WWE Legends of WrestleMania Q&A

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 03.05.2009

Some of your questions answered by THQ for the highly anticipated title.


Can you smell what The Rock is asking?

With the release of WWE Legends of WrestleMania upon us in a few short weeks, we've been getting details on the roster while knowing some basic features. For the most part however, things have been quiet and so after contacting THQ, Senior Designer Paul Edwards took some time to answer your burning questions.

- How big, exactly, are the movesets for each wrestler?

It’s hard to say exactly without dumping a huge spreadsheet on you, but I don’t think anyone would call the move sets small or limiting. Areas where did a fair amount of work involved move sets that really didn’t occur during this time period of wrestling. A good example would be diving attacks, per character there aren’t as many variations as in SVR, but this is due to the wrestling of the period. There weren’t that many diving attacks back in the day, and when there were, they were usually pretty tame by today’s standards. Most Superstars back then only had one or two moves from the turnbuckle, and we tried to be accurate in representing what they honestly did.

- What were your reasons for dropping the SvR control system in favor of a more simplistic, arcade approach? Do you think this benefits this particular game?

The SVR control scheme can have an intimidating initial learning curve. We thought a control scheme that was more easily accessible was best for this title. I do think this approach benefits the title because of the interest that these iconic wrestlers get from lapsed wrestling fans that haven’t played a wrestling game in a long time. We didn’t want the controls to getting in the way for anyone, regardless of skill level.

- Is there any DLC and hidden wrestlers planned for the game?

I can’t really comment on this, so you’ll just have to wait and see =)

- Though the roster appears pretty solid there has been one glaring omission to the game: Randy Savage. What can you tell us about his absence?

[THQ was not able to comment on this question or about any other wrestler not on the roster.]

- When selecting the main roster, what was the criteria for each wrestler?

Selecting the roster is always a blessing and a challenge. We always try to get the strongest roster possible and initially go in asking for all of our top choices. It was a collaborative process between THQ and WWE, and we’re really excited about the Legends and managers who are in the game.

- We've heard about adding twists to existing matches by changing the match type. Can you tell us what match types we can expect to see?

The game contains 11 match types. Some of my personal favorites are ladder matches and tag team matches. I know our WWE fans have played these match types before, but in Legends, we tried to make each match type as distinct as possible by adding some new mini games and strategies to them. So even though the match types might have the same names, the experience of each is quite unique.

- In addition to the Relive, Redefine, Rewrite modes, are there any other game modes? More specifically, some type of story or career mode?

WWE Legends of WrestleMania is meant to be more arcade-like in nature, so there isn’t a typical career or story mode that you get with SVR. However, there is another single player mode called Legend Killer Mode. This mode is based on a series of tiers of wrestlers that a player must complete back to back in a survival mode-type situation. This is also where players will build up their Create-a-Legend talent.

- Obviously the game hasn't been released yet but do you foresee this becoming a yearly franchise or possibly one that sees a sequel some time down the road?

While we can’t confirm any news today, I’m confident in saying that Legends are part of our future plans for WWE videogames.

- In your opinion, what is the game's greatest strength and what was something you would have liked to include in the game that couldn't make it in?

Aside from being able to play all of these great Legends in one title, I’d have to say WrestleMania Tour Mode. It’s a great trip down memory lane for a lot of us wrestling fans who were kids growing up during the ’80s and ’90s, and for those who weren’t, it’s a pretty cool interactive history lesson.

As for something that couldn’t make it in … of course everyone always dreams of having an even bigger roster, but we’re really happy with who we have to offer in WWE Legends of WrestleMania.

- Can you talk to us about CAW? How extensive is it and how does it compare to past CAW on the SvR series?

The CAW in Legends has all functionality and parts from SVR 2009 plus another 100+ brand new items that are themed to the time period. There are also Create-a-Move Set, Create-an-Entrance and Create-a-Tag Team features.

Screenshots
All 8 Legends of WrestleMania Screenshots

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