What was the Best and Worst WWF Video Game Between 1987-1995?

[babinko]

So this is going to be Part 1 of a mini-series of mine breaking down Eras of WWF/E based wrestling games. I'll be honest, I was born in 1991 and haven't played many of these games. I know we have some real hardcore fans out there and I want to see some feedback on some the games during this era. The platforms in this era were mainly Sega and Nintendo based.

From 1987-1995, here are the WWF games and their platforms based on North America release date:

1987:
MicroLeague Wrestling - Amiga (89), Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS (89)

1989:
WWF WrestleMania - NES

Superstars - Arcade

1990:
WWF WrestleMania Challenge - NES

1991:
WWF WrestleFest - Arcade

WWF WrestleMania - Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, ZX Spectrum

WWF Superstars - Game Boy

1992:
WWF European Rampage Tour - Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore, PC MS-DOS

WWF Superstars 2 - Game Boy

WWF Super WrestleMania - SNES, Sega Mega Drive

WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge - NES, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear

1993:
WWF Rage in the Cage - Sega CD

WWF King of the Ring - NES, Game Boy

1994:
WWF Raw - SNES, Sega 32x (95), Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear

1995:
WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game - 32x, Genesis, Playstation, Saturn (96), SNES, Arcade


So out of these games listed above, which one is the Best and the Worst? Why?

Also, if you would like to breakdown any games, feel free to do so. Give us the strongest feedback possible and any recommendations.

 

[babinko]

I forgot to add a game!

1993 - WWF Royal Rumble - Super NES, Sega Gensis

Sorry about that!

 

[Dragonslayer]

Well I was born 1984, and grew up with lots of video game systems throughout the years, so I've actually played most of these games, haha.

Out of those mentioned, I vividly remember WrestleFest due to the colorful graphics on the Arcade machines, but as a kid, I always sucked at Arcade gaming, haha.

I was more of a console type guy, so I guess my first one was WWF Superstars for the Game Boy. Back in the day, it sure seemed cool - but as with most of the early wrestling games, you could do basically 2 moves (bodyslam and back suplex) as well as probably kick and punch. Gameplay-wise, these games sucked big time, but of course as a kid it was awesome to play as Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior

I also had Superstars 2 on the Game Boy, which was slightly better than part one, but still pretty terrible, as well as WWF King of the Ring, which sucked particularly for one reason: For even though you could do the famed two moves of doom (Back Suplex and Bodyslam), only Kicks/Punches would do actual damage to your opponent's health bar. Totally pointless and ridiculous; I would say this gets my vote as "worst WWF game" of that era.

WWF Steel Cage Challenge was actually not so bad, but my long time favorite was WWF Royal Rumble for the SNES (which I think is missing on your list - it's the predecessor to WWF Raw), and though the SEGA Genesis version did have a better lineup in my opinion (at the time, it made no sense to me that the SNES Royal Rumble didn't have Hulk Hogan, which the Genesis version did). I played the hell out of both Royal Rumble and RAW, because they were really the first games that had some sort of personalization and a decent roster; you had I think 12 wrestlers to choose from, and each had their own real finisher, and in the case of RAW, even the movesets varied a bit from wrestler to wrestler. Those were actually fun games, especially the 6 man rumble mode of course.

WWF The Arcade Game was a strange thing to me - of course it was somehow cool to have those Mortal Kombat-like looking wrestler models, but of course the game resembled more an arcade beat 'em up than an actual wrestling game, and it was very cartoony in nature. Not totally a bad game, but I never really got into it.

Thankfully, soon thereafter the wrestling-game world would be saved by WCW vs now World Tour, WCW/NWO Revenge and of course the famous No Mercy on N64... when wrestling games FINALLY became good

 

[HeenanGorilla]

1991:
WWF WrestleFest - Arcade

This was the first WWF game that I was really excited about as a kid. In fact, I didn't know it was coming out and one day in my local bowling alley...there it was! The graphics and colors were amazing! I didn't even play it right away because the scenes shown when no one was playing were awesome! You saw how accurate the likenesses were, the special moves--it had the real moves for each wrestler. Even added features like Earthquake jumping above his opponent before hitting the ropes... In fact, when Billy Gunn did a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on RAW last night, I thought "Who did that in WrestleFest? DiBiase? No... Jake wouldn't have done it... Oh yeah! Crush!!" HAHA! I hadn't thought of that game in years and I did during RAW last night, and then the next morning this post is here...unreal. Thanks!

If I was to play a WWF video game now, it would be this. More than 2K14 or whatever the current one is...more than the one years later with 1-2-3 kid's moonsault/pin combo, which was AWESOME! This game...it was just the perfect game at the perfect time. I was 12 years old and this was AMAZING!

It was the first game, at least that I know of, to have a Royal Rumble option.

- Hulk had his hand to ear and big boot/leg drop.
- Warrior had the gorilla press.
- Perfect had the PerfectPlex.
- Earthquake had his splash.
- Slaughter had the Cobra Clutch.
- Jake had his DDT.
- DiBiase had the Million Dollar Dream.
- Boss Man had his sidewalk slam.
- Demolition and LOD were there...even though you couldn't be LOD.

Their moves were SO MUCH BETTER than earlier games. This was so realistic!

If memory serves, they even had that guy in the crowd--the one that was always at MSG and Mania back then. He was a super fan...Vladimir, I think was his name. Check it out when these guys come through the curtain...he's there! Man, great memories!

You could also make dream tag teams. As kids, you think things like how many homeruns Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds would hit if they played in Colorado. "Oh, dude, he could bunt a homerun there." Ya know, silly and stupid (and wonderful) things like that. For this game, it was things like: "Hulk and Warrior as a tag team!? How could they ever lose?? Hulk ALWAYS wins and if he ever gets tired or close to losing, you just bring in a fresh Warrior to finish off the match! Why did they never combine to win the tag belts anyway?!" Haha...oh the clueless (and better) times of not knowing how the business worked. Back when it was a great show...loved the WWF as a kid!

I do remember other games...the one where you would grab Andre's foot or Hogan's crucifix for power. The one with Papa Shango, where Warrior's move was the standing shoulder block. The one with Taker and Yokozuna. And the one you added last..the Royal Rumble for Genesis...that was cool. It was the first one I had that had the wrestlers' theme music. I remember putting the game on and not playing, but listening to Bret's and Razor's theme music. haha There were some others...another arcade game I can't remember but liked at a local diner. And actually NES had a very cool (for the time) WCW game with the Road Warriors on the cover. Maybe it was NWA back then. But I THINK it was WCW. I was only a WWF fan as a kid, but that game had the Steiner Brothers and Sting and had MUCH better graphics and game play than the WWF options---until the incredible arrival of WrestleFest!!!

 

[Rich the UK WWE Fan 2k14]

WWF Wrestlemania on the ZX Spectrum, most unplayable clusterfuck of a game ever made, I wrecked SO many Joysticks playing the fucking thing.

And it was totally monochrome! Even in the late 80s monochrome graphics sucked ass.