Wrestling Games - When you just wanna throw people around.
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2020 7:51 pm
Hey, I heard you liked video games!
Do you also like Wrestling?
Well, did you know that there's something that combines these two hobbies?
Video games that let you play as wrestlers or let you watch wrestling matches! Whoa! This is thread is for talking about those "Wrestling Games"
Okay, for real though. Wrestling games have been around for a hot second from the less sophisticated ones of the before times to the now legendary AKI-Engine games right down to the modern 2k Games. There's a lot to unpack here only talking about recent and upcoming games so let me make this as quick as possible.
Current Games / Ongoing Game-Series
WWE 2k Series
Probably THE wrestling game series. It certainly is the most well-known one and usually gets an annual release (though, they'll skip 2k21 due to 2k20 being such a disaster and them changing the dev team.)
This series focuses mostly on having as recent a WWE roster as possible as it's the WWE game. However, it is probably best known for is very in-depth customization Suite. Make your own Wrestlers (CAWs), customize their moveset, entrance and specific mannerisms. Make your own arena, title belts, and so on. As far as the sheer number of things to customize goes this is the gold standard. The gameplay itself is mostly centered around looking the most like an actual WWE match you could see on TV. It's kind of slow but mostly robust. The games always come with a variety of single player modes. Be it a story mode where you build your own character or a showcase that lets you re-enact famous matches from WWE history.
Fire Pro Wrestling World
The Fire Pro series has its roots way back on the PC Engine. But it also got an entry on the SNES in 1991, which is possibly the most well known due to a story mode written by Suda51. Over the years the core-gameplay has always stayed the same, being a more timing-based game and it encourages you to have good matches rather than win necessarily. This has the downside that there's a bit of a learning curve. But those who stick with it find it to be the best wrestling game ever. It has a very niche but passionate community as a result. Fire Pro Wrestling also has a disproportionately high number of players who don't actually play the game but simulate matches or even their entire federations and broadcast it (don't look at me, I know you're judging me). While its customization suite isn't nearly as strong as that of WWE 2k, mainly due to it being a sprite-based game is very powerful and deeper than it might appear at first glance. Thing is, you can actually change how the AI of any given wrestler works, giving them a personality of their own when playing against them or simulating matches. One Caveat for Fire Pro Wrestling at this point is that there's a lot of DLC and it can set you back quite a bit if you want all of it. Funnily, the most substantial and powerful DLC, the move maker (a straight-up dev tool), is completely free.
Action Arcade Wrestling: Chikara
As of the time of this writing, the makers of the game have announced that they will remove the Chikara branding due to the company closing doors (after a slew of sexual abuse allegations going all the way up to management, so have no pity with them) so I'm not sure what the game will be called in a few months. But this shouldn't stop you from considering this if you think 2k tries too hard to look like WWE or Fire Pro is too hard to get into. AAW is fast and loose. It just wants you to have a quick match, enjoy yourself, and not worry too much about anything. On the downside, this means the gameplay isn't particularly deep. This, however, cannot be said about their character creator. Which will let you make some cool stuff if you're willing to put the work into it (lots of sliders to fiddle around with)
The Fucking MDickie wrestling games
These games are jank made manifest. Kind of creative sandbox. I haven't ever played any of these but what I've seen is special. But oh, the jank! Look at the jank!
Upcoming Games
Unnamed AEW game
All we know about this is that EVP of AEW and known Gamer is managing this from the side of AEW and one of their referees and former game developer, Aubrey Edwards, is also involved. It's rumored that they hired Syn Sophia (formerly AKI, legendary wrestling game developer) to make their game. But as of the time of this writing, we got nothing concrete yet.
WWE Battlegrounds
This one aims to be a more arcadey alternative to the main more simulation heavy WWE 2k games with over the top animations and more cartoony proportions and unconventional arenas.
Whatever the hell Yuke's are doing
Yukes have been the long-time developer of the WWE 2k games but have recently split from them. They are working on a game but virtually nothing is known about it right now.
Unnamed game by Virtual Basement
This is a game that seems very promising but is still in its early stages of development. They have secured quite a few independent wrestlers for their game already.
Retromania Wrestling
This is another very arcadey one and its sprite-based. It features several real-life wrestlers on their roster. It doesn't appear to have a customization suite, unfortunately.
Do you also like Wrestling?
Well, did you know that there's something that combines these two hobbies?
Video games that let you play as wrestlers or let you watch wrestling matches! Whoa! This is thread is for talking about those "Wrestling Games"
Okay, for real though. Wrestling games have been around for a hot second from the less sophisticated ones of the before times to the now legendary AKI-Engine games right down to the modern 2k Games. There's a lot to unpack here only talking about recent and upcoming games so let me make this as quick as possible.
Current Games / Ongoing Game-Series
WWE 2k Series
Probably THE wrestling game series. It certainly is the most well-known one and usually gets an annual release (though, they'll skip 2k21 due to 2k20 being such a disaster and them changing the dev team.)
This series focuses mostly on having as recent a WWE roster as possible as it's the WWE game. However, it is probably best known for is very in-depth customization Suite. Make your own Wrestlers (CAWs), customize their moveset, entrance and specific mannerisms. Make your own arena, title belts, and so on. As far as the sheer number of things to customize goes this is the gold standard. The gameplay itself is mostly centered around looking the most like an actual WWE match you could see on TV. It's kind of slow but mostly robust. The games always come with a variety of single player modes. Be it a story mode where you build your own character or a showcase that lets you re-enact famous matches from WWE history.
Fire Pro Wrestling World
The Fire Pro series has its roots way back on the PC Engine. But it also got an entry on the SNES in 1991, which is possibly the most well known due to a story mode written by Suda51. Over the years the core-gameplay has always stayed the same, being a more timing-based game and it encourages you to have good matches rather than win necessarily. This has the downside that there's a bit of a learning curve. But those who stick with it find it to be the best wrestling game ever. It has a very niche but passionate community as a result. Fire Pro Wrestling also has a disproportionately high number of players who don't actually play the game but simulate matches or even their entire federations and broadcast it (don't look at me, I know you're judging me). While its customization suite isn't nearly as strong as that of WWE 2k, mainly due to it being a sprite-based game is very powerful and deeper than it might appear at first glance. Thing is, you can actually change how the AI of any given wrestler works, giving them a personality of their own when playing against them or simulating matches. One Caveat for Fire Pro Wrestling at this point is that there's a lot of DLC and it can set you back quite a bit if you want all of it. Funnily, the most substantial and powerful DLC, the move maker (a straight-up dev tool), is completely free.
Action Arcade Wrestling: Chikara
As of the time of this writing, the makers of the game have announced that they will remove the Chikara branding due to the company closing doors (after a slew of sexual abuse allegations going all the way up to management, so have no pity with them) so I'm not sure what the game will be called in a few months. But this shouldn't stop you from considering this if you think 2k tries too hard to look like WWE or Fire Pro is too hard to get into. AAW is fast and loose. It just wants you to have a quick match, enjoy yourself, and not worry too much about anything. On the downside, this means the gameplay isn't particularly deep. This, however, cannot be said about their character creator. Which will let you make some cool stuff if you're willing to put the work into it (lots of sliders to fiddle around with)
The Fucking MDickie wrestling games
These games are jank made manifest. Kind of creative sandbox. I haven't ever played any of these but what I've seen is special. But oh, the jank! Look at the jank!
Upcoming Games
Unnamed AEW game
All we know about this is that EVP of AEW and known Gamer is managing this from the side of AEW and one of their referees and former game developer, Aubrey Edwards, is also involved. It's rumored that they hired Syn Sophia (formerly AKI, legendary wrestling game developer) to make their game. But as of the time of this writing, we got nothing concrete yet.
WWE Battlegrounds
This one aims to be a more arcadey alternative to the main more simulation heavy WWE 2k games with over the top animations and more cartoony proportions and unconventional arenas.
Whatever the hell Yuke's are doing
Yukes have been the long-time developer of the WWE 2k games but have recently split from them. They are working on a game but virtually nothing is known about it right now.
Unnamed game by Virtual Basement
This is a game that seems very promising but is still in its early stages of development. They have secured quite a few independent wrestlers for their game already.
Retromania Wrestling
This is another very arcadey one and its sprite-based. It features several real-life wrestlers on their roster. It doesn't appear to have a customization suite, unfortunately.