WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game

"Funny Wrestling?"

An old game for the Sega Genesis that could be picked up for under $5 at a second-hand shop. You wouldn't think it was good seeing as, apart from this, no game bearing the WrestleMania title has been that good. Well, read on...

This game is brilliant. It combines circus style comedy with wrestling, and even more surprising, fighting. You won't be beating on an unconscious opponent for long.

Graphics - 9

The graphics in this game are phenomenal. An old Genesis, can produce better graphics than a reasonably new PlayStation. The crowd looks more realistic than in some PS2 games. These guys jump and down, eat and don't look like cardboard cutouts. Yes, I said eat! There's this one guy who shovels chips into his gob while you are out there putting on a show. They actual wrestlers are simply superb. The reason is because they are the real wrestlers. Just with computer animations. The general picture starts as the real wrestler. Very complex. Overall these are astonishing.

Audio - 7

The sound effects are great. Whether it's Shawn Michaels cracking a baseball bat across a guy's skull, or Doink using a Joy Buzzer, they sound great. The music is awesome. It's crystal clear. They only things that drag the rating down are commentary and that awful dog bark noise between falls. Overall, the audio aspects are good.

Story - 2

Wrestlemania might combine fighting with wrestling, but the story's still the same. Win the belt. The champions aren't saved, there is nothing to unlock and it pretty much sucks in this department. So this is obviously why the score is low.

Replayability - 9

With practically no story, you would think the replayability would be low too, right? Wrong. Though you can only have singles matches and Battle Royals, it's still fun. The Battle Royals are the best part of the game. And with five difficulty levels, It's challenging. So the reason for the high score should be obvious by now. Great.

Controls - 9

The controls are simple. If you don't like them, then change them. Although the game was designed in the six button era, it still accommodates for three and four button controllers. Each wrestler has a reasonable amount of combos. The largest being Razor Ramon's 24 hit combo. The controls, as I said before are simple.

Buy Or Rent

Well seeing as the amount of places that still rent out Genesis games is amazingly low, possible non-existent, the logical thing would be to buy. Hey, this game's good enough to actually get you to buy a Genesis while your at it. And seeing as both are at extremely low prices compared to the release prices. Why not?

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/08/03, Updated 06/08/03