Genre: Action, Sports
Perspective: Side view
Visual: 2D scrolling
Gameplay: Arcade
Sport: Wrestling
Published by: Acclaim Entertainment
Developed by: Midway
Released: 1995
Platforms: SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive, Super Nintendo (SNES), PlayStation (PSX, PS1), SEGA 32X, Arcade Machine
Well, we got to the hottest arcade wrestling. He was very successfully ported to the actual game consoles of his time, thanks to which, the army of fans of this game is one of the largest in the world.It was Wrestlemania Arcade (in common with the pirate MK for Dandy) finally knocked me out of the ranks of fans 8-cue ball. "A decent schedule," I thought, looking at the demonstration. That day, without hesitation, I bought Sego, however, I did not have enough money for a cartridge. I only met wrestling a few years ago. On Eurosport, on Mondays, the WWE Vintage Collection is broadcast. There I first saw the heroes of yesterday, they were exactly the same as in the game.WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game - a reckless fighting game in the style of Mortal Kombat, which absorbed the most prominent fighters and the inexhaustible energy of the popular television fight show from WWF. Wrestling under the license of WWF was released a lot, but this is the first one in which full-fledged digitized characters were used, with all their tricks and jokes. You can play for one of the eight super stars: Doink, Razor Ramon, Brett "Hit Man" Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow and Lex Luger.
Midway at this time was simply unattainable, releasing one after another arcade hits with digitized characters - a series of Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, 2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge and others. Moreover, the game WWF Wrestlemania is assembled on the Mortal Kombat 3 board, but with other ROM chips and written by the same programmers who put their hand to the above mentioned games.I'm not in vain talking about fighting games. The fact is that under the wrapper of wrestling there is a typical fight, and not a sports match. If earlier we fought before the first defeat, and for the victory it was necessary to pin the opponent to the mat, now we must win in two rounds out of three, and it's quite simple how it's possible to decapitate the opponent - this is the end in itself. All previously encountered types of matches have been reduced to the Intercontinental and World Wrestling Championships. In the first case, we are waiting for 4 bouts in the format 1-on-1, then two 1-on-2, and for the final victory it will be necessary to survive in the last match one-against-three. In the second case, you have 2 opponents at the same time, at the end there will be 2 1-on-3 matches and at the very end you will have to survive the Royal battle - eight-on-one, however, at the same time there are no more than 3 rivals in the ring. For the game together there are two more modes - one-on-one and two-on-two. In the second case (Tag Team), both gamers are included in one team with the goal of defeating 4 enemy teams.Similarity with Mortal Kombat does not end there. If the athlete does not get any damage during the fight, he will be praised with "perfect" (flawless victory in MK). Also, from each wrestler at blows "blood" flies out, however, all sorts of food flies out of Yokozuna, from the clown of skittles, from Breta's heart, etc. And the Undertaker has a real "Fatality" - he pushes the opponent into the coffin, which then goes "underground". In order to support the arcade spirit, it was decided to simplify the management to the level of fighting games. And this is four hits - two types of kicks, a hand and a block. All other techniques and impacts are combinations and work in certain situations or after pressing a certain sequence of buttons. The referee in the ring is absent, as is the tedious measurement by forces. But the gameplay is accompanied by cool sound effects and is well commented on. But on this similarity with MK ends. Instead of intense fights, we will have to participate in the reckless slaughter. A lot of funny, comical movements and specific strokes that do not repeat in real life create a relaxed atmosphere, a feeling of unreality, just to get high. As in the case of WWF RAW, each fighter has his own personal characteristics of strength, agility, speed, etc., affecting the course of the battle. And before the start of the fight, athletes run out to the ring, actively pose, and at this time the commentators vigorously represent them. Where else do you see this?The match is commented on by Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler sitting to the right of the ring.In general, such a small number of fighters discourages.
Of course, there is no need to talk about monotony, nevertheless, the game action is very energetic, the same clown is bright as the New Year tree, but the battle against himself here came into the rule, while in games with 12 or more athletes I had to enter a special code to fight with my clone. To somehow diversify the game, the arcade was given the opportunity to change the color of cowards when choosing a fighter, although this is a joy for lovers of Barbie dolls and not for real men! There is a rumor that there is even a hidden character in the game - Adam Bomb. He did not have time to finish, the way of his release to the world is unknown to anyone, except the author of the game. In general, the abundance of myths and rumors speaks about one thing - before us is a cult game. By the way, before the shooting was seriously thought about to include in the game Diesel, but he was too brutal and boring for such a funny game. Shooting fighters were conducted from July to September 1993 (conclusions are not mine), so that the game sounds an old musical theme by Sean Michaels, and Lex Luger long gone to WCW. The choice of fighters is done by arrows, but if laziness - press up + start and the computer will do everything itself.The arcade version (from 08.02.1995, and then revision from 08.10.1995) was instantly ported to Mega Drive, SNES, 32X, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and even DOS. The original is full of bugs, the whole Internet is littered with videos that show wonderful things that are not possible in reality.Without losses when porting to home systems was not done. The thing is that the picture quality in the arcade is quite high - 400x254. All fighters are clear and qualitatively drawn. How many details will be lost if the game is pushed into the screen 256x224 or 320x200? In terms of numbers, 120 pixel fighters from the arcade (in height) were reduced to 80 pixels in the case of SNES and MD. On the Sega 32x, the maximum graphic mode was activated, the fighters were increased to 90 pixels in height, and look much better, although it did not work out for arcade clarity.Super Nintendo generally showed itself with a very bad side. It was simply cut out by Bam Bam Bigelow and Yokozuna! In addition, if there were 3 fighters on the screen at the same time, brakes started. Also, some phrases were cut and the damage done by opponents was reduced. It is rumored that the remaining 6 fighters demonstrate more different attacks than in the original, but I'm too lazy to check it.Segov's version retained most of the sounds, and allows you to fight four fighters at the same time, but, and then there were no brakes. But the Sega 32X got improved graphics and sound. True, the frame rate had to be reduced by half, to 30 frames per second, so that all this did not slow down.The adult versions for PlayStation, Saturn and DOS are even closer to the original by the volume and quality of the media content, but the graphics are still not as clear and the sprites at the Sega 32x level. PlayStation and Saturn during the battle does not play music and in the Battle of the Battle the game brakes during the loading of another fighter.Acclaim, which released the game on the consoles, later released WWF in Your House for PlayStation, Sega Saturn and DOS, but I do not advise this to run at all.Summarizing. Before us, a stunted fighting game in the wrapper WWF, which, along with the games of the Mortal Kombat series set a new bar for the quality of games. If you are looking for serious wrestling - refer to the games from LJN: WWF RAW, WWF Royal Rumble and WWF Rage in Cage.
Codes
Freeze time. During the game, press pause and enter: Left + A + up + down + Bed and + A + Up + Down.
Invulnerability. Stop the fight, pressing the pause and enter the following secret combination: Down + Up + Left + Left + Left + Up + A + up. After activating this code, the scale of the health cease to diminish.
Unlimited combo. In the pause mode, enter the following code: B + A + down + B + Up + Left + Left.
A random character. On the selection screen, wrestlers the first player to move the cursor to a character named Doink and the second joystick "highlight" Razor Ramon. Now press up + start.
Stronger strikes. On pause, press: Down + Up + A + Left + C + Left + Up + B. The now two-three strikes is enough to cope with an opponent.