WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
System: NES
Release Date: November 1990
Developer: Rare
Publisher: LJN
Genre: Fighting
Take your favorite WWF Superstar to the Championship in WWF Wrestlemania Challenge! There are three modes of play available for you. Pick from and battle against seven Superstars, and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, in singles action. Partner with your other favorite Superstar in tag team action. Or choose a team of three and take on others in the Survivor Series! It’s time for Wrestlemania!
There are actually nine Superstars that you can choose from, including the Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Macho King Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Ravishing Rick Rude, The Big Boss Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, and in a first, Yourself. Matches take place in an isometric ring and movement on the d-pad is tilted so pressing Up takes you to the ropes instead of the corner. You can strike by pressing or tapping the A Button, go for a body slam or back grapple by pressing the B Button, and initiate a Power Move by pressing the A + B Buttons simultaneously. The Power Moves are all strike based. Hacksaw’s Power Move is the 3 Point Stance, which sends him charging into the corner if you aren’t careful!
This is the sequel to Rare developed WWF Wrestlemania, but the quality of the themes have dropped, especially Real American. Rick Rude’s theme sounds like it is right out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? The Big Bossman theme is good and despite never actually having a theme, Andre’s is bad ass. (20:29) New in this installment are tag matches and 3 on 3 Survivor Series matches. Making a tag is as simple as walking near your partner and pressing the Select Button. The Superstar on the outside of the ring will regain their health, making smart tags important to win. Survivor Series matches are elimination as you expect, so it’s a novel experience.
While wrestlers have the same controls and play mostly the same, there are some slight differences. Look how slow Brother Bruti moves! At least they got that part right. I do like that sprites have size differences, but I really don’t like that everyone can slam Andre, but when it’s the only move everyone has, I guess I have to deal with it. There are now attacks to downed opponents, which will be your main way of doing damage. The leg drop is in the game, but Hogan doesn’t have it. Can anyone tell me why? When the Ultimate Warrior throws you outside of the ring, a panic sets in because climbing back in can be tough. It’s weird because there are two different counts instead of one unified count as there should be.
Matches take less than a minute to complete, so I tried making my way through the singles mode as the avatar character, but when I got to Hogan, he took the first fall. When I suggested I win the next one to set up a rubber match, he replied, “That doesn’t work for me, brother,” and took three in a row, ending my championship hopes.
Graphics: 1.5
Wrestlers are small and you can tell who they are, but they don’t look good.
Sound: 2.0
Sound quality is a let down, but it is obviously Rare’s sound font, there are a lot of effects that are reused throughout their games.
Gameplay: 1.0
You’re playing tag most of the time as your opponent runs from you or you try to hide for health. When you want to attack, positioning is all over the place.
Difficulty: 2.0
Wrestlers increase in difficulty as you move up the ladder. Better be perfect against Hogan or be ready for his creative control.
Fun Factor: 1.0
I remember this game being a lot more fun when I was a kid, but it pales in comparison to Nintendo and Tecmo’s wrestling outings.
Overall Rating: 1.5
WWF Wrestlemania Challenge earns a C-. It would have been nice if the programmers from Rare had taken some time to watch some wrestling events before being tapped to develop wrestling games.