The Top Five Professional Wrestling Video Games of All Time

WWF Superstars (Arcade – 1989)

WWF Superstars was the first WWF arcade game to be released. Known for its large and colorful characters, this game featured everything from the most popular wrestlers of that era, their signature moves and all the taunts that fans enjoyed.

WWF Superstars offered a one-player and two-player campaign that saw players push through multiple matches before challenging Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant in the final. The controls were a simple two-button system, one for striking and the other for grappling. While many of the moves were the same across all of the characters, there were a few distinctions when it came to “special” moves that could be used when the opponent was worn down to a point near defeat.

WWF Superstars featured all of the big names during that time; Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, Big Boss Man, Jim Duggan and the Honky Tonk Man. DiBiase and Andre are not playable, but there are cameos by Virgil, Mean Gene Okerlund and Miss Elizabeth.

WWF Superstars was a relatively straight forward wrestling game that could quickly consume all of your weekly allowance as your funneled more quarters into the machine to get to the next match. While it doesn’t hold up to modern wrestling games, it’s an enjoyable nostalgia trip for fans of that generation. The feeling of finally defeating DiBiase and Andre to win the titles was exciting, and then players were hit with an immediate gut punch when they had to defend those titles in three very difficult rematches. Either way, WWF Superstars was one of the first enjoyable wrestling arcade games available.