WWF WrestleMania (also known on console versions as WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game) is a professional wrestling arcade game released by Midway Manufacturing Co. in 1995. It is based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) professional wrestling promotion. The game featured digitized representations of eight WWF performers who are pitted against each other in fast-paced matches inspired by Midway's Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam games. Commentary is provided by Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler, who also appear in the game sitting at the announcers' table to the right of the ring. Acclaim, who published the console versions of the game, developed a follow-up, WWF in Your House for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and DOS. Despite being based on professional wrestling, WrestleMania's digitized graphics and fast-paced gameplay make it more of a fighting game inspired by Midway's popular Mortal Kombat series. What separates this game from previous and future WWF/WWE video games is its over the top and very cartoonish attacks. Examples include Doink The Clown pulling out a mallet out of thin air, Razor Ramon's arm transforming into a blade, or Bam Bam Bigelow's fists catching on fire. While actual wrestling moves are present, matches consist primarily of strike attacks and special moves. There are other similarities to the Mortal Kombat games, such as uppercuts that cause the opponent to go sky high, flawless victories and very tongue-in-cheek character animations. WrestleMania's one-player mode has the player choose one of eight wrestlers – Bam Bam Bigelow, Bret Hart, Doink the Clown, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker or Yokozuna. A unique feature is that each character can "bleed" an object that represents them. Such "bleeding" objects include dumbbells flying out of Lex Luger and valentine hearts coming out of Bret Hart. WWF WrestleMania features two single-player modes: the Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Championship. In the Intercontinental Championship mode, the player must win four one-on-one matches, two Handicap 2-on-1 matches, and one Handicap 3-on-1 match to win the title. In the more difficult WWF Championship mode, the player must win four Handicap 2-on-1 matches, two Handicap 3-on-1 matches, and finally a "WrestleMania Challenge," where the player must defeat every wrestler in the game in a gauntlet, starting with a three-on-one setup, with each eliminated opponent being replaced with another until all eight have been defeated. The game also features two multi-player modes; head to head, a one-on-one match between two players, or cooperative, where the two players team up in a tag team version of the WrestleMania Challenge in which they must defeat the game's eight wrestlers in groups of two to become the Tag Team Champions. In-game music consists of snippets from the roster's circa-1994 entrance music (with the exception of Shawn Michaels, who has the older, Sherri Martel version of "Sexy Boy" and Undertaker with his previous theme when he had the Western Mortician moniker from 1991 to 1994), as well as the opening themes to WWF Monday Night RAW, WWF Superstars and WWF Wrestling Challenge. The Genesis version retains most of the voice and commentary samples from the arcade and allows for four wrestlers on-screen, also with slow down. The Sega 32X release is similar to the Genesis version, but with improved graphics and audio. However, the frame rate was reduced to 30 frames per second in the 32X port compared to 60 frames per second in all other versions.
WWF WrestleMania by Acclaim/Midway/Sculptured Software
WWF WrestleMania (also known on console versions as WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game) is a professional wrestling arcade game released by Midway Manufacturing Co. in 1995. It is based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) professional wrestling promotion. The game featured digitized representations of eight WWF performers who are pitted against each other in fast-paced matches inspired by Midway's Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam games. Commentary is provided by Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler, who also appear in the game sitting at the announcers' table to the right of the ring. Acclaim, who published the console versions of the game, developed a follow-up, WWF in Your House for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and DOS. Despite being based on professional wrestling, WrestleMania's digitized graphics and fast-paced gameplay make it more of a fighting game inspired by Midway's popular Mortal Kombat series. What separates this game from previous and future WWF/WWE video games is its over the top and very cartoonish attacks. Examples include Doink The Clown pulling out a mallet out of thin air, Razor Ramon's arm transforming into a blade, or Bam Bam Bigelow's fists catching on fire. While actual wrestling moves are present, matches consist primarily of strike attacks and special moves. There are other similarities to the Mortal Kombat games, such as uppercuts that cause the opponent to go sky high, flawless victories and very tongue-in-cheek character animations. WrestleMania's one-player mode has the player choose one of eight wrestlers – Bam Bam Bigelow, Bret Hart, Doink the Clown, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker or Yokozuna. A unique feature is that each character can "bleed" an object that represents them. Such "bleeding" objects include dumbbells flying out of Lex Luger and valentine hearts coming out of Bret Hart. WWF WrestleMania features two single-player modes: the Intercontinental Championship and the WWF Championship. In the Intercontinental Championship mode, the player must win four one-on-one matches, two Handicap 2-on-1 matches, and one Handicap 3-on-1 match to win the title. In the more difficult WWF Championship mode, the player must win four Handicap 2-on-1 matches, two Handicap 3-on-1 matches, and finally a "WrestleMania Challenge," where the player must defeat every wrestler in the game in a gauntlet, starting with a three-on-one setup, with each eliminated opponent being replaced with another until all eight have been defeated. The game also features two multi-player modes; head to head, a one-on-one match between two players, or cooperative, where the two players team up in a tag team version of the WrestleMania Challenge in which they must defeat the game's eight wrestlers in groups of two to become the Tag Team Champions. In-game music consists of snippets from the roster's circa-1994 entrance music (with the exception of Shawn Michaels, who has the older, Sherri Martel version of "Sexy Boy" and Undertaker with his previous theme when he had the Western Mortician moniker from 1991 to 1994), as well as the opening themes to WWF Monday Night RAW, WWF Superstars and WWF Wrestling Challenge. The Genesis version retains most of the voice and commentary samples from the arcade and allows for four wrestlers on-screen, also with slow down. The Sega 32X release is similar to the Genesis version, but with improved graphics and audio. However, the frame rate was reduced to 30 frames per second in the 32X port compared to 60 frames per second in all other versions.
