Wrestling Video Games - The 80's

[classicgamer74]

 

Can you clarify what you mean? Maybe my memory is foggy on the real arcade cabinet, but I'm not sure I understand what is special about the controls. I mean yeah, I remember the big plastic button. But replacing that with a standard arcade button doesn't really change all that much...?

 

That game was so buggy to me. One of the reasons that it's hard to emulate is because you had to pound the ACTION button when you played it. I don't know how that cabinet was never broken at the arcade I played it at. It was just more fun with two players, I don't care what anyone said.

 

To let you know how bad it is on MAME, I had the cheats on and I STILL got beat!

[digdugnate]

i was trying to remember if i played any wrestling games in the 80s- that's when my sis and i would've watched it the most on tv (except when i was in college much later, lol). I didn't play any during the 80s, but I remember playing Super Wrestlemania (1992) on the SNES.

[Cynicaster]

Another one I really enjoyed was World Championship Wrestling on NES.

 

I remember ordering this one out of a magazine. I can't remember why I did that; was it not available in stores? Anyway, that’s what I did. I paid out the ass for it and I remember it taking about 4 months to arrive. I got a lot of play out of it though. Nice selection of real wrestlers, each with unique finishing move, and you had the ability to customize your moves list before each match.

 

[Duke75]

And as terrible as Tag Team Wrestling is on the NES/Famicom, I somehow like it. Once you figure out how to execute special moves, it makes a little more sense.

 

My friends and I used to love Tag Team on the NES. The trick is to be very patient with it - most wrestling games at the time encouraged button-mashing to win. Once you get the hang of the "punch - select move" gameplay, it's no big deal, especially once you learn how many button presses it takes for each particular move. Another thing is that it had more of the "show" feeling of wrestling than many games at the time did. Going outside the ring, hitting the other guy with a chair, guys "hulking up" and kicking your ass...the tricky thing with wrestling games is that it's not enough to just do a fighting game, you have to nail the feeling of theatricality, too, which I don't any wrestling game truly got in the right balance until Aki's N64 games.

 

Mat Mania is my favorite arcade wrestling game. Still gets a lot of play through MAME from me

[mbd30]

I had

 

 

My friends and I used to love Tag Team on the NES. The trick is to be very patient with it - most wrestling games at the time encouraged button-mashing to win. Once you get the hang of the "punch - select move" gameplay, it's no big deal, especially once you learn how many button presses it takes for each particular move. Another thing is that it had more of the "show" feeling of wrestling than many games at the time did. Going outside the ring, hitting the other guy with a chair, guys "hulking up" and kicking your ass...the tricky thing with wrestling games is that it's not enough to just do a fighting game, you have to nail the feeling of theatricality, too, which I don't any wrestling game truly got in the right balance until Aki's N64 games.

 

Mat Mania is my favorite arcade wrestling game. Still gets a lot of play through MAME from me

 

I had the DOS port of Tag Team Wrestling as a kid.

 

Why even bother with PC Speaker music that sounds that bad? It would be better to not have any music at all, or at least only in small doses.

 

[popsicle]

I loved that game. I haven't been able to find a working rom for the Atari ST. I used to play it on a friend's c64. I was really disappointed when I couldn't get the rom to work on the Atari ST emulator because I had a lot of fond memories playing it. I've noticed that it's a crap shoot when it comes to games on the ST. I'm not sure why exactly. I was REALLY thankful that the McDonald's game worked (I discussed that WAY back in the first episode), as I had been waiting more than 30 years for that proto to surface.

 

Does anyone else use the Atari ST emulator? Any advice on how to get it to work better? Are there some settings I should work with?

 

I don't see this particular game here, but if you haven't you should visit this site. It has ST games adapted for hard drive use with big fixes (in some cases avoiding annoying disk swaps).

[Tanooki]

I'm surprised to see more people bringing up and liking Tag Team Wrestling. It's quite the strange one, but as it is said there, you have to forget it's not a button masher at face value, but it's a technical game so you really have to select the move before time expires and destroy the other guy all around the enemy going all red into roid rage mode.

[classicgamer74]

Another one I really enjoyed was World Championship Wrestling on NES.

 

I remember ordering this one out of a magazine. I can't remember why I did that; was it not available in stores? Anyway, that’s what I did. I paid out the ass for it and I remember it taking about 4 months to arrive. I got a lot of play out of it though. Nice selection of real wrestlers, each with unique finishing move, and you had the ability to customize your moves list before each match.

 

 

I'm going to discuss that one in the followup episode. I had many fond memories playing that game, too.

[slab0meat]

I just noticed this thread, can't watch video right now, but I loved the wrestling games back then. Most were mentioned.

 

The arcade version of Tag Team Wrestling was great... I looked for that any time we hit a boardwalk over the summers. I didn't like the NES version (or was it the C64?) so much, but still played.

 

Loved the original NES Pro Wrestling. Tecmo's was very good also.

 

C64 (Epyx) Championship Wrestling kept me busy a long time, loved it back then.. as well as Bop/Rock n Wrestle.

 

The WWF arcade games were great. Great!

 

The Main Event was huge amongst our group for a time... even set up a big tag team match, with week-long hype and drama. I was on the winning side of that match!

 

Mat Mania is probably #1, maybe #2... that one was excellent. Mania Challenge, not as much, but I never tired of Mat Mania.

[classicgamer74]

I loved Mat Mania, too. I made a whole episode just about it. Also, has to be one of my all-time favorite wrestling games, period. I'm going to make a followup video where I talk about the 90's.

[maxdrive]

Im surprised no one mentioned the great black box nes game pro wrestling. It had great characters and moves and blew the nes WWF games out of the water as always

 

A Winner Is You!

[atarilovesyou]

Three words:

 

KIN

 

KORN

 

KARN

 

...lol, more to follow.

[H.E.R.O.]

As a youngun, the wrestling game I played the most at home was Tag Team Wrestling on Commodore 64. In the arcades it went between WWF Superstars then moved onto Wrestlefest. After that I think there was nothing for me until Power Move Pro Wrestling for the Playstation which I loved to death.

[slab0meat]

Im surprised no one mentioned the great black box nes game pro wrestling. It had great characters and moves and blew the nes WWF games out of the water as always

 

A Winner Is You!

 

 

Loved the original NES Pro Wrestling. Tecmo's was very good also.

 

I only went back two posts to my own, but several people mentioned Pro Wrestling. Great game. I loved that it had Bad News' "Ghetto Blaster", though not called that of course.

[Cynicaster]

After that I think there was nothing for me until Power Move Pro Wrestling for the Playstation which I loved to death.

 

I forgot about that one. I remember renting that a few times in '96 or so. It kind of takes the classic 80s/90s wrestling game play mechanics and brings them forward to the proto-polygon era. The game made a great weekend rental but I think by the time I returned it, I'd had enough.

 

Nowadays, I find games from that era pretty tough on the eyes.

[deepthaw]

Man this is driving me nuts now...I was going to say how much I enjoyed Tecmo World Wrestling on the NES. Great graphics and control, and I SWEAR I remember there being like cutscenes when you did certain moves (say an airplane spin), it would cut to a non-playable animated clip of said move. A clip I remember blowing my young mind graphics wise.

 

But when I look at videos of the game online...I don't see these scenes at all. Am I confusing it with something else?

 

Those were definitely in the game - they were just rare. Don't recall what it took to trigger them, which made it all the more sweet when they happened.

 

https://youtu.be/4ow9cadI_DM?t=345

Edited November 14, 2018 by deepthaw

[slab0meat]

 

Those were definitely in the game - they were just rare. Don't recall what it took to trigger them, which made it all the more sweet when they happened.

 

https://youtu.be/4ow9cadI_DM?t=345

 

Thanks for that link. I'd forgotten just how good that game was.

[classicgamer74]

I just posted part two where I talk about wrestling games from the 90's. Enjoy and please give feedback.

 

[Cobra Kai]

I remember being able to play Mat Mania indefinitely. It was kind of a letdown after that. They didn't fix it with 'Challenge ' either. Basically, you can shoulder block until you wear the opponent down far enough to start using the power moves. The shoulder block was key you can just do it as long as it takes to wear him down.

[MadZiontist]

I used to love that wrestling game early on in the NES lifecycle, Pro Wrestling.

[MadZiontist]

I used to love that Nintendo 1st party wrestling game, early on its lifecycle "Pro Wrestling".

[scotty]

I loved that game. I haven't been able to find a working rom for the Atari ST. I used to play it on a friend's c64. I was really disappointed when I couldn't get the rom to work on the Atari ST emulator because I had a lot of fond memories playing it. I've noticed that it's a crap shoot when it comes to games on the ST. I'm not sure why exactly. I was REALLY thankful that the McDonald's game worked (I discussed that WAY back in the first episode), as I had been waiting more than 30 years for that proto to surface.

 

Does anyone else use the Atari ST emulator? Any advice on how to get it to work better? Are there some settings I should work with?

Never had a problem with WWF Micro League Wrestling for the ST. I just checked this version, and it works fine in Hatari.

 

 

WWF (1992)(Microleague)cr BOSS.zip

Edited December 19, 2018 by scotty

[Duke75]

Tecmo Wrestling was my favorite NES wrestling game, and probably my favorite overall until the AKI N64 games started coming out. Loved the huge and easy to use movesets, the announcer calling the action, the cinematics, and the storyline. Tough one to beat.

[Cynicaster]

I remember being able to play Mat Mania indefinitely. It was kind of a letdown after that. They didn't fix it with 'Challenge ' either. Basically, you can shoulder block until you wear the opponent down far enough to start using the power moves. The shoulder block was key you can just do it as long as it takes to wear him down.

 

 

The shoulder block is very important, yes, but you can get around having to constantly use it once you understand that you have to allow the opponent to land a hit after you do a move or two, otherwise the next move you attempt will get reversed. Two simple and low-risk ways of allowing the opponent to land a "hit" are a) let them land a single punch/kick; b) purposely dash into your opponent causing a collision that knocks both of you down. Either of these events will satisfy the game that the opponent has had a chance to land a hit, which enables you to perform moves without annoying reversals.

 

An almost foolproof method is as follows:

 

match start -> shoulder block -> pick up, sling to ropes, power kick -> pick up, sling to ropes, smash into them on purpose -> power kick a few more times, smashing into them on purpose after each one -> piledriver -> smash into them -> piledriver -> smash into them -> piledriver... etc.

 

Just keep doing the moves until the opponent stays down long enough for you to climb the corner, do 3 knee-drops in a row, and pin. Rinse/repeat.

 

The game is a classic but the experience does suffer once you figure out the exploits. One might be inclined to say "well, simply challenge yourself to not use the exploits," but that's the problem - this isn't like UFO hunting in Asteroids. In that game, you can just choose not to exploit that loophole and progress through the levels. In Mat Mania, best I can tell, using the exploits is the only way to survive. Especially against Coco Savege [sic] - if you let him get control of the match for more than a few seconds, you'll never get it back and it's game over.

[classicgamer74]

 

 

The shoulder block is very important, yes, but you can get around having to constantly use it once you understand that you have to allow the opponent to land a hit after you do a move or two, otherwise the next move you attempt will get reversed. Two simple and low-risk ways of allowing the opponent to land a "hit" are a) let them land a single punch/kick; b) purposely dash into your opponent causing a collision that knocks both of you down. Either of these events will satisfy the game that the opponent has had a chance to land a hit, which enables you to perform moves without annoying reversals.

 

An almost foolproof method is as follows:

 

match start -> shoulder block -> pick up, sling to ropes, power kick -> pick up, sling to ropes, smash into them on purpose -> power kick a few more times, smashing into them on purpose after each one -> piledriver -> smash into them -> piledriver -> smash into them -> piledriver... etc.

 

Just keep doing the moves until the opponent stays down long enough for you to climb the corner, do 3 knee-drops in a row, and pin. Rinse/repeat.

 

The game is a classic but the experience does suffer once you figure out the exploits. One might be inclined to say "well, simply challenge yourself to not use the exploits," but that's the problem - this isn't like UFO hunting in Asteroids. In that game, you can just choose not to exploit that loophole and progress through the levels. In Mat Mania, best I can tell, using the exploits is the only way to survive. Especially against Coco Savege [sic] - if you let him get control of the match for more than a few seconds, you'll never get it back and it's game over.

 

Brilliant! Where were you when I needed your help 20+ years ago?!