Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game
This review is for WWF Wrestlemania by Midway for the Arcades. Most people probably know this game as “Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game” through one of the bajillion ports of it. This game is not popular among wrestling or non-wrestling fans do to how little the game actually reflects pro-wrestling. However, once you get past that, you’ll find a fast-paced, over-the-top fighting game that no one should miss. Read on to find out why.
Name: WWF Wrestlemania
Game Ownership: Not this version.
Game Status: Beat Intercontinental Championship with 5. Beat WWF Heavyweight Championship with 4.
How it was Acquired: MAME
Condition when Bought: N/A
Type: Fighting
Preliminary Comments:
Rant: THE UNDERTAKER’S FATALITY ROCKS!
Fact: Every person in the crowd is somebody that worked on the game.
Rant: PIN ‘IM! PIN ‘IM! PIN ‘IM!
Rant: You just can’t beat making people’s balls explode into bats when you pin them. You just can’t.
Graphics - 8.0
Graphics in this game were very good. I know that they were made the same way as Mortal Kombat, but I didn’t expect that these graphics would be that good, especially after playing the SNES version. Each character looks good with detail unmatched by any other 2-D wrestling game. Finally I can distinguish a character other than the color tights that they’re wearing (I’m looking at you, WWF Raw by LJN).
The environment was pretty well done. The crowd is digitized like the wrestlers and looked pretty nice. A cool detail is that if you exit the ring and go all the way to the right, you can see Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler announcing the match. The only problem I have about the environment is that it is not very interactable. I wouldn’t have minded being able to grab a weapon out of the crowd or at least having a different sound being elicited when I slam the opponent out of the ring. I also would have liked have been able to use the bottom two turnbuckles. I would have preferred some more variation in the backgrounds such as different rings or something. However, these lacking features do not really affect the gameplay in any way, so I’ll let them slide.
Animation in this game was actually surprising for me. Most of the choppiness seen in the movement in other wrestling (arcade/console) games is gone in this one (when compared to games like WWF Raw for SNES). Not only do average moves done by the wrestlers look great, but the game itself is largely exaggerated and unlrealistic, which allows for some cool and insane animations such as the Undertaker causing bats to fly out the opponent when he pins them or Bam Bam’s flying headbutt setting the opponent on fire. I have to say that the high quality of the animation really adds to this game’s charm and enjoyability.
Sound - 7.5
Music in this game was hard to call since I couldn’t really hear it. Most of the sound in this game is from Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler commentating on your match mixed in with pain screams and the crows which overrides the ingame music. From what I have heard of the music, there are two generic rock songs and the old Monday Night Raw theme. Other than the Raw theme, the in-game music wasn’t very memorable. However, a nice aspect of the game is that it has clips of each wrestler’s entrance music. Finally, a wrestling game where Razor Ramon’s theme didn’t sound like crap! Even though the clips were pretty short, they get the job done. The commentary of the game is good and well placed. There is none of that “do a move then get move announced three minutes later” crap. Each attack or move is called at the right time and is done well. Even though it gets a little repetitive after a while, it still sounds awesome to hit a super combo and hear McMahon yell “He’s just gone berserk!”
Story - 3.0
Like other arcade fighting games, it is “beat all guys until you get championship.” There are, however, special endngs for each superstar which are pretty humorous (for example, Shawn Michaels leaves wrestling to become a politician so he can have both women and attention). The problem is that they only tell you what happened and don’t show you, which is kinda cheap. It would have been nice to at least have pictures accompany the text.
Fun - 8.0
Let me just state one thing right off the bat: This is not a wrestling game. If you are going into this game expecting something like No Mercy or even Smackdown, you aren’t going to find it. What this is is a fighting game with wrestlers in it. Now, this may sound incredibly off-putting for some, but I think it turned out really well. I dare say, it is one of the funnest games I have ever played. If you consider how wrestling was at the time this game was released, the game probably couldn’t have captured wrestling any better.
Controls for the game are similar to other fighting games. You have two punch and kick buttons as well as a block button. Special strikes can be done with combinations of joystick movements and attack buttons. This game differs from other fighting games in that you can move around the ring and there is more of an emphasis on grappling. Once you grab the opponent, you can do a super combo (if you can) or certain wrestling moves. The button commnands are a lot simpler than other fighting games, which helps to downplay the learning curve.
Matches in this game are very hectic and fast-paced. Let me set the mood of an average match for you. Imagine you’re Shawn Michaels in a 1v3 handicap match, and the bell just rang. In one second, you take out Lex Lugar with a swift bicycle kick to the face. Then, before the stars and dumbbells that spill out of Lex Lugar hit the floor, you hit the Undertaker with a Hurracanrana and launch him right out of the ring! But OH NOEZ! Bret Hart has you in a grapple and is intent on paying you back for screwing him over next year! Just before he scratches your eyes out, BOOM! You reverse and literally crack his arm in HALF. It’s intense, fast-paced action that really makes the game fun. Plus if you’re good enough, you get to show off your skill to others by just man-handling everyone in the ring.
However, if I did say that this was one of the funnest games I ever played, why is Fun only rated an 8.0? The problem is that there are a lot of little things about the game that hurt my enjoyment of them. There are a number of little things that only really annoy me, so I won’t list them. However, I think it can be universally agreed that there should be a larger variety of game modes. The only thing you can do is fight for either the Intercontinental Title or the WWF Championship, the difference being the WWF Championship has harder matches. There should have been a little more variation in the matches other than 1v1, handicap (1v2), super handicap (1v3), and Royal Rumble (You vs Everyone, and plays more like a Gauntlet match than the Royal Rumble). I guess it may have been asking a bit much for an arcade game such as this, but even older games such as WWF Wrestlefest had at least tag team and a true Royal Rumble. Also, would it have been too much to have pinning be a larger aspect of the game? Wrestling matches always have a ton of attempted pinning in it. Even if pinning couldn’t be added as a larger aspect, couldn’t we at least have the satisfaction of someone counting 1-2-3 when you pin?
Difficulty - 7.5
The game tends to be hard because you have to fight more than one opponent at a time. The computer does have a tendancy to gang up on your character, which can be extremely frustrating. However, once you get good enough at the game, the computer opponents shouldn’t be too much of a threat.
Replayable - 8.0
The game is a great way to pass time when you are bored. The matches are so insane and unpredictable that every match becomes a fun experience. Even though there is a sequel for this game called WWF: In Your House, it is extremely hard to find, and from what I heard, it was inferior to this game.
