WWF Super Wrestlemania

"Flying Edge: We take the fun out of Wrestling!"

I do not think I can articulate the ultimate excitement that came when my brother bestowed his Genesis unto me! He was leaving the house for a life of his own and felt he had no reason to tote a game system around with him. I gladly took it off his hands. Before having a Genesis, I always dreamed of the different games I would rent if I actually had one. One of them was WWF Super Wrestlemania. I remembered playing WWF Royal Rumble on Genesis and enjoying it. I thought maybe the same would come of a relationship between myself and WWF:SW. However, after playing it I returned it to the video store and said that I had found it under a different game, which I hadn't. It was the only way to switch rentals. Sure, I may burn in Hell for it, but I guess it may almost be worth it to have Super Wrestlemania out of my immediate possession. The game lacked the elements that made the WWF 16-bit games worth playing. The strange button setting and move decision system made the game perplexing and dull. To this day, I still suffer from nightmares and occasional chills.

WWF Super Wrestlemania allows you to take the role of one of eight WWF superstars: Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, British Bulldog, Ted DiBiase, Shawn Michaels, Randy Savage, or Papa Shango. You can take whichever wrestler of the eight through one of four different modes: One-on-one, tag team, Survivor Series, which is a four on four elimination match; or WWF Championship, which is a one-on-one tourney to the heavyweight title.

For the time, the mode selection was actually not too bad. There were not too many wrestling games that allowed you to do more than basic exhibition matches or title tournaments. The addition of Survivor Series did help keep the game away from a completely horrid fate. Sadly, the wrestler roster is lacking. Sure, you have most of the big names from the time, but what about Undertaker, Bret Hart, Earthquake, or Bam Bam Bigelow? I'm sure they could have sacrificed Papa Shango for one of the above. This is one of the most lack luster rosters in WWF history.

With the minor elements out of the way, it's time we delve into the guts of the game. Um... I guess in terms of guts, this game is incredibly malnourished. As your wrestler and the opponent square off in the ring, some may expect this game to be like its overshadowing younger brothers. In many ways, it is. You can chose to grapple your opponent, punch, or kick. Grappling allows you to do some different basic wrestling moves. There are even a few you can do straight off the bat without grappling. In most wrestling games, when you grapple with someone, you can usually tell who has the advantage of the grapple. In this one, it's difficult to tell. You may look like the boss, but you may actually be the chump. Before you can say, ''Who's the man!?,'' you're down for the count.

You can struggle to get back up and try again, but sadly the twitchy and somewhat slow controls prevent you from doing this effectively. It does this to the point that if you button mash, you may actually accidentally win. Half the time, it seems you cannot tell if the move your try for goes through or not. For instance, by pushing A+B with some characters, you can execute a headbutt. Sometimes it will work exactly as it should, sometimes you will get a bodyslam for your troubles. This seemingly chaotic system takes the control away from you and leaves it mostly up to fate.

Unlike many other wrestling games, you can do your finisher at any time. There is a reason that most wrestling games do not let you do your finisher right away. It's so you don't constantly use it over and over. This seems to be an effective strategy, too. While playing as Papa Shango, I executed the Shoulder Breaker about half a dozen times and brought my opponent down to a sliver of life. Likewise, your opponent can do the same, and in harder difficulties, they do do the same. Usually, finishers are called that because they signify the immanent end of the match. If you do it at the beginning and it does not finish off your opponent, it's not really a ''finisher'' then, is it? This would be like Scorpion pulling off his face flesh, burning his victim to a crisp, and then his victim getting back up to continue the fight, saying, ''Oww! That kinda hurt!''

To tag onto the really bad controls and idiotic finisher system, you have the steep change in difficulty. When you go from easy to medium, you really go from playable to ridiculous. The same can be said from medium to hard, except on a grander scale. The game totally owns you before you can really get the hang of the graphics and playing style of the computer. Each match pretty much becomes a disappointing, one-sided squash. In effect it becomes like the olden days of WWF when 75-90% of the matches on their non-pay-per-view shows were your favorite wrestler versus some nobody with a normal name like Mike Johnson or Don Smith.

The graphics are somewhat better and somewhat worse than the follow-ups. Better in that the crowd didn't look like a bunch of piranha people, despite the fact that they did look like an oil painting. Some of the flesh tones also showed some decent detail to them. The major downside, though, was the design itself. Most of the wrestlers have the same build with a different head or a different set of attire. Some of the attire, such as Ultimate Warrior's face paint, looks stale and gaudy. When did the Ultimate Warrior look like he was white washed in bloody snow?

The sound department was a real turn-off. Sure, the Genesis may not have had the best sound capabilities for its time, but if a competent enough composer came along, you could get music like that of Sonic the Hedgehog or Crusader of Centy going. Whoever did the composing for this game certainly did not take the time to explore what could be done. Most of the music sounds like amateur MIDI files. A great example would be Ultimate Warrior's theme, which was supposed to sound energetic and pumped. Instead, it sounded like he should have been named the Tinkerbell Warrior. Papa Shango's music, which was supposed to capture the essential feel of Voodoo instead capture the essential feel of a rusty nail on a chalkboard. On a lighter note, the sound effects were not too bad. They were about the only saving grace to this department. Sure, you hear a lot of the same ''Ughs'' over and over again, but at least they sound better than the music in this game.

WWF Super Wrestlemania on Genesis has to be one of the the worst contributions to the wrestling genre. This seems like it was cranked out in a hurry to get more WWF merchandise sold. As if WWF wasn't getting enough revenues from crap like Wrestling Buddies and action figures. The developers spent little to no time on the actual gameplay, neither did they spend much time on the music or even the all around approach to the game. Just look at the wrestler selection. This game's SNES counterpart pulled off a much more effective game, and it still really is not that good either.

All they had to do was take their time and put in a slightly bigger roster (I'm not expecting more than maybe 10-12 wrestlers), the developers probably would have delivered a worth wrestling game to the Sega Genesis. Sadly, this came off as strike one. If you're looking for a good old school wrestling game, go with WWF Royal Rumble on either system, WWF Rage in the Cage for Sega CD, Natsume Championship Wrestling, or even WWF Raw is War on SNES. In that domain, this game is the dregs at the bottom of the barrel.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Eh... 5/10
Sound: Eww! 4/10
Control: Train = derailed 5/10
Plot/Storyline: N/A
Gameplay: Run, just run... and don't look back! 3/10
All Together: 3/10

Perks
*Sound effects, I guess

Downers
*Bland graphics
*Terrible music
*Poorly crafted engine
*Lackluster roster
*Insanely difficult

Recommendations
I guess even die hard WWF and wrestling fans maybe a bit discouraged out of this one. I really can't stand it. I guess this would be for those who want a really frustrating and poorly put together WWF game.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/26/01, Updated 04/07/04