Gaming Trends 06.13.07: History of Pro Wrestling Games
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 06.13.2007
A brief yet long history, the best and worst times, and great games that don't have WWE in it's name
Ever since pro wrestling reached mainstreamed popularity in the 80's with Hulkamania, wrestling games would be a stable in the video game industry and remain that way for years. The amazing thing about wrestling games was they almost truly reflected how wrestling was like. When WWF had more characters then wrestlers, the games had less wrestling. When wrestling was at it's peak during the WWF vs. WCW days, the games were at their peak. From jobbing in the 8-bit days , rising through the midcard in the 16-bit days, reaching championship status in the 32/64-bit days, and still main eventing in the 128-bit days, this is the Gaming Trends of Pro Wrestling.
A brief history
Pro wrestling games began in the 8-bit days with Tag Team Wrestling, a game that well...sucked. The only thing notable about that game besides being the first wrestling game on consoles is that's where Strong Bad came from. It wasn't long until Nintendo released Pro Wrestling, which remains a classic to a lot of wrestling gamers. The game featured a weird cast of characters, a referee who actually had to move into position for a three count, and more basic moves then most other games in the era. Tecmo would try competing against Nintendo with Tecmo World Wrestling, which was known for being quite deep and somewhat complicated for an NES game. The first licensed wrestling games to appear were M.U.S.C.L.E and WWF Wrestlemania, and both of them sucked. Some think that Wrestlemania was good for it's time, but compared to Nintendo and Tecmo's outings, the game feels lacking. There were only six people to play as and the move set was very limited. M.U.S.C.L.E was crap to begin with.
By the 16-bit era, however, things were looking up. Acclaim released WWF Wrestlefest in the arcades and was a huge step up compared to the 8-bit games in terms of graphics and gameplay. The SNES and Genesis would see many different WWF games, and many of them started introducing new features such as pulling off moves from the top ropes and popular gimmick matches like the steel cage and Royal Rumble. When WWF took some time off from video games, Capcom decided to step in with Saturday Night Slam Masters. Even though it was a wrestling game, the game showed major influenece from Street Fighter and incorporating many features you'd find in a fighting game. The game was also the first to have intros for the wrestlers. WCW finally hit the scene with Superbrawl Wrestling in 1994, but the game is almost as forgettable as WCW's early years. WWF came back with Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, which unlike other wrestling games, was as cartoonish as the WWF themselves. It wasn't even a wrestling game; it was a fighting game. A pretty mediocre one at that.
The 32/64-bit era would feature some of the best wrestling games made, but before that would happen we would get Power Moves Pro Wrestling, the first 3D wrestling game. Despite it's lack of a license, it had all the features that would eventually be seen in later 3D games and showed just how wrestling games should be. By 1997 the feud between WWF and WCW was reaching a boiling point and wrestling had reached it's peak in popularity not seen since the days of Hulkamania. Once again video games would reflect just how red hot wrestling was, as many WWF and WCW games were being released yearly for the N64 and Playstation. Aki would bring WCW back to the with WCW vs. The World, then WCW vs. NWO: World Tour. Acclaim countered with WWF War Zone and Attitude. During this time. Acclaim started to use a new feature in WWF games that would become extremely popular: Create-a-Wrestler. Before the millenium would hit, the wrestling game scene would see a major change. WWF resigned with Acclaim and gave the license to THQ, WCW went from THQ to EA and Acclaim would get the license for ECW. THQ would begin releasing the Smackdown series for the Playstation and create WWF No Mercy, what many wrestling fans consider to be the very best of all wrestling games. EA would create WCW Mayhem, which was somewhat of a step down from previous WCW games, and then create the awful Backstage Assault, a wrestling game with no wrestling ring. With the way WCW was being run at the time, you'd think Vince Russo was somehow responsible for this. Acclaim would release only two ECW games before the company went bankrupt, and both of them sucked hard.
Once WWF...er, WWE was the only promotion around in the 128-bit era, THQ started doing yearly Smackdown games. But even though WWE was monopolyzing pro wrestling, there was still some non WWE wrestling games for the next gen systems. Acclaim would try making a game with all legends such as Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Rob Van Dam(?), entitled Legends of Wrestling. The series wasn't on par with the Smackdown series however, and Showdown: Legends of Wrestling was an abomination. EA would begin a new franchise began combining wrestling and...hip-hop? You'd think that kind of combination would be terrible, but it turned out awesome when EA released Def Jam Vendetta. The game was an arcade style wrestling game featuring famous Def Jam rappers such as Ludicrous, Redman, Method Man, and DMX. By the next game in the series however, the wrestling ring was gone and was now more of a 3D fighting game. Another arcade style wrestling game was, from the same people behind Def Jam Vendetta, Ultimate Muscle. The game was basically to tie in with the anime series that was currently airing on Fox, so it's popularity would only last as long as the show. Finally, there were the Backyard Wrestling games. They were also arcade style, and just like Backyard Wrestling in real life, were really freaking terrible. By 2005, Smackdown had it's name changed to "Smackdown vs. RAW", and in 2007 would see a major change in the control system. Unfortunately, despite the "improvements" were we supposedly going to be getting, SvsR2K7 was considered a disappoint to many wrestling game fans.
Best times
Even though pro wrestling reached a peak in the late 80's video game technology wasn't quite advanced enough to capture the real essence of pro wrestling. By the 90's, however, when pro wrestling was once again really hot, so were the games. The 32/64-bit era saw great games coming from both the WWF side and WCW side. WCW/NWO had World Tour, Nitro, and Revenge. WWF had War Zone, Wrestlemania 2000, and still considered the pinnacle of wrestling games, No Mercy. The 90's were a great time to be a wrestling fan and enjoy wrestling games (unless you were an ECW fan).
Worst times
Even though I almost would've said the 8-bit era due to a lack of actual wrestling, I would go with the 128-bit era. Why? Even though the Smackdown games have usually been good, anything else with WWE in it's name just isn't quite as good. RAW on the Xbox was terrible, the Wrestlemania's were mediocre, and even the latest Smackdown (SDvsRAW2k7) felt like a real let down. Then there's...ugh...Crush Hour. Who's bright idea was it to cross WWE with Twisted Metal? The alternatives weren't much good either. While Def Jam and Ultimate Muscle were good, Backyard Wrestling and Legends of Wrestling were both mediocre. With the possible exception of Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, there hasn't been one especially great wrestling game to come out.
Other wrestling games
Most of the games covered in this article was based on the American console market. But there were definitely more wrestling games out there.
Fire Pro Wrestling:
I'd probably get a lot of hate mail from fans and a long winded rant from Sean McCabe if I didn't mention Fire Pro Wrestling. This series is a favorite for import wrestling fans and has been around since the 8-bit NES days. Even though the series started in 1989, none of the games have reached American shores with the exception of the GBA versions in 2001/2 by Spike and an English fan-translated SNES rom of Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium. The game features a roster of real wrestlers and promotions from around the world (most with name changes in order to avoid copyright infringement). One of it's most prominent features that makes Fire Pro Wrestling a favorite is it's huge roster of characters, both in-game and creations. The latest FPW game, FPW Returns, features 327 wrestlers and room for 500 create-a-wrestlers. Over 800 wrestlers in one game?! It's almost like the Pro Wrestling equivalent of MUGEN. The series also remains 2D to this day.
Adam Ryland's "Extreme Warfare":
These series have been a huge favorite for PC gamers. Extreme Warfare Revenge is a freeware program that allows people to take control of a wrestling company and run it the way they want it. There are many factors into running the company, from which wrestlers feud with each other, who gets the title, and managaing the finances of the company. The game can store up to 35 different promotions and has a built-in editor so gamers can update the games themselves. In 2003, Ryland released EWR 4.2, the final game in the series. He would then start Total Extreme Warfare, which is like EWR but with many more features not in EWR. Unlike EWR however, the game has to be bought to play. After all the Extreme Warfare games, Ryland would create Wrestling Spirit, where instead of being the people behind the company, players would become wrestlers themselves and compete in the indy circuit in hopes of finally reaching the big time. When it comes to wrestling games, Adam Ryland is a name that many will recognize.
Future wrestling games
This fall will see the release of the next Smackdown vs. Raw game, which for the first time appears on the DS. In 2008, Midway will finally be releasing the first TNA video game that a lot of fans have been waiting for. Samoa Joe and AJ Styles are said to be major voices in the way the game is being designed, and so far all we've seen of the game is the 30 second trailer that was first shown at the Spike TV VGA's. Hopefully Midway won't screw this game up the way the three stooges are booking iMPACT.
