced in this game is Head (Al Snow companion). I like picking The Rock, Triple H, Kane and Stone-Cold Steven Austin also having their finishing moves. Looking back at it now, the animation was very stiff and commentary from Jerry the King Lawler is pleasant to listening to. Moving forward is WWF WrestleMania 2000 developed by Aki Corporation (who also did WCW/NOW Revenge, Galactic Wrestling and Def Jam Fight for NY). This is one of the best N64 wrestling game of all time beating Attitude.
The gameplay is very smooth and easy to play. You can create a superstar like Attitude, win championships and larger roster than other wrestling games. Just like Attitude, there is finishing moves, weapons and high-flying action. As a kid, I remember having some much with friends and playing alone. After the success of the Wrestlemania 2000s, WWF No Mercy came to play in 2000s which has same mechanics from its predecessor. WWF Smackdown was released some years as No Mercy and started the PlayStation era of professional wrestling video game. Smackdown on PS1 was revolutionary because graphics and game modes that offers. During finishing moves was electrifying and seeing your favorite superstar on the screen. Just like N64 era, there is character creation, season mode and many more. Yuke’s was the equivalent of Aki Corporation went it comes to creating good quality wrestling games.
Continue
WWF Smackdown After Here Comes the Pain, the series transition to Raw vs Smackdown. That was the end of WWE games me because I stopped watching it. After wresting games were Def Jame Vendetta which features rappers like DMX, Ludacris and many more. As person of color and seeing rappers fight each other, I was happy to this exist. First, Def Jam game is about players choosing four protagonists to face off against D-Mob (Christopher Judge) and his crew. Vendetta had a combo system that fills your blazing meter. Also listening to some tracks from your favorite rappers in gameplay. In story mode, you have a girlfriend but later breaks up with her. After success of Vendetta, Fight for NY steps into the ring. The game features Snopp Dogg is main antagonist named Crow. In Fight for NY, it takes wrestling into a whole new level like fighting on the Subway, underground and more.
You can use weapons, crowd can assist in moves and slam them into environments. Fight for NY has a huge roster from pervious game like Danny Trejo, Henry Rollins, Flavor Flav and Ice- T. Character customization has been revamped and like Street Fighter 6 like getting jewelry and clothing. Fight for NY was the cherry on top went it comes to wrestling games featuring hip hop and rap. Def Jam Icon was the black sheep of the series and will not be talked about. To wraps this up, I enjoy wrestling games in my days. I miss the 4-player couch action and creating a superstar. I don’t play wrestling games anymore but might go back to them.
Closing
What are your thoughts on Wrestling games in general? Let me know in the comments and thank you for reading. Here is some honorable mention, there is Celebrity Deathmatch, Rumble Rose and Saturday Night Slam Masters. Buy some wrestling video games at Amazon your favorite retro and present consoles.
