WWF Wrestlemania

Since I’ve been so nice with my video game reviews, I decided to review a video game that I absolutely hate.


WWF Wrestlemania for the Nintendo Entertainment System has to be one of the worst video games of all time. It is the first licensed video game by World Wrestling Entertainment (then World Wrestling Federation) that featured our favorite pro wrestlers of the time like Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Andre The Giant.


Before WWF Wrestlemania, we had games like Nintendo’s Pro Wrestling and Technos’ Tag Team Wrestling that were fun but had generic wrestlers. This was to be the first time we could wrestle as the same athletes we seen on TV.

The problem is there is no wrestling in this video game. There are only punch and kick attacks. Somehow the computer is able to bodyslam me, but I can’t grapple with the computer. Actually, there is no grappling at all in this game. There are no universal commands like in other wrestling games. To pin an opponent takes a different combination of pressing buttons for every wrestler, and if an opponent is pinned, there is never a chance of kicking out of that three count. Last, I like to say that for a wrestling game, it’s pretty lame that you can’t fight outside of the ring.


WWF Wrestlemania for the NES had to of been a exploitation of wrestling fans to get a quick buck, because this is everything a wrestling video shouldn’t be.

Graphics- D

Sound- B

Game play- F

Metroid

Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment System has to be one of my favorite games of all time. In the game, the player is Samus Aran, a bounty hunter on a mission to stop evil space pirates that have captured a race of powerful creatures called metroids that have the ability to take a living being’s life force.

Sounds like something out of a science fiction work, right?

The story takes place in the caverns of planet Zebes and it is your objective to collect power ups for Samus’ power suit to enable you to go further into the caverns of Zebes for the final showdown between you and the space pirates’ leader, Mother Brain.


The game has simple directional pad controls and two buttons for jumping and shooting your beam. Once you make it to the end of the game, it is revealed during the credits that Samus Aran is actually a female. That makes her one of the first women protagonist in video game history (second to Ms. Pac Man, I believe).


Graphics- B

Sound- A

Game Play- A

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Entertainment System tells the story of Little Mac, a 17-year-old amateur boxer from the streets of Brooklyn, New York, that has hopes of becoming the World Video Boxing Association (W.V.B.A.) champion. With the help of his trainer, Doc Louis (who uncannily resembles Reginald VelJohnson from the TV show Family Matters), Little Mac must face opponents like the clumsy behemoth, King Hippo; Soda Popinski, a towering dimwitted fighter that is addicted to soda pop and lame jokes; the W.V.B.A. champion that fights in bad-ass swim briefs, Super Macho Man; and finally, Kid Dynamite himself, then real life world heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson.


Little Mac has three basic punches: a jab, a body blow, and a staggering uppercut. In addition to punching, Mac can also dodge and block an opponent’s attack. In between matches there is commentary from both sides of the ring. Your opponent will taunt you, and Doc Louis will be the big help that he is and will usually tell you to join the Nintendo fan club.


Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is the best comical boxing game ever created and has given me over 20 years of entertainment.


Graphics- A
Sound- A
Game play- A

Pro Wrestling

Pro Wrestling for the Nintendo Entertainment System takes you into the ring with the larger than life characters of the Video Wrestling Association and their quest to capture the V.W.A. title. The game stars wrestlers: “The Invincible Warrior,” Fighter Hayabusa; the crazy luchador presumably from Mexico, Starman; the very useless, Kin Corn Karn; the fierce, Giant Panther; a wild green monster, The Amazon; and the V.W.A. champion that looks a lot like an 80s Hulk Hogan knock off, King Slender.

In this game a player controls one of these mighty wrestlers to climb the ranks of other four in order to challenge V.W.A. champion, King Slender. The game is very basic with punch and kick buttons. Wrestlers can also grapple to perform moves like body slams, suplexes, or send your opponent to the ropes for a clothesline. If you really want to fight dirty, you can send your opponent to the outside of the ring for some hardcore beatings against the barricade. Every one of these six wrestlers has their own special moves.


Once you become the V.W.A. champion, you have to defend your title a total of ten times. Then you are challenged by the Video Wrestling Federation (V.W.F.) champion, the Great Puma, who possesses all six characters special moves and has a habit of kicking ass.


Pro Wrestling is the first pro wrestling game for the Nintendo Entertainment System and probably the best one made.

Graphics- B
Sound- B
Game play- B