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 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.
Gameplay:
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.[1] The game is regarded as over the top for its use of attacks. While actual wrestling moves are present, matches consist primarily of special strike attacks and outlandish combos, such as The Undertaker casting spirits at an opponent and Doink shocking the opponent with a joy buzzer. There are other similarities to the Mortal Kombat games, such as the winner being the victor of two out of three rounds and players being awarded flawless victories, which are simply called “perfect” here.
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. One unique feature is that each character can “bleed” his respective objects other than blood upon taking damage from most attacks in the Mortal Kombat sense. Such “bleeding” objects include Yokozuna’s food and Bam Bam Bigelow’s flames.
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 1991-1994), as well as the opening themes to WWF Monday Night RAW, WWF Superstars and WWF Wrestling Challenge.
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