Wrestling Games You May Have Forgot About
WWE recently released WWE 2K23 this past week to not quite rave reviews, but overall the consensus is that this is another enjoyable game for pro wrestling fans to enjoy. AEW is also due to release their Fight Forever video game before the end of the month. There are undeniable pro wrestling video games that fans love, WCW Vs nWo: Revenge, Smackdown vs Raw series, WCW Nitro, WrestleMania 2000, No Mercy, Smackdown: Bring The Pain and several more.
Then there are those games that were not well received. WCW Backstage Assault, WWF In Your House, TNA Impact, ECW Hardcore Revolution, and WWE 2K20 to name a few. While we all have games we love and hate, there are games some may mention and the average person goes when was that released? Here are ten wrestling games you probably forgot about.
WWF: Rage In The Cage
Released in 1993 on Sega CD, Rage In The Cage was best known at the time for having 20 playable wrestlers in the game. The biggest roster of wrestlers available at that time. That is probably the biggest part of the game's legacy, as no one remembers it.
Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home
Once upon a time Backyard wrestling was a very real and popular thing. Many wrestlers trained themselves through backyard wrestling (Hardy Boyz, Seth Rollins, Young Bucks to name a few). Although it's generally discouraged even by pro wrestlers who have done this themselves. It still was popular enough for someone to make a video game featuring backyard wrestling.
Released on Playstation 2 and XBOX in the fall of 2003 (damn, coming up on 20 years already). Backyard Wrestling featured big names like Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J of Insane Clown Posse. ECW legend Sabu was the biggest wrestler with a name in the game. While it was successful enough to gain a sequel There Goes The Neighborhood. No one really remembers this game.
WWF Betrayal
Whoever can save her, gets a shot at the WWF championship per Vince McMahon. The game was released August 7, 2001 on Game Boy Color. Which honestly I don't remember if many people had Game Boy Color, either way this game was easily forgotten.
WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling
The only WCW video game ever released on Super Nintendo. The "cutting edge" video game known as SuperBrawl wrestling featured a total of 12 wrestlers to choose from. It wasn't well received primarily for the graphics and gameplay. Released in November of '94 it fell into obscurity long before WCW as a organization did.
ECW Anarchy Rulz
The follow up to ECW Hardcore Revolution, much like it's predecessor the game was panned for being too similar to the WWF video games (War Zone, WWF Attitude). Of course Acclaim went the lazy route and did not reinvent the wheel from the game engines they developed for those games.
Anarchy Rulz was released on Playstation and Dreamcast in the fall of 2000 and is probably remembered more for being ECW's last game before they went out of business, than any of the actual gameplay.
Power Move Pro Wrestling
A Playstation original developed by Activision, Power Move Pro Wrestling follows a fictional wrestling league featuring fictional wrestlers. Released in fall of '96, the characters are clearly modeled after popular fighting video games of the time. The Mortal Kombat's, Tekken's, and Primal Rage of the era.
The game was actually very enjoyable and produced decently. If it was associated with an actual promotion, it maybe remembered more.
WWE Crush Hour
Take pro wrestlers and the larger than life world they occupy throw them in a mixing bowl with the Twisted Metal franchise. There you have it WWE Crush Hour, a demolition derby style video game. Released in 2003 (Damn another anniversary coming up), on Playstation and Gamecube it's not a traditional wrestling game.
The battles are fought in vehicles and around courses, instead of the squared circle. Since it's an unusual wrestling game, many opted to leave it alone. Hench you probably don't remember it at all.
Legends Of Wrestling
Your Acclaim, you lost the WWF deal to produce their video games a couple years ago. You had a deal with ECW but they went out business, but you still have this game engine that could produce another video game. What do you do? you produce a original video game featuring legendary wrestling figures from various promotions over the years.
The game released December 3rd, 2001 on PS2, XBox, and Gamecube. It maintained an impressive roster of legends who weren't affiliated with the WWE via any contract's at the time. That was the biggest selling point, otherwise the gameplay left a lot to be desired. A sequel Legends Of Wrestling 2 was produced, but didn't improve gameplay much. As such, many probably forgot about this game.
WCW The Main Event
Released on Game Boy in 1994, WCW The Main Event was mauled by critics and gamers upon it's debut. It's choppy game play, effects and sound were just too poor of quality to make the game worldwide. Hey it may have been a 8-bit game in the mid 90's, but we still had standards back then as well.
As such the game was swept under the rug and you likely will never hear anyone talk about it.
WWF King Of The Ring
Released in the fall of '93 on Nintendo and Game boy, a few months after the actual first King Of The Ring tournament was held in the WWF. The game featured top WWF roster members of the time Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Yokozuna, and more. It also was one of the first instances of Create a wrestler option in video games. Although you couldn't do anything but give him a name.
The gameplay was fair for it's time but nothing to run home about. As such it has feel down the list of wrestling video games in history, and most don't remember much about it.
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