2. "WWF Wrestlemania" (NES) 1989
Roster: Hogan, Andre, Savage, Honky Tonk, Bigelow and Ted DiBiase WWF Wrestlemania came out in 1989 and was the second licensed WWF game, and first ever WWF game to be released on the NES. It also marked the beginning of a relationship with Acclaim which would run until ten years later in 1999. If the reminder that floppy disks ever existed was a bit too much for you, you'll be happy to know that this game came on a plain old cartridge. It was released just before the real life Wrestlemania 5 event and was intended to promote the event and its Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage main event. Thankfully, the turn based interactive novel approach was dropped and fans finally got to take control of the wrestlers in a fighting game. Though finally getting what they want in terms of the genre, the gameplay was lacking. Turning on the game greeted you with a pixelated version of Hulk Hogan from the front of the box, though somewhere in the conversion he swapped his leathery tanned skin in for a radioactive pink version. Making it past the menus and into the game introduced the standard that most wrestling games in the following years would follow. Each wrestler was armed with basic attacking moves, running strikes and top turnbuckle moves. Taking into account wrestler's weight, Andre and Bam Bam Bigelow could not do top rope moves, despite Bigelow being known for being an athletic big man his whole career. In an interesting note for the earliest of wrestling games, each wrestlers individual moves even made sense. For example while most wrestlers threw punches, Randy Savage used elbows like his real life counterpart. Also, only Hulk Hogan could body slam Andre the Giant. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities ended. The actual animations of the wrestlers barely looked like who they were supposed to, although in fairness it was probably decent for 1989. Since the game didn't include the wrestler's ring entrance, the music oddly played in the background while you fought your opponent. Colours were as basic as it gets, and the ring took up the entirety of the screen, meaning the action was confined between the ropes. It did include a strange "Anger" mode where a wrestler got more and more pink as the fight went on, and could then enter angry mode and execute more damage. During fights, power ups for regaining health would appear in the ring, with each one being unique to the wrestler you controlled. For example, Honky Tonk Man's power up was shaped like a guitar, because he liked to pretend to play guitar. Game modes were understandably basic, being only a single exhibition or a tournament against all the other wrestlers in the game. Mostly unexciting gameplay for the WWE's first outing on a home console, though it is interesting to note the very early versions of what would become staples of the genre. In the end though, this game was mostly all about mashing buttons until someone couldn't answer a three count.