The 5 Best Old School Wrestling Video Games…Period
By Matt Perri
#4: WWF Wrestlemania Challenge (LJN)
(1990, Nintendo Entertainment System)
A year after Tecmo shocked the world, LJN (yes, THAT LJN) released “WWF Wrestlemania Challenge”, a vast improvement over the terribly impotent “WWF Wrestlemania”.
The game featured a ring set at an isometric angle and actually gave us a decent roster (this thing had Brutus Beefcake and Rick Rude fer cryin’ outloud), entrance music(!), signature moves(!!), and a Survivor Series option(!!!) where you would compete against a friend or the CPU in a 3-on-3 elimination tag team match.
It was the first decent WWF video game on a home system, though I cannot figure out, for the life of me, why LJN gave nearly everyone some sort of finisher (Brutus has his Sleeper, Warrior doesn’t have a Splash, but does have the Gorilla Press, Rude has the Rude Awakening, etc.) but DIDN’T give Hulk Hogan his signature Atomic Leg Drop.
That’s like creating an Indiana Jones game and not including the Bullwhip.
Anyhow, this game was fun for the Survivor Series option alone. To my knowledge, that match mode wasn’t implemented on a wrestling game until this game was released.
Also, it was fun to do swivel-hips whenever Rude’s theme would play…oh, come ON…I can’t be the only person who did that…