WWF Super Wrestlemania

"Thankfully, WWF games got better fast..."

WWF Super Wrestlemania was the first WWF Game on Super Nintendo. It was a drastic improvement over the WWF games on NES, which had low-quality music and mediocre graphics. That said, overall this game is pretty weak, especially compared to its two sequels on the SNES. The wrestlers included are Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Jake ''the Snake'' Roberts, the Undertaker, Hawk, Animal, Earthquake, Typhoon, Ted DiBiase, and Sid Justice.

Graphics: 7
The wrestlers all look decent but move very slowly and stiffly. The graphics of the wrestlers are bright, but the backgrounds are dark and kind of drab. Collision detection is pretty good on most moves, as in the moves hit when they're supposed to. The graphics are probably the high point of the game, it's all downhill from there.

Sound: 6
Each wrestler's theme music is here, but it sounds very tinny and filtered. During the match the only sound is the various stomps and slams, plus the referee's count. A lot of times it's way too quiet, leaving you to wonder if the crowd fell asleep.

Gameplay: 5
All the wrestlers move like they're underwater, everyone moves very slowly. The moves are executed by locking up with your opponent and pressing buttons, but it's very hard to see who has control. Thankfully WWF Royal Rumble instituted a Grapple Meter to show who was in control of a lock-up. All the wrestlers have the same exact moves: punch, kick, bodyslam, suplex, elbow, stomp, clothesline. No finishers, nothing to set one wrestler apart from the others, just a basic brawl-fest. The match modes are single, tag, or Survivor Series, which is 4-on-4.

The best part of this game is that Hulk Hogan is in it. Otherwise the game is entirely forgettable. Everything done with this game was done much better later on in games like WWF Royal Rumble and WWF Raw. It was better than any previous WWF games, but everything that came after it was ten times better. There's nothing here that can impress anyone that's gotten used to playing games like WWF Smackdown and No Mercy. It's not terrible, or even actively bad, but it has nothing to make it stand out at all. Too many superior WWF games have come out since then to make this one anything to get excited about. Entirely average.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/02, Updated 02/25/02