Favorite Wrestling Video Games

[bradhindsight]

I'm a pretty big retrogamer and the only wrestling title that has really alluded me is WCW SuperBrawl for the SNES. Not that it's rare or very valuable but not a common one.

 

I was fortunate to be in college from the second half of '97 to '01 so I spent a LOT of time with THQ/AKI games on the Nintendo 64. I have a lot of fond memories. I picked up the Virtual Pro Wrestling games a couple years ago (Stan Hansen!) but haven't played them as much as I should (and there are great translation guides out there).

 

The one game I always thought came closest to mirroring the No Mercy feel was WrestleMania XIX on the GameCube. Yes, the single player mode was, lets just say "non standard" (this was the platforming game where you had to get a briefcase or something from Stephanie and you spent the bulk of it knocking construction-working wrestling villains into an abyss) but the actual wrestling was decent. The collision detection was god-awful but the roster was good (they even snuck in Goldberg).

 

Of the more recent gens, I played a lot of the first Day of Reckoning game (I did not like SvR - nor tortured myself with anything from the oXbox like Raw, Raw 2 or the previously mentioned WrestleMania 21) and like SvR 09 for the 360. I love the Attitude era campagin in WWE '13.

 

I also thought the arcade-y WWE All-Stars game was excellent.

[Stiva]

The Football Manager series is the ultimate for this, divorce cases.

Showed this game to my buddy at work (from UK, has been here since '99 and his wife won't let him buy the "Soccer TV Package" or whatever it is, and he really misses his EPL).

 

He bought the game a week later and IMMEDIATELY took 3 weeks of vacation in order to play it. A year later, he's still totally hooked.

 

I realised the other day that I've been playing CM/FM now for well over a decade and that's crazy. I've assembled some great teams though...

 

And, JVK, I believe the DOTT type mods originate at Extreme Warfare Battleground as that's the place I've seen most mods put together. As you say though, a lot of the real world mods require some tweaking before you begin but I guess everyone has their biases. I always have to boost Big Show's stats a bit.

[Guest TheGreatPuma]

Despite loving and having played a ton of video games I haven't played any in awhile and have unfortunately played very few wrestling games. My username name gives away my favourite wrestling game

"Pro Wrestling for the NES" The Great Puma is the lengendary Tiger Mask who is the secret hidden boss who you only meet after having 10 successful title defenses. He can do any of the moves in the game which is pretty symbolic of real life. Tiger Mask was not only in Tekken but was also going to be in Street Fighter II. It goes to show the legendary impact he had on the puroresu scene.

 

WCW for the NES I loved too. Tecmo World Wrestling I never got to play but I always thought it looked pretty unique both with the moves, stars, commentary and presentation. Again, I loved that the final boss was Andre the Giant in a mask who wasn't even in WCW at the time! Yet another all time legendary figure which again I thought was cool as anything. A nice symbol of the epic legend that is Andre.

 

I also enjoyed WCW vs the World on Playstation especially seeing how they featured Dean, Eddie, Benoit and all the international stars. SuperFireProWrestling is a series that looked incredible but I never played.

[Smack2k]

I'm a pretty big retrogamer and the only wrestling title that has really alluded me is WCW SuperBrawl for the SNES. Not that it's rare or very valuable but not a common one.

 

I was fortunate to be in college from the second half of '97 to '01 so I spent a LOT of time with THQ/AKI games on the Nintendo 64. I have a lot of fond memories. I picked up the Virtual Pro Wrestling games a couple years ago (Stan Hansen!) but haven't played them as much as I should (and there are great translation guides out there).

 

The one game I always thought came closest to mirroring the No Mercy feel was WrestleMania XIX on the GameCube. Yes, the single player mode was, lets just say "non standard" (this was the platforming game where you had to get a briefcase or something from Stephanie and you spent the bulk of it knocking construction-working wrestling villains into an abyss) but the actual wrestling was decent. The collision detection was god-awful but the roster was good (they even snuck in Goldberg).

 

Of the more recent gens, I played a lot of the first Day of Reckoning game (I did not like SvR - nor tortured myself with anything from the oXbox like Raw, Raw 2 or the previously mentioned WrestleMania 21) and like SvR 09 for the 360. I love the Attitude era campagin in WWE '13.

 

I also thought the arcade-y WWE All-Stars game was excellent.

 

I collect games (mostly sports and wrestling titles) and it took me a while to find that WCW Superbrawl game to...wasnt super expensive but its the only time I've seen it since....

[Death From Above]

TEW is the one that's been around for more than a decade, right? When ever I'd read about it and get tempted by it, that game always struck me as 90% of what in that type of a pro wrestling game... but the 10% missing was mostly in the make/break range for me, making me feel like I didn't want to spend a hundred hours toiling in it to not really get what I wanted. If that makes any sense? :/

Yeah it's been around for ages. Adam Ryland has done a ton of different versions.

 

He started out the concept thinking it would be a card game, then decided it worked better as a PC game. I have not played the first version of EW which was out at some point in the 1990's.

 

Second game was Extreme Warfare Deluxe which came around turn of the century I think, which although pretty simplistic compared to the stuff that followed was still sort of a landmark game as far as wrestling booking games goes. In some ways its simplicity was quite appealing, but it also limited the fun long term for me.

 

Third was Extreme Warfare Revenge. This was the last freeware version and still has some degree of a following today. You get a lot more complexity with being able to set match types, tv networks, staff having more of an impact etc. It can be a bit much at points but overall it's great freeware. There are a lot of historical scenarios floating around and last I checked last year people were still putting out annual "roster updates" if you want to start from current.

 

Then came the Total Extreme Warfare games, which I have not tried. I think there's been about a half dozen of those.

[JerryvonKramer]

I've been playing CM/FM since 1996. I just play one career per iteration. Tend to work out my squad on pen and paper and then starting XIs home and away at the start of each the season and then work out transfer targets and so on. In my mind I was one of the best managers ever and did things in the game like win the European Cup with Swansea. However, since about 2011 or so my old forumulas haven't been working as well and it's been taking me longer to find success. I'll never start in the EPL, always at least one division down. Got my mojo back in the 2013 edition and did big things with Leeds before moving to Bayern ... bit I find that I have very long periods now where I don't play, whereas from 96 to about 2009 it was a basic way of life.

 

Weirdly, I think it's PWO and wrestling watching in general that has gradually replaced my Football Manager habit/addiction. There are probably people on this board who wish I'd fall off the wagon and get back to it ...

 

TEW is the one that's been around for more than a decade, right? When ever I'd read about it and get tempted by it, that game always struck me as 90% of what in that type of a pro wrestling game... but the 10% missing was mostly in the make/break range for me, making me feel like I didn't want to spend a hundred hours toiling in it to not really get what I wanted. If that makes any sense? :/

TEW started in 2005 after years and years of the Extreme Warfare games. It's had a few editions (05, 08, 10, and now 13). It's the sort of game where you have to set your own goals and make your own fun really. Some of it only reveals itself after like 3-4 years of booking, it's kind of hard to explain.

 

There's a strange sense of something when you go back and look at the history you've made. Weird things, like the 2-month title run you gave Bill Dundee 4 years ago or how you took Ron Simmons from being a young job guy to a nationally popular maineventer or whatever. The game never says "well done". Any odd sense of accomplishment is entirely your own. It's the narratives you make for yourself -- FM is kinda like that too really, most sandbox-y simulations are. It's a combination of imagination or make believe and staring into the fire.

 

The main problem, I guess, with all such games is that they are prone to holding your attention intensely for maybe a month or even two or three, but there usually comes a point where you go off it or forget about it for a while too. There is no natural end so "drifting off" is going to be common. A bit like playing with Lego or model trainsets or something.

[Death From Above]

I once started a "breakaway company" scenario where I got Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, The Dudleys, and a couple minor people to break away from WWE. I had the Dudleys ace the tag division early, then they got beat by issuing an open challenge and having The Faces of Fear come out of nowhere and beat them on their debut.

 

I also abused TNA's roster so bad they went out of business within 6 months.

[BrickHithouse]

I quit the game cold-fucking-turkey when, after a match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin it said something like "The match was poor due to the two wrestlers not having any chemistry".

[JerryvonKramer]

Funny enough James, this is EXACTLY what stopped me playing a while back too.

 

"Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever" And then after a Midnights match a message:

 

"Bobby Eaton: I would be better off without Jim Cornette as my manager".

 

I tried to roll with it by having the MX turn face after Cornette double-crossed them and started managing Butch Reed and Ernie Ladd, but it was no good -- kayfabe was broken and I had to stop playing.

 

That part of it, the chemistry, I believe is randomised by an algorithm and is down to luck of the draw. Nothing the mod-makers can do about it.

[goodhelmet]

[Stiva]

I once started a "breakaway company" scenario where I got Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, The Dudleys, and a couple minor people to break away from WWE. I had the Dudleys ace the tag division early, then they got beat by issuing an open challenge and having The Faces of Fear come out of nowhere and beat them on their debut.

 

I also abused TNA's roster so bad they went out of business within 6 months.

Speaking of EWR, that random feature where Pinky and the Brain start up a Global competitor to WWE could be infuriating if they started taking your main event guys from you but could be hilarious if you managed to fend them off and they had to main event PPVs with Rene Dupree and fell out of business in 6 months.

[BrickHithouse]

Damn, what a great cover. Have seen this guy's/girl's work in other places. Anyone happen to know who the artist is?

[Death From Above]

Yeah that's pretty sweet. Like 70's film posters sweet.

[Smack2k]

Funny enough James, this is EXACTLY what stopped me playing a while back too.

 

"Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever" And then after a Midnights match a message:

 

"Bobby Eaton: I would be better off without Jim Cornette as my manager".

 

I tried to roll with it by having the MX turn face after Cornette double-crossed them and started managing Butch Reed and Ernie Ladd, but it was no good -- kayfabe was broken and I had to stop playing.

 

That part of it, the chemistry, I believe is randomised by an algorithm and is down to luck of the draw. Nothing the mod-makers can do about it.

I thought in these games you determine everythign that happens...is that not true? How do you get to these scenarios where the game says things like the Eaton comment?

 

Sorry, dont know the game well but am VERY interested...

[jdw]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Pro_W...33;_Keishō

 

And bottom half of this:

 

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/akiwrestl...tlinggames3.htm

 

With the top being the related US version.

 

That Royal Road Succession sounds kind of fun. It's the equiv of Road to WrestleMania in the US version. I was long past playing non-PC video games by that point, so I don't know if the US version was fun to pass through.

[Death From Above]

I thought in these games you determine everythign that happens...is that not true? How do you get to these scenarios where the game says things like the Eaton comment?

 

Sorry, dont know the game well but am VERY interested...

Generally you could produce "these people just don't have good matches" by putting on complete style clashes like Juventud Guerrera vs. Sid or something. Then you might get Juventud saying "I don't like working with Sid can I work with Psychosis instead I bet we'd have good matches". I can't remember seeing it happen much with, like Bret/Austin kind of matchups, but I haven't played it in a while now It might have something to do with workers disliking each other, but I'm not sure why that would apply to Eaton/Cornette either.

[BrickHithouse]

Here's a download link for TEW5 Freeware.

 

http://www.greydogsoftware.com/downloads.php?id=48

[ButchReedMark]

I haven't played Championship/Football Manager past 2.0, which is way back in the late 90s. It was a shitload of fun, though again the AI was too easy. Of course I played as United, so you had that strong base to begin with, and then could pick off most anyone you wanted via transfer and had loads of money to do so.

Then you played it wrong! Real men take some team in the Conference (or personally, Wrexham as I support them) and make diamonds from coal with no money due to diligent scouting, hard work and tactical knowledge and lose days of sleep as it's more addictive than smack. I actually lost relationships due to the time I spent nurturing 16 year old Finnish lads I got on a free for Cefn Druids on CM01/02.

 

But yeah. Screw EWR. I had some mod from 1993 or something and Barry Windham had about 60/100 for Brawl and fuck all else for Technical and Speed, and Christian Cage (who I'm not even sure was wrestling at the time) had 90odd for everything. I don't think I've ever got more than 3 or 4 months into a game either as I'd get really frustrated with Jerry Lynn getting 100 over without ever winning a match as the game decided he was having great matches with everyone.

[Smack2k]

That is the one I downloaded....

 

Pretty easy to get moving with?

 

I tried EWR but couldnt really get into it as I had to determine it all....what makes it the most fun?

[ButchReedMark]

I also abused TNA's roster so bad they went out of business within 6 months.

Ha! I did that once. I renamed it HOGAN, and every single match on the card was Hogan beating someone with a Hogan celebration ceremony angle thing afterwards. Didn't last long.

[BrickHithouse]

....what makes it the most fun?

I never figured that out. FUCK, it was so frustrating!

[Stiva]

That is the one I downloaded....

 

Pretty easy to get moving with?

 

I tried EWR but couldnt really get into it as I had to determine it all....what makes it the most fun?

Having a good imagination mostly and, as Jerry says, setting your own little targets as you go as the game offers you nothing in reward. The things that kept me going were saves where I had a guy I wanted to get over (though it's very easy on EWR if they have good stats) or booking something like The Invasion.

 

TEW is definitely more in-depth but requires a bigger time commitment than EWR.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

Don't mean to drag this away from wrestling games, but since OOTP was mentioned...

 

Anyone here play Front Office Football? The game desperately needs an update, it looks terrible, but for my money is the best (only?) pro football sim. PFS isn't there yet IMO, but is one to keep an eye on.

 

OOTP is so awesomely deep that I can't get past the start menu...

I played FOF but quit because the single-player AI roster management is terrible. After free agency ends, you can always have your pick of solid veterans to sign and fill out your roster before training camp because the AI teams were either too stupid to sign them or in salary cap hell. The developer has announced a new version that he hopes to release in November. Unless the single-player AI is improved....I don't know....doesn't seem very appealing yet.

 

I got into Action PC Football recently. It's not a career sim and buying the seasons is a money pit, but it's a fun game. How is PFS for single-player career mode? Someone needs to teach the OOTP crew about American football so they can make the OOTP of football sims.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

Don't mean to drag this away from wrestling games, but since OOTP was mentioned...

 

Anyone here play Front Office Football? The game desperately needs an update, it looks terrible, but for my money is the best (only?) pro football sim. PFS isn't there yet IMO, but is one to keep an eye on.

 

OOTP is so awesomely deep that I can't get past the start menu...

I haven't played any of the versions of OOTP from the period they joined the Football Manager folks and then split back off. I want to say 6.5 or so was the last version I played, and the final version we used in out online league. The AI was mediocre and the ability to sim-control your club (rather than manage every at bat) was something that needed more work. That said, it was a fun game and career mode let you have a lot of fun building a team over the years. Things like Cato let you track your data better as well.

 

The last two versions of OOTP have been nearly flawless. Literally my only complaint is that the AI when doing an inaugural draft is a little weak. Other than that, I don't know how you can make a better game.

 

I am a fanboy, though, so take that for what it's worth.

[Slasher]

There's a strange sense of something when you go back and look at the history you've made. Weird things, like the 2-month title run you gave Bill Dundee 4 years ago or how you took Ron Simmons from being a young job guy to a nationally popular maineventer or whatever. The game never says "well done". Any odd sense of accomplishment is entirely your own. It's the narratives you make for yourself

Yeah I have this EWR file that I started back in 2005 or something, and I play occasionally still to this day-- put a good twenty years of game time on it. It is always awesome to look back in my history and see the company I created evolve from a regional fed to something that actually drove the WWE out of the business and taking its place as the defacto wrestling fed to be. The big names that were in the games back in 2005 are of course gone and the guys that came up from scratch in my farm are on their way out as well. And there is a great sense of pride seeing a lot of no names become global stars and my titles having so much prestige and history behind them.