Wrestling Games

[DaHeckIzDat]

I can not stand pro wrestling. I think it's stupid, fake, and not fun at all to watch. That said, I've sometimes thought it might be fun to play as a video game. I mean, it's basically a fighting game, right? What do you guys think? Would a guy who doesn't like watching wrestling on tv enjoy a video game based on it?

[NX17]

Honestly, I don't know. I used to be a big wrestling fan and keep up with some of the events in passing, but a lot of the appeal in these games is playing as famous wrestlers from the past and present, and replicating some of the more famous events. If you don't have any of those ties, then I don't think you would enjoy it.

Not to mention as well, most consider the games nowadays to be pretty terrible compared to games of the past. Yukes is the only company that makes wrestling games anymore with the WWE license and they tend to release the same game over and over, flaws and all. Back in the late 90's they made the Playstation games, while AKI made the N64 games, and the N64 series was far, far superior and still is.

If you're looking for a 'real' 3D fighting game, I would probably look at UFC. Which I'm a huge fan of MMA and it surpassed the wrestling appeal long ago. It depends a lot less on knowing the fighters and identifying with them, although there's certainly a lot of that, but the style they fight with versus others is the main premise.

[scotland]

Honestly, I don't know. I used to be a big wrestling fan and keep up with some of the events in passing, but a lot of the appeal in these games is playing as famous wrestlers from the past and present, and replicating some of the more famous events. If you don't have any of those ties, then I don't think you would enjoy it.

Nice post NX17. I would say don't bother.

I have little interest in golf, but I enjoy video game golf even though the courses and players mean nothing to me. However, if you feel that wrestling is stupid, fake and something you cannot stand as well as no interest in the characters, then thats too high of a hurdle.

Trying to change an opinion on wrestling is futile, but consider wrestling as theater. Highly athletic and dangerous theater. Its not sport, but more like a circus. Circus acts are choreographed too, but still exciting. The Harlem Globetrotters do the same with basketball. Actors swordfighting with lightsabers do it. Stuntmen do it. Magicians, clowns and acrobats do it. Appreciate it as performance art, not athletic competition.

[MoarRipter]

Trying to change an opinion on wrestling is futile, but consider wrestling as theater. Highly athletic and dangerous theater. Its not sport, but more like a circus. Circus acts are choreographed too, but still exciting. The Harlem Globetrotters do the same with basketball. Actors swordfighting with lightsabers do it. Stuntmen do it. Magicians, clowns and acrobats do it. Appreciate it as performance art, not athletic competition.

Well said scotland. It irritates me when people throw out the inevitable "don't you know it's fake" garbage whenever they find out I used to watch it back in the day when they had good characters like the Rock, Stone Cold, Mankind, Eddie Guerrero, Too Hot, nWo, etc. I'm like "no really!? No **** sherlock." As if everyone over the age of eight didn't already know that it's fake. I guess pointing out to adults that pro wrestling is fake makes those people feel good about themselves but really it just portrays them as morons that just came to that realization themselves. They probably don't even know what the words kayfabe and shoot mean. Every teenager and adult that goes to wrestling events or watches wrestling knows that it is choreographed entertainment, yet they still enjoy watching it. I've been to a couple of Monday Night RAW events in person and they were a lot of fun, being in the crowd is a big part of the fun, and it's really awesome when you get ringside or ramp-side seats. That was one of the best shows I've been to. You can't appreciate how huge some of those wrestlers are until you're six-to-eight feet away from them. It is like the circus, and everyone has a good time. There is an element of danger involved for the wrestlers too, sometimes they make a mistake and suffer a legitimate injury. Wrestling fans remember when Sid Vicious broke his leg jumping off of the turnbuckle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSYcM4AJ8k Then there was the incident where Owen Hart fell to his death from the rafters of the arena when the cable carrying him snapped and his chest impacted on the top of the turnbuckle.

Now about the video games, I agree with NX17 that the N64 WWF games were some of the best, that AKI Revenge engine was pretty awesome back in the day and it's still fun today, as long as you keep it to only two wrestlers at a time as the N64 exhibits massive slowdown in 4-player matches. The high water mark of that series was WWF No Mercy, it had the best graphics on the characters, best presentation, and the titantron videos/audio were slightly higher quality than Wrestlemania 2000. No Mercy also had more venues to choose from and more match types. Unfortunately, early versions of the cartridge of No Mercy also suffer from a terrible save game bug that will eventually erase your cartridge's save data, custom wrestlers, custom belts, unlocked items in the Smackdown Mall, everything, if you play through the story mode or even if you do title matches. I've owned two copies of the game and tossed both in the trash due to that save bug. Maybe for that reason Wrestlemania 2000 is the better game as it's largely very similar to No Mercy. The best part about all of those AKI N64 games that use that engine is the great controls. You basically have weak and strong grapples based on how long you press the button to engage a grapple, then moves based on which button you press and optionally which direction on the d-pad you press. Throwing opponents into the ropes is simply accomplished with one of the C buttons, you use the analog stick for taunts to regain health and to climb up onto the turnbuckles, it's just a very well thought out and easy to use control scheme and IMO is what made those games so fun. I also have Day of Reckoning for the Gamecube which was decent but I felt like it didn't have enough content/venues/wrestlers compared to other games. Also, the controls on the Gamecube feel very clunky, it was a big letdown compared to the tight controls of the N64 games. The only recent wrestling games I've played are Smackdown Vs. Raw 2006 and 2007 on the PS2. Those were pretty good as well with a great story mode, character creator, and presentation but I still prefer the N64 wrestling games overall. I also like the N64 games because they featured a great roster of characters back from the last time that pro wrestling was actually good (the Attitude era), when the WWF had real competition for viewers with other brands like WCW and ECW, before Vince bought them out and turned RAW into pretty much just three hours of trying to sell you crap interspersed with stupid dialog and little in-ring performing.

[Tron]

I used to love wrestling when I was a kid. Now not so much, but every once in awhile I'll watch highlights on YouTube. Brock leaner doing a somersault from the top turnbuckle is amazing.

Still love the games though.

Pro Wrestling (NES) = best wrestling on the NES.

Fire Pro Wrestling (GBA & PS2) = simple 16 bit graphics, but awesome gameplay. The customization is amazing. I've got over 100 created wrestlers. You can set up leagues virtually however you want. I still run my leagues on the GBA. I keep records on paper the tournaments they've won & their win-lose record. It's alotta fun.