Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. Well, it’s wrasslin’ season again, and even if the most recent Wrestlemania event wet your proverbial whistle or not, at least you have Playing With Power here to look back at the good old days of the WWF. In this case the good old days of 1992, and the third of four NES WWF games, WWF Wrestlemania Steel Cage Challenge. Now, after a terrible first game, and a decent at best sequel, can this game continue to step it up in quality? Or does this one do the job for the 1-2-3?
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1992
PUBLISHER: LJN
GENRE: Pro Wrestling
By 1992 in the WWF, it was apparent that the landscape of the company was beginning to change drastically. The Hulkamania days that had rocked the WWF to the height of pop culture acclaim in the late 80’s was finally starting to wane as the business began to see the rise of new stars. Superstars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker were making their presence known, and a new generation was taking place.
And in many ways, so too was a new generation in gaming, as the Super Nintendo had recently been released in the US, bringing fourth the beginning of the 16-bit era for Nintendo. But the little grey box that could was still chugging along titles, and LJN was still one of the companies sticking around in the dying days of the NES. LJN also still held the rights to the WWF license and once again gave us a wrestling game for the NES.
However, this time around, Rare, the developer of the two previous WWF games for the console, was no longer present. So, LJN went with Sculptured Software to develop the game. It was released for the NES in September of 1992, with ports to the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear a few months later. Was this a wrestling classic? Let’s go a bit further.
COVER STORY
About what you’d expect for a wrestling cover. Mostly just a bunch of shots of the hottest wrestlers of the time. Stars like Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Undertaker, Bret Hart, and… The Mountie? I don’t know. The biggest claims to fame the Mountie had was a then record setting two day run as intercontinental champ, and a feud with the Big Boss Man. To put him in the same spot with some of the biggest champs of the era does seem weird. Other than that, it’s still a good eye catch cover for fans of the wrestling era.
GAMEPLAY
WWF Wrestlemania Steel Cage Challenge is a 1-2 player wrestling game. You control one of 10 superstars as you brawl and battle your way to become WWF Champion. And for an early 90’s WWF game, this one has a stacked roster. Mainstays to the NES Wrestling games like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Ted Dibiase, as well as Roddy Piper, Jake the Snake Roberts, Sid Justice, The Undertaker, Bret Hart. Irwin R. Shyster, and The Mountie.
The match types in the game include one on one and tag team. Sadly, the three on three Survivor Series match from Wrestlemania Challenge has been removed. You also have the ability to compete for the Tag Team Championship or WWF Championship. Now unlike Wrestlemania Challenge, you can compete in these with any wrestler, not just a bland character named “You”.
Controlling a wrestler is about the same as the previous game. when standing, A punches, and B kicks, while both together will have your wrestler run. You can lock up with an opponent by going close to them. Both players will have a tug of war situation where both try to jockey for position. Tapping A will get you the best adantage. While pressing A, you can punch your enemy. B will execute a body slam, A and B together will throw the opponent (if close to the ropes, you can toss them out of the ring).
You can also climb up the top rope, and try to drop an elbow with the A button, as well as irish whip enemies when locked up. Other than those, there is really no other major moves. Another downside is that despite the roster of superstars, none of them play any differently. They all move and control the exact same way, and all have the same moves. No finishers are included, like the Sharpshooter, or DDT.
To win the match, you must take down the opponents health bars to nothing, and then try to pin by pressing Down+B at a downed opponent. Another way to win normal matches is to try and keep the opposing wrestler out of the ring for 10 seconds, resulting in a count out. However, even when your health has been dropped to almost its lowest, you can gain back some health by pressing select. This gives you a second wind when you are in a clincher moment. Tapping A when on the ground will also help you recover faster, and kick out of pin attempts.
However, with the amount of stuff you can do to the A.I, all you really have to do to beat most of the wrestlers is this simple tactic. When locking up with them, just hold the D-Pad in the direction facing the opponent, and tap A. you’ll keep punching them, and they’ll usually be unable to get out of the lock. Soon enough, they’ll be at no health, even with their attempt to gain a second wind. It’s cheap, and really kills what fun factor can be found in the game, but it is far more effective.
So, with all that said, how does the newly added Cage Match feature work? Well, it’s no different really. Just beat down the opponent until they have no more health, and while they’re down on the mat, move to the left or right side of the cage and hold left or right until you get to the top. And honestly that’s a bit underwhelming. I would have at least wanted some new things to do in the cage like be able to ram the opponent into the cage, or do a diving attack of the top a la Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. But for the first major WWF game to feature the cage, it’s handled well enough.
GRAPHICS
The game’s graphics are decent, but compared to the previous game, there is some drop in quality. Most wrestlers do at least look close enough like their real life counterparts at the time, but some do come off as rather bland. Mainly Dibiase, Sid, and Piper. The sprites don’t look as appealing as they did in Wrestlemania Challenge. The ring looks okay, and isn’t in that weird isometric angle as before. However it all looks so much smaller than the previous game. Character profile pics are a mixed bag too. Some look okay like Hogan, Sid, and the Mountie. But what is up with Roddy Piper’s? It looks like a Rorschach painting. Although I do like the touch of having Howard Finkel pre-and post match, which really gives that early 90’s WWF feel.
MUSIC
The audio in the game is top notch. While not as well detailed as Rare’s versions for the previous Wrestlemania games, Sculptured Software still manages to give us decent adaptations of all of the wrestler themes of the time. Even I.R.S and his amazing theme of typewriter clicking. Though honestly I really like the 8-bit rendition of The Mountie theme as well as Hulk Hogan’s. Take a listen for yourself.
The only downside is that there’s no music during the match. You get silence throughout, with the only sound effects coming from hitting the opponent, or the crowd cheering, which is a very annoying sound. Other than that issue, the soundtrack is decent enough in my opinion.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
WWF Wrestlemania Steel Cage Challenge was an admirable first attempt from Sculptured Software, but really lacks in the fun factor that seemed to have finally found its way into these games after the dismal first outing. I didn’t really hate the game, but after finishing it up, I had far less interest in coming back as I do with Wrestlemania Challenge, or an actually well handled wrestling title like Tecmo World Wrestling. So, I’d say unless you’re a big WWF fan from that era, give this one a skip.
RATING: Thumbs Down