Are We Having Fun Yet...05.10.08 Wrestling and Video Games, Electronic Nirvana

Posted by Gary Traverson on 05.10.2008

411’s Gary Traverson finally admits to his uber-nerdom as he discusses wrestling video games of the past, present, and what he hopes to be playing in the future. So grab your controllers and click to read up on it.

I cannot tell a lie, I am a video game junkie. It all started back in the early 1990's when a bunch of pixilated images stole my heart, and most of my attention span. Those classic games with the sprites and the looped midi music got me hooked on what has turned out to be a $15 dollar a month habit. Now I played all of your standard platformers, rpgs, and the like, but the games that really get me going are the good old fashioned wrestling games.

The First and the Proud WWF Arcade Games



My first foray into wrestling video games took place in Coney Island; NY the game was WWF Wrestlefest. The bright colors and typical picture of Hulk Hogan drew me and, and saw me spending most of my allotted quarters for the day on it. The game itself was a successor to the first WWE arcade game WWE Superstars and for the time the graphics and game play were amazing. Players could choose from 12 of their favorite wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, Earthquake, Ultimate Warrior and the Legion of Doom.

By today's standards the game is laughably out of date. The game does have finishers but they do as much damage as any other move and (with the exception of the Big Bossman's finisher) can all be done at any time. The game also only had tag team matches in its career mode, which usually meant that you were stuck with a brain dead AI character against some much smarter, harder computer foes. The Royal Rumble part of the game was fun, but due to limited control of the action I have yet to see a single person make it through to the end. The game was fun at the time, but I wouldn't spend money to play it again.

WWF Games at Home

WWF Wrestlemania Challenge






My parents picked me up this one after a holiday visit to Funcoland years after it had been released. The game shipped in 1990, and for a home wrestling game it was everything we could have hoped for at the time. The game had the standard 1990's era wrestlers but what set it apart was the "championship mode." This was the first career mode ever, and even let you play as "yourself." In this mode you could play as a generic palette swapping main character as you fought the real wrestlers on your way to championship gold. Though great on the nostalgia factor, and commendable for the career mode, there is absolutely no reason to go back and play this game. Don't waste your time.

Super Wrestlemania



Ok, I will admit it there are way too many games with Wrestlemania in their name. This is going to start getting really confusing. My next foray into wrestling video games came with the Sega Genesis version of this gem. What is really interesting about this game is the fact that the Super Nintendo and Genesis versions are so very different. Each has their pros and con's so there is no clear winner, it could go either way. The Genesis version had a smaller roster with only 8 wrestlers, opposed to the SNES' 10. Graphically the superior SNES processor delivered better graphics and sound, but the game lacked signature moves. The Genesis version featured a series of 1 on 1 matches that would lead you to the title, but the SNES version only consisted of singles matches and Survivor Series tag matches. I personally went with the Genesis version. The game was pretty good, the game play was tight and the moves were easy to pull off. I would recommend this to anyone interested in reliving the Federation years; it is my favorite of that generation of wrestling games.

WWF Royal Rumble



Truth be told, I absolutely hate this game. I really have nothing but bad memories when it comes down to it. Granted the graphics and sounds were all polished in this sequel to WWF Super Wrestlemania, but the "improvements" in the game play killed this for me. The difficulty was ramped up; I couldn't get even close to the Championship. Other aspects of the game also contributed to this ungodly difficulty level. For the first time, players could use chairs from outside of the ring to destroy their opponents. Let us all remember that this was back when chair shots weren't like a simple pat on the head. Chair shots would all but take you out of the match, and since another addition allowed referees to be knocked out you can bet that CPU players would take full advantage of the situation. Other people have had success with this game, but I never got into it. Good luck playing this one reader, but I'll pass.

WWF Raw



This was the third game produced by Acclaim, so it is technically the sequel to Royal Rumble. First off it is kind of funny that the games go from biggest event of the year down to weekly serial show. This game was the first to give each wrestler his own separate move set. At first this concept was a little scary. If I remember correctly some of my friends were worried about not liking their favorite wrestler's move set. Once we started playing, however, our worries disappeared. The new battle system was really a cool new take on the genre. Wrestlers would lock up and have to press a certain combination of buttons to take energy away from their opponents. This new "lock-up" system really slowed the game down, and the excitement went away as we tried to mash buttons during these sequences. This was a gallant try on Acclaim's part, but the technology just wasn't up to par with their ideas. This game is way too slow for me to recommend to any of you gamers out there.

WWF War Zone



WWF War Zone was the very first North American game to feature three dimensional character models. Granted the highly polygonal characters with one set facial expression seem pretty comical today, but back in 1998 when War Zone came out we were all blown away at the graphics. The game came out for the PS1 and N64, and as usual each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The N64 version had better graphics, but didn't have any of the high-resolution sounds, music, or voiceovers. Also with the cartridge based N64 there were no annoying waits while the game loaded. The game only had basic kick, punch, and grapple buttons but for its time it was an unbelievable jump from 2d gaming. I made my first created wrestler Trojan Man in this, and had a blast. This game engine would power a WWF sequel as well as the ill-fated ECW Anarchy Rulz. The games would improve little by little with each game, but there just aren't enough new features in these games to talk about. Honestly the only interesting thing about these games was their revolutionary graphics.

WWF Smackdown



This game was a lot of fun, in spite of Chyna being on the cover. The THQ engine that started here is pretty much the same one you see in the modern wrestling games, so the importance of Smackdown cannot be stressed enough. This game broke some serious ground with its live motion video, great soundtrack, and seriously unpredictable game play. This game was just enough of a challenge that going into a match you seriously had no idea whether you were going to win or not. This balance in the matched kept the series interesting for a long time. The only real problem with the game was the serious load times you would be forced to put up with. If you were playing the career mode, you might as well go bake a cake before your next match, because it was going to be awhile.


The Aki Engine Games
WCW/NWO Revenge




The AKI engine is responsible for some of the best wrestling games of all time. The first game WCW World Tour was fun, but it lacked any variety in game modes and glitched up a fair amount of the times I played it. It wasn't until this game came out that the AKI engine showed its true potential. The game had the best grapple system to date with both strong and weak grapples as well as strikes and punches. The roster was huge, with both real wrestlers (even lower card wrestlers like Alex Wright) as well as some game developer created characters. I loved playing the newly revamped career mode, and overall had a great time playing it. Despite how fond I am of this game, I also have to admit to some frustration with its glitches. For one thing the AKI engine had a habit of separating wrestlers from their arms. If you locked someone in a grapple or submission and timed it just right, it could look like you dismembered them. The blocking system was ridiculous as well; you could block pretty much every move by simply sticking out your chest. The entrance music was pretty much all the same, and the memory issues of the N64 game cartridges were very apparent. The two player matches could not end, because most players discovered that no matter how damaged they were, if you hit the analog stick while being pinned, you would always kick out. This was the game that led to what I think is the best wrestling game of all time.

WWF No Mercy





The AKI engine was kicked into overdrive in what I call the last great professional wrestling game. Everything about this game was deep, involving, and most of all cool. The career mode actually had possibilities for you (story line wise) if you lost matches, making the possibilities seem endless. I still have never seen the entire career mode story, mostly because I refuse to lose. The roster was gigantic, featuring all of the best WWF stars from the time, but also a few legends for good measure. The CAW modes were simply put, off the chain. If you haven't played this game, by all means find an emulation of it or look on Ebay. This is truly the height of wrestling games.

The Modern Video Game-Where We Went Wrong

The latest WWE Smackdown v. Raw came with some glaring errors that I really think are unforgivable in the modern age. Wrestling games have been around for a very long time, so the idea is that game developers should be learning from what they have done wrong in the past. Features that really work well in previous iterations are seemingly dropped from newer games. The old memory capacity excuse shouldn't fly because we have mediums in our games that hold more space on them than most companies know what to do with. One such feature that was left out of the latest game (and was present as far back as the original Xbox's WWE Raw) was a delay in your CAW entrance. I want full control over my CAW entrance, and since I have had it before why not give it to me now?

The latest game also excluded the ECW stars from the career mode. Any CM Punk fans out there that would want to take the promising young star to the top of the company? Well you can't. Why exclude a whole chunk of wrestlers from the career mode? It just doesn't make sense.

Game play wise some wrestlers are just plain better than others based on the ridiculous new category system. Wrestlers who are "brawlers" and "powerhouses" simply cannot be beaten by any of the other wrestler types. The submission system is a joke, but that is a part of wrestling that I have never seen done particularly well. By this point there should not be such poor balance in a wrestling game since they have been done so many times before.

The yearly release is also a real problem in my eyes. Unlike most professional sports, can we actually say enough changes in the WWE from game release to game release to warrant this sort of mass production. Instead of taking the time between games to give us something new and improved, WWE has once again taken the low road because it will get them more money. Come on guys, take some time to improve the game and then come back with it. We'll all thank you in the end.

Well 411 fans, that's my take on things. I hope you have enjoyed this tour through the history of Professional Wrestling games. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next week.