WWF Royal Rumble

"The first really good WWF game"

WWF Royal Rumble was the second WWF game to be released for Super Nintendo. It was a simpler age, both in terms of technology and in the demands of players. ''Give us a wrestling game,'' they cried. ''Put in all our favorite wrestlers, give them finishing moves and make them look somewhat realistic.'' WWF Royal Rumble delivered.

Back then there were usually half a dozen wrestlers in a wrestling game, each with the exact same moves and little difference between them. The only thing that made you pick one wrestler over the others was personal preference, they all moved and played the same. WWF Royal Rumble featured twelve of the biggest names in the WWF at that time, and though they had the same basic moves, for the first time each wrestler had his own specific finishing move. Groundbreaking stuff back in 1993. For the first time in a WWF game, you could have Bret Hart apply his Sharpshooter to Lex Luger, or have Mr. Perfect defeat Ric Flair with the dreaded Perfect-Plex. Other wrestlers in the game were Randy Savage, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Ted DiBiase, Tatanka, Crush, Yokozuna, and the Undertaker. The only problem so far is that Hulk Hogan is not in it. He was in the Sega Genesis version however.

Graphics: 8
Bright, colorful graphics make it easy to tell which WWF Superstar is which. All the moves look pretty good, though there aren't many. Each wrestler does a bodyslam, a headbutt, a vertical suplex, a back-breaker and an atomic drop, along with a dropkick, clothesline, hiptoss, and an elbow off the top rope. Not a whole lot, but more than most wrestling games had. All the finishing moves look great.

Sound: 7
Not much to work with, just the wrestler theme songs and the game theme. Nothing special, but not bad. All the wrestlers and the referee make various grunts and groans when you hit them.

Gameplay: 9
It's a simple game: Walk up to your opponent, press a button for a lockup, then press buttons quickly to do a move. For something so simple, it sure is fun. There are a few basic modes, one-on-one, tag team, six man tag, Single or Tag Tournament, Brawl, and Royal Rumble. Brawl is just pummeling your opponent until his energy runs out. Royal Rumble throws all the wrestlers in the game into the ring until only one is left, with wrestlers being eliminated by being tossed over the top rope. The action is more of an arcade style than a straight-up wrestling sim, but at the time it was the most realistic wrestling game out there.

A lot of this game's fun is based on the novelty of it. For people like Ric Flair and Mr. Perfect, this was their only appearance in a WWF game, and some people are drawn to this game based on that alone. For me, it's a nostalgic look at the early-90s WWF, as well as old-school gaming. Simple, addictive fun.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/02, Updated 02/25/02