WWF was hugely popular in the late 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. With such a popular IP video game licensing was inevitable and WWF games appeared on all the popular home consoles of the time including the NES. In this post I’ll take a look at all of the NES WWF games and what they offered Nintendo and wrestling fans back in the day.
More NES Gaming Fun:
- My Top 10 NES Games
- All You Need To Know About NES Black Box Games
- The Best NES Fighting and Beat Em Up Games
- The Best NES Ninja Games
- The Best NES Racing Games
The NES WWF Games
Let’s take a look at the four WWF games released for the NES. Be warned though because quality will vary across these NES titles…
WWF Wrestlemania – 1989
Playable Characters: Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, Bam Bam Bigelow and the Honky Tonk Man
Game Modes: Exhibition (player vs computer or player vs player) and Tournament Mode
Fun Fact: Only Hulk Hogan can slam Andre the Giant in the game
For a game that was released in 1989 the graphics for the characters aren’t too bad and all of the wrestlers are recognisable.That I am afraid is probably the best thing I can say about the first WWF wrestling game released on the NES. This game in my opinion is pretty much unplayable, all you can do is button bash as your chosen wrestler shuffles around the ring in hope of making some sort of contact with your opponent.
Most of the main wrestlers from when the game was developed (although no Ultimate Warrior) feature but with only two game modes you are not getting a lot for your money here. The moves of the wrestlers slightly vary such as Macho Man who will elbow opponents rather than punch. Also Andre the Giant and Bam Bam Bigelow can’t do moves from the top turnbuckle.
WWF Wrestlemania Challenge – 1990
Playable Characters: Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Macho King Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Big Boss Man, Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake, Ravishing Rick Rude, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Yourself (a generic playable character)
Game Modes: One on One Match, Tag Team Match, Survivor Series Match, Championship Mode
Fun Fact: By pressing both the A & B buttons together you can execute power moves. Unfortunately a lot of these moves do not resemble the wrestlers actual finishing moves.
Now here is a NES WWF game that I actually got excited about back in the day. I can remember reading about Wrestlemania Challenge and on returning back to school after the summer finding out one of my classmates had got an NES along with this game. My pals and I went straight to his house after school that day!
There are more game modes in WWF Wrestlemania Challenge and a slightly bigger roster of characters. The graphics are vastly better than the previous Wrestlemania game as are the controls. In this game you actually feel in control of your chosen wrestler.
The game is set up in an isometric style view of the ring which you adapt to fairly quickly and you can leave the ring too. I have never found this to be the easiest of wrestling games but WWF Wrestlemania Challenge was a lot more fun to play especially with your friends. This game also saw the introduction of a generic character called ‘Yourself’ aimed at allowing young male WWF fans to imagine themselves going after the WWF word title in the games Championship mode.
More on WWF Video Games:
WWF Wrestlemania: Steel Cage Challenge – 1992
Playable Characters: Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, Hulk Hogan, IRS, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, The Mountie, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Sid Justice, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, The Undertaker
Game Modes: One on One Match (regular and steel cage), Tag Team Match, Championship Mode, Tag Team Championship
Fun Fact: This is the first console based WWF game to feature a steel cage.
WWF Wrestlemania: Steel Cage Challenge is basically an 8-bit version of Super Wrestlemania for the Super Nintendo. The move sets are exactly the same with all the players having exactly the same moves with no special finishers. The graphic style is also similar with all the wrestlers having the same body shape but you can identify who they are by their wrestling attire. The cartoon style of Wrestlemania challenge is gone and it doesn’t do this game any favours.
The move sets are pretty boring which makes the gameplay repetitive and the addition of a steel cage to some matches doesn’t really add a lot. Although we get a new variety of wrestlers to play as, the opportunity of improving Wrestlemania Challenge isn’t realised here and you get a rather dull 8-bit version of an average Super Nintendo game with obviously less detailed sprites.
WWF King of the Ring – 1993
Playable Characters: Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Bam Bam Bigelow, Yokozuna, Lex Luger and You (a generic playable character)
Game Modes: One on One Match, Tag Team Match, King of the Ring, Championship Mode
Fun Fact: Hulk Hogan still features heavily although the actual 1993 King of the Ring Pay Per View was his last PPV match with the WWF until Wrestlemania X8 in 2002!
To be honest WWF King of the Ring is basically Steel Cage Challenge but with a variation in the roster of wrestlers to play as and the King of the Ring mode replacing the steel cage option. All of the NES WWF wrestling games are clearly cash grabs but this one is probably the worst due to the fact that there is little difference between this and the game released a year prior.
Clearly by 1993 the SNES was the market leading console for Nintendo and this shows by the complete lack of imagination put into WWF King of the Ring.
WWF Games for the NES
So there you have all the NES WWF games. Very much a mixed bag of wrestling games and none of which have ever been really classed as classics for the Nintendo Entertainment System. So much more could have been achieved with the WWF licence for the NES but as with a lot of other licenced games (such as movie based games) money was to be made and the cash grab was more important than the quality of the game. People would always buy these WWF games anyway regardless of quality.
What’s the Best WWF NES Wrestling Game?
For me WWF Wrestlemania Challenge is the best of a bad bunch here. If you want to play a good wrestling game on the NES check out Tecmo World Wrestling, although it isn’t a licensed game with any famous wrestlers it is by far the best wrestling game on the Nintendo Entertainment System – in my opinion of course.
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