5 retro WWE video games worth revisiting while in lockdown

If you're like me, and I know *I* am, you have a pretty good selection of old school video games in your collection. In fact, I have a number of shelves full of them. Now, not enough to meet the requirement needed as the background of a YouTube video game show (hi to the six of you who get that joke), but a pretty decent amount. And, believe me, these have come in handy this last month.

Now, I'm one of the few people who liked WWE 2K20 right out of the gate (and I still like it, for the most part), but I know a lot of you are kind of over it. And, even if you're not, you may just be itching for something new. Maybe that Cena vs Wyatt Firefly Fun House match at WrestleMania 36 has your nostalgia buzzer going off, and you need to scratch that itch.

These are all previously released, non-mainstream WWE games released over the years. So, none of the SmackDown, SmackDown vs Raw, or WWE 2K titles. Nothing against those - after all, Here Comes the Pain was an amazing game and worth a look back at, as well. These titles aren't even all wrestling titles. But, they're all WWE licensed and are, at the very least, interesting.

But, first, there's an upcoming title that I want to share with you all.

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RetroMania - PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

Scheduled for release: July 2020

RetroMania has agreements with both the current NWA and Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore

If you're an old Gen X geezer like I am, you probably remember going to the arcade as a youth and - while also being a wrestling fan, as I was - drawn to WWF WrestleFest by Technos. How could you not be? The sprites were huge and detailed, and the roster was pretty impressive at the time. Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, and legendary tag teams Demolition and the Legion of Doom.

Well, the appropriately named RetroSoft Studios is currently in the process of finishing up what is now officially the sequel to to WrestleFest (according to Technos, anyway - it has nothing to do with WWE), called RetroMania Wrestling. Featuring legends of the past like Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie, Tommy Dreamer, and the aforementioned Legion of Doom/Road Warriors, it also includes current indie stars like NWA Worlds Champion Nick Aldis, Colt Cabana, and the man currently known as John Morrison (who signed his agreement to be in this game before his current deal with WWE).

As I said, we'll see this in July - which by then, hopefully, we'll be past this COVID-19 nonsense. But, it's still worth looking forward to, as it looks absolutely incredible.

Also, there's Fire Pro Wrestling World, available on PC and PS4. But that's a whole other article.

Now, onto the games.

#5. WWE Crush Hour

Uh oh, Kurt Angle is in trrrrouuuuuubleeeeeee!

And we're starting off with the silliest game of the bunch. It's also awesome. I'm not joking.

The narrative behind this game is like so: In 2003, WWE has become so successful, that Vince McMahon owns ALL the TV networks. In his quest to create content to keep his audience happy, McMahon unleashes upon the world WWE Crush Hour - where WWE Superstars don't settle their differences in the ring but in... well...

Basically, they try to murder each other in cars, Twisted Metal-style.

Seriously, that's what this game is. It's Twisted Metal - which is a car combat game where vehicles loaded with machine guns, missiles, and all sorts of other weapons, attempt to destroy each other - but with WWE wrestlers driving them. All to entertain you, the WWE Universe.

Stars like The Rock, Chris Jericho, Big Show, and Jeff Hardy all are featured in 4-wheeled death machines, while WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross calls the action. It's an absolute spectacle.

Outside of that, well, it's actually a pretty fun game. Released by THQ and developed by Pacific Coast Power & Light (no, I'm not kidding), this game takes all the good parts of a car combat game, adds WWE wrestlers into the mix, and makes a pretty entertaining little game. It's also helpful to know that, at the time, this was released as a budget title for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube and not as a AAA release.

You should be able to find it pretty easily at any Retro Gaming Stores still open near you (shout out to my friends at Game X Change in Georgetown, TX, who are doing curbside pick-up of games and systems!) and for pretty cheap, as well.

#4. WWE All-Stars

Austin vs Punk?? "What?" is right!

If there's been one title that's captured the arcade-like bliss that was the aforementioned WWF WrestleFest, it would have to be THQ's WWE All-Stars. Yeah, you're gonna hear THQ mentioned a lot in this piece. Just a head's up.

Released in 2001, THQ put out a WWE title that was in stark contrast to their usual simulation-based WWE Smackdown vs RAW games they currently had going. While All-Stars had plenty of the top guys in the company at the time - John Cena, CM Punk, Kofi Kingston, and more - it also included a lot of WWE legends, at that. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin were just a few names included in this really, really fun title.

What set this game apart for the SvR games THQ was putting out at the time as the arcade presentation. Not only were the moves easy to pull off - it was a simplified control scheme, similar to ones you'd find... well... in an arcade game - but the moves themselves were presented in such an over-the-top fashion that it bordered on ridiculous. Here, look.

And one more historic note about this game. As part of the promotion of this title, THQ brought in the one and only Macho Man Randy Savage - also featured in the game - in the game's ads. This was one of the very last appearances Savage did for anything related to WWE before his death.

If you have - or can get your hands on - this title for the PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii (as well as the portable systems from that generation), take some time to lose yourself in some arcade action. This game is awesome.

#3. WWE Legends of Wrestlemania

Imagine this match, but held at WrestleMania 2. Yeah... I know. That makes NO sense

WWE All-Stars wasn't THQ's first attempt at putting out an arcade-style WWE title. 2009 saw them put out a game we'll probably never see the likes of again - WWE Legends of Wrestlemania.

Legends of Wrestlemania had players recreate matches from the legendary Show of Shows - such as, for example, the WrestleMania III main event between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

The appeal was giving fans the opportunity to change history, if even for a moment. Modes in the game would allow players to try and "relive" the match (get Hogan to win) or "redefine" (help Andre win). Each match was prologued with a video package summarizing the feud in the usual brilliant WWE video-package style.

The gameplay itself is... not great. Not going to lie. It tries to find a balance between the control scheme of the more "realistic" SvR series and what would eventually become the control scheme for All-Stars. They really didn't do a good job.

That doesn't mean the game is unplayable, however. It's perfectly fine, if not very intuitive. But, that's not the reason to play this one, It's the alternate history scenarios that make this a blast to play. Also, if you own a copy of SmackDown vs Raw 2009 for the same platform, a number of the wrestlers in that game were available for this one, as well.

#2. WWE WrestleMania: The Arcade Game

Yeah, this game was kind of insane

Some of you may remember the early-to-mid 1990s, when Mortal Kombat hit arcades, then home consoles, and kind of changed everything in the video game business. This is neither the time nor the place to discuss the role the game played in the formation of the current rating systems implemented on games around the world.

But, one thing it did do that's relevant to this piece is popularize the use of digitized performers in games. Basically, it took footage of someone actually doing something and then put it in the game. You... probably know what I'm talking about, I'm probably spending way more time describing this than I need to.

Anyhoo, Midway, the company that - well, what do you know? - also developed and published the Mortal Kombat games, did the same for WWE WrestleMania: The Arcade Game. More a fighting game - which is quite apropos, all things considered - than a straight up wrestling game, WrestleMania featured stars like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker beating the snot out of each other in, well, fighting game fashion.

The game has special moves, like Undertaker hitting his opponents with a literal tombstone or Doink the Clown wielding a giant mallet, that - as you can tell - are absolutely ridiculous, and awesome. Other wrestlers featured in the game include Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, and Yokozuna.

Eventually, in 1995, Midway released the game for home consoles such as the Super NES and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, as well as consoles from the following generation like the Sony PlayStation. So, there's plenty of ways to play this one, including - as my buddy, YouTube gamer SNES Drunk, puts it - "any way you can".

#1. WWE No Mercy

The greatest wrestling video game of all time? I dunno. I'm not paid to make those decisions

I did not want to make this game #1.

That's nothing against this title. In fact, it more than deserves this spot. It's probably one of the greatest wrestling video games of all time, WWE or not. However, I was really looking for WWE games that weren't typically well known and, well, I found at least four of them.

On the other hand, there were also either a lot of bad ones (I mean, a lot of bad ones) or they were way too recent to include on the list (WWE SuperCard for Android and iOS is actually a lot of fun and free to play).

The 16-bit era WWE games - WWF Royal Rumble and Raw, for example - are perfectly fine games, but not nearly as well made as the other games on this list. There's also some interesting GameCube exclusive WWE game that are, well, like I said - interesting. But, not particularly very good.

So, we've just got to go back to one of the best. It's retro, it's WWE, and it's also not that hard to come by. Even for the time, it's got a great create-a-wrestler mode, and the actual gameplay itself is NHL '94-on-the-Sega-Genesis classic.

If you haven't played it in a while, play it tonight.