Wrestling Video Games: The Golden Era

I’ve basivally described, just recently (and I;ve probably said it, somewheres before. I don’t know), that I was first a fan of wrestling video games before I was ever a fan of pro-wrestling. For sure, I owned WWF Royal Rumble on the Segan Genesis. And when I started watching WCW (as described in that previously mentioned rambling_) I had the thought, “Scott Hall looks a LOY like Razor Ramon from Royal Rumble). But forget all of that.

THE

First wrestling game I ever played. Was…

And hell, I’m seven or eight-years-old. Anf this shit’s fun. And again. I’m seven-eight-years-old in 95 or 96. And such. Then, eventually, I get the SNES and Sega aroung the same time. Honestly, I have no idea which came first. How. Or… even why. I don’t know these things. All I KNOW is that I had Royal Rumble, before I had WWF Raw on SNES. Hell. I’m not even sre if I had Raw before or after I had started watching wrestling.

Merhaps it was after I becae a fan of wrestling. Again. I’m not sure. Either way. Royal Rumble and Raw were, essentially, the same thing. With an “updated” roster. And shit. I JUST RECENTLY discovered that Royal Rumble on SNES had a TOTALLY different roster than that on Sega, you know, the game that I “started with,” or… you kno… really planted the seeds of my love of wrestling.

Channel flipping happened. Hogan. Bischoff. As described in the rambling I’ve talked about before.

And. Yeah dude.

I was instantly hooked with this “Sting” guy battling the evil force that ws the nWo. All of that. Especially for me, a Batmansturbator of nine-years-old, just starting to realize how dark Batman is and can be. Hell. Just discovering the concept of, “darkness.”

Gaming wise? I was… obviously, not TOO instrested. For most of this time, I’ve just gone along with what my family could afford. And shit. We couldn’t afford an NES until like ’95 or somewheres in there.

But of course. WCW vs. the World happened. And. Jesus Christ. I NEEDED a Playstation. And I NEEDED to play this game. Or else. I remember going to Wal-Mart and seeing the game behind their glass and… just… being overwhelemed. It was the first time wrestling (or, anything really, outside of movies) MARKETED to me. You know? This was THE thing I needed. In my life. As a nine-year-old.

And. Bless my dad’s heart (forreals, no, literally), I don’t know how or why or whatever. Shit. I was a total dick about the whole situation. That afore mentioned Wal-Mart viewing? After learning I couldn’t get the game and a PPlaystation, I gave him the Sting silent treatment. I was that pissed/spoiled. Or something.

I know it wasn’t Christmas. Or my birthday. Or anything like that. All I know is he eventually caved in, and got me a Playstation from a Pawn Shop. And I had WCW vs. the World. And. Jesus Christ. I’ve always been a piece of shit.

And. JUST NOW. After watching that 616entertainment vide, did I remember how awesome the game was. It was THE foundation of everything that THE BEST wrestling games to come would be. Right?

So. OK. Best friend of mine would go on to own an N64 and we’d constantly play WCW vs. nWo World Tour. Which, was, essentially the same game as “vs. the World.” But not really.

Somewheres in early ’98 comes around. And that friend, Billy’s all on about this new game that’s coming out soon called, “WWF War Zone.” And it’s going to be the best wrestling game ever. Or whatever. Long story short, War Zone comes out, we both play it on our consoles (hell, I might’ve had an N64 at that point, I don’t know, probablu not because) we kept going back and forth about which console was better for the game, Playstation or N64. Whatever. Obviously, the game was shit. Bottom line. BUt. Weapons matches was cool. It was also kinda cool that Bret Hart ws in the game. And. You know. It happened MONTHS after the Montreal Screwjob. Shit. Bret Hart: Wrestling with Shadows was nearly, if not, released.

Then. The granddaddy of them all happened. Not THE best, obviously. But. WITHOUT A DOUBT. If “vs. the World” was the foundation? THIS was the… I don’t know? Walls on top of the foundation?

Good Lord man. So many hours were spent on this game. Not wasted. But spent. I DEFINITELY had an N64 by the time it was released in late ’98 (but not a memory card, trust me that needs to be clarified). And Jess Christ dude. It was just so damn fun. I remember first renting it from Blockbuster. Amd O wanted to ujnlock as much as I could be fore I had to gbo to bed. I won the cruiserweight with Chavo Guerrero Jr. (honestly, I wasn’t sure if he was the unlockable wrestler or ig I won the title with him, google was my friend, so…)

So. Afterwarfds. went to bed. All that. Next day. I found out I I still had Kidman unlocked. Withut a memory card. Holy shit. right? World Tour, the previous WCW N64 entry required one. So. I was estactic and shit. So yeah man. Good times all around. Revenge was such an integral part of my childhood. I’m not giving it enough credit. Because. Forreals. Loved it.

And I remember, this was the game, where I first had the thought )I’m pretty sure I mentioned this in some rambling, somewheres), “Wouldn’t it be funny if I was actually playing someone in China right now, not the ‘computer?'”

I CAME UP WITH ONLINE GAMING. SUE ME. OR. REVERSE THAT. KINDA.

QUICK HITS:
WCW Nitro on Playstation: Sucked. And Tony Schiavone (google it. spelled it correctly). Said “Power bomb!” WAY too weirdly. WAY too much.
WCW Thunder on Playstation: See also: “WCW Nitro, minus the “power bomb” bit. See also: WCW Nitro, I LOVED the “pick me,” intro things. Whatever they were “officially” called. In both games. Kevin Nash in Thunder was perfection. Raven too. (Wathing a video now with all the rants… and yeah, Piper too. lol)Oh yeah. And it was cool doing something with stables on the roster.
WWF Attitude on Playstation/N64: I mean. It ws basically War Zone. But a bit better?

Then.

During the Monday Night War Era. THE MOST significant “steal” of THE WHOLE THING (merhaps excluding Jericho going to WWF). THQ/AQI/whatever goes to WWG whilst WCW signs some sort of million dollar deal with EA Sports )ugh. EA. SOOOOO MUCH I WANNA SAY). And. WrestleMania 2000 is given to the world.

And no. It’s not that great. Like at all. It’s WCW/nWo Revenge with a WWF roster. But this time, there’s a “story mode” type of thing. Right? And me and everyone in the world did that story mode thing started with The Rok and had Steve Ausstin as his tag team partner.

That’s ALL I remember about the game. Seriously.

And I played it A lot. Much to Billy’s shegrin. But I mean. I had fun and stuggs. It, mostly, was Thunder. And all that.

But it was still decent enough. I mean, I didn’t play it as much as the sequel. But I played it a lot. Especially when I was playing by myself. But. Fuck.

Nothing.

Will ever.

Be.

Compared.

To the amazingness that was.

The best wrestling video game ever made.

What’s there to say mann? WWF No Mercy was… and I mean, if the tragectory keeps going the way it is. It will forever be, the best wrestling game ever. It’s so fucking fun. It’s so fucking engaging. Winning a ladder match is ACTUALLY a fucking challenge.

And forreals. You get two or three friends with you do have a ladder match? THAT SHIT IS ON. Billy’s little brother, right. We’d always be dicks and kick the shit out of him. In the games. Of course )and…. kinda in real life, if BYW counts). But there’s this one time. Where we’re having a triple threat ladder match. Billy and I are beating the shit out of each other in the entrance ramp portion of the game. Billy’s kicking my ass. And NEITHER of us are focusing on the little brother, let’s just call him, Lunatic. And. Low and beyohdl. Billy andI are so pissed at each other, that Lunatic climbs up the ladder and beats us both.

Fuck Lunatic! RIGHT?!

Just. Dude.

Still. Til this day. There’s this bit of the story mode thing. That haunts me. There’s a bit. If memory serves me correctl, its near the bottom left corner of th branches. TILL THIS DAY. It bugs me that I’bve never seen THAT bit of the story. It has something to do with the remaking of Jericho winning the title from Trips on Raw, only to have it erased from the records. All that. It’s the bottom left of the story arch. And damn it. I’ve never seen it. I’ll never watch that story on Youtube. Because. Fuck you. I wanna figure it out. On my own. Eventually.

But yeah man. No Mercy. The best. Period.

This is the best place to stop. SmackDown 2: Know Your Role, is and… other things are up next.