Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Well, with Wrestlemania approaching once again, I figured that we should once more take a dive into the many wrestling video games for the NES. And this year, I think I have just the one to talk about in Tecmo World Wrestling. Is this grappler from the same company as Ninja Gaiden and Tecmo Bowl a champ? Or is it just another jabroni? Let’s hit the ring with the review.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1989
PUBLISHER: Tecmo
GENRE: Wrestling
Not really much info on this one’s history, but it was released just around the hot era for Tecmo. This came out right around when games like Ninja Gaiden and Tecmo Bowl was released. In fact, this was the same time they were making a lot of sports themed games, like Tecmo Baseball, Tecmo NBA Basketball, and Tecmo Soccer (which is more like an RPGH than an actual soccer game).
This was also when Wrestling games were starting to hit their stride on the NES. Around this time, games like Tag Team Wrestling from Data East, WCW Wrestling, and the infamously bad WWF Wrestlemania had seen releases on the console. So, Tecmo World Wrestling had a lot to prove. But was it a worthy grappler among the others? Let’s dive in deeper.
COVER STORY
It does the job of selling that it’s a wrestling game. Two muscular men, one who kind of looks like Ricky Steamboat, and the other who looks like Road Warrior Animal, engaged in some grapping. Specifically that of a headlock. It’s supremely homoerotic, but then again, this is wrestling we’re talking about. Anything less than oily half naked men grabbing each other would not do. It’s a decent eye catch for general wrestling fans, but for those expecting the likes of a Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage, sadly wouldn’t be as intrigued with the box.
GAMEPLAY
Tecmo World Wrestling is a 1-2 player wrestling game. The object of the game is to win against all the game’s opponnents, and make it to the champion boss at the end to win the world title. There’s a multitude of moves your grapplers have, but the basics are you can move in all directions with the D-Pad, you punk with the B button, and kick with the A.
The game controls similar to that of Pro Wrestling on the NES, for the most part. Grapples are executed when both opponents contact one another in the centre of the ring. From there, you can do multiple moves, each depending on the wrestler chosen. Some will do piledrivers, power slams, suplexes, backbreakers.
All can execute irish whips, can backdrop enemies, or try to execute a running knee or clothesline depending on the wrestler chosen. A grounded superstar can be prone to knee drops, or a particular submission hold. Wrestlers can also brawl outside of the ring for a 20 count, which moves quite quick, so don’t dilly dally. There’s also top rope moves you can do as well. So, when it comes to variety, this game has it in spades.
There are 10 different wrestlers to choose from in the game, each with their own unique moves, and clinching moves that often help at the most critical moments in the match. Each wrestler is also similar to a real wrestler from that time period, either in design, or their move variety. These include
Akira Dragon: The Japanese fighter similar in style to Antonio Inoki.
El Tigre: A luchador style wrestler much like Tiger Mask
Pat Gordon: an old school shooter based on Lou Thesz
Rex Beat: A brawler similar to the Road Warriors
Jackie Lee: Name similar to Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, and style similar to Riki Chosu
Boris Chekov: The Russian Mangler with a look similar to that of Stan Hansen
Mark Rose: A Ric Flair styled pretty boy
Julio Falcon: The tanned Hulk Hogan knockoff
Dr. Guildo: A big man similar to that of Big Van Vader.
In one player mode, once you pick the wrestler you want, and name him what you want, you go to training to power up your wrestler. You can choose from push ups, sit ups, or squats. It doesn’t matter what choice you pick, all three do the same thing, which is upgrade your power stat. The stronger your power stat, the better chance you have at survival in the match.
However, the downsides to this is that you have to tap the A button as fast as you can, and even with the fastest finger speed, you still may only end up with one point of upgrade. But if you think all you have to do is win the next match to upgrade it some more, here’s the kicker. You can’t get another chance to upgrade your stat until you lose a match. And trust me, with the ruthless A.I in this game, that will happen faster than you think.
All matches are 1 fall with a 7 minute time limit. Your health/stamina is represented on the bottom of the screen, and of course, once that’s at its lowest, you will be easier to pin and defeat. same with the A.I. But The A.I, even the first guy in the game, is so tough, they can easily kick out of moves even if their stamina is depleted completely, and even if you land strong finisher moves. These are moves that get stronger when the A.I is weak enough, and the game goes into Zoom Mode, which gives an added animation to show the excess damage taken on the enemy. But despite all that, they can still kick out.
Same with submissions, you can lock in figure fours or scorpion death locks all you want, the enemy will never tap out. But if your health is all the way down, and they lock in the hold once, it’s an almost instant tap out. So, this is definitely a game that will require a lot of practice… and maybe a turbo button to help out when trying to get an advantage in grappling.
Defeat all 9 of the wrestlers, and you face Blue King Demon. This demonic champion is the toughest fight in the game. He has all of the major moves of the wrestlers in the game, and can decimate you quickly if you aren’t prepared for everything. Beat him, and you win the game. However, if you should lose against him (or any opponent but the first) you are dropped down a rank.
So, thankfully there are unlimited continues, and you can keep trying as much as possible to beat the opposing wrestlers. Bad news is there are no passwords. The same problem that really nerfed Pro Wrestling. The sadder thing is that the Famicom version of the game did have passwords, so this was definitely a decision made to increase the difficulty for the rest of the world who got this game.
There’s not too much to two player mode really. You can choose from the 10 wrestlers, and have a match with your friend or family member. You can’t pick the same players, nor do you have any ability to upgrade your power stat before the match. It’s a basic 1 fall to the finish match, then your back to the main screen to play again if you want to.
GRAPHICS
Top notch graphics in this game. So much detail put into it. From the designs of the wrestlers in the main menu, your cute 8-bit assistant before your match/training, the design of the arena, and the crowd, to the awesome zoom mode that really adds a nice touch of action to this already action packed game.
But the real treat is the announcer at the bottom of the screen. He calls all the action inside the ring, telling you what move has just been administered, and how intense things are getting. The downside is though that you’ll be too busy in the match to really pay attention to any of it. Still, for what it’s worth, it’s a really nice little addition.
My only gripe with the graphics is that every so often, the wrestlers in the ring will glitch out, and it looks awkward. Often I worry if it’s my game about to get too glitchy and crash, but no, this is a common occurrence. But that little issue aside, the game still looks like one of the best wrestling games ever.
MUSIC
Music for the game is pretty solid too, once again showing the awesome quality of music that Tecmo was putting into their games at the time. The best tune in the game is easily the one you’ll hear during the final 3 matches before the Blue King Demon fight. It’s surprisingly pretty dramatic sounding even for a wrestling game. Hell, it would fit in perfectly with the Ninja Gaiden games. All in all, you’re getting a better sound experience than most of the wrestling games. Though the Wrestlemania games still get the win for best tunes.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Tecmo World Wrestling is a fun, graphically solid, well put together wrestling game, but it’s not without its flaws. The main 1-player mode can be annoying, and if you don’t have the utmost patience like I do, you may be turned off by the difficulty. But with that said, it’s still a fun wrestling game to play with others. And in comparison to broken in every way wrestling games like Wrestlemania being dumped on the public at the time, this is a definite step up.
It’s very much like a successor to Pro Wrestling, but in the end I’d still prefer Pro Wrestling, even with the more primitive sprites. The grapple system in Pro Wrestling, while not perfect itself, did feel a bit more fair, and I honestly preferred that games roster over this one. But if you’re looking for something different, that this game is definitely for you. It’s a fun wrestling experience that you should definitely grapple some time soon.
RATING: Thumbs Up
/p