Retro Gaming Australia

WWF Rage in the Cage was the third of Acclaim and Sculptured Software’s 16-bit WWF games. It’s very similar to Royal Rumble, which released around the same time, but trades the battle royal for a steel cage match, introductions by Howard Finkel and a bunch of postage stamp sized FMV sequences. It also boasts a few exclusive wrestlers – The Nasty Boyz (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) and the Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu).

Both the NES and the WWF were at the top of their game at the end of the 1980s, so it was only natural that the two forces would collide. WWF WrestleMania Challenge is the second WWF effort for the system, and features eight WWF superstars, including favourites such as Hulk Hogan, The Macho Man Randy Savage and the Ultimate Warrior.

WWF In Your House is what happens when you mix the WWF and over the top fighting games. WWF In Your House a sequel to WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, but was developed by long time WWF game developer Sculptured Software and published by Acclaim – Midway was not involved at all.

WWF War Zone is Acclaim’s first wrestling game to use 3D graphics. Initially well-received, WWF War Zone developed quite the following for its create-a-wrestler feature. Many criticised WWF War Zone‘s use of fighting game like movements for basic wrestling moves – one would have to spend quite some time learning a wrestler’s moves before they could play the game effectively. Also interesting is that the game featured Bret Hart, despite coming out in July 1998, nearly 8 months after his unceremonious exit from the WWF.

This week’s subject for Retro Gaming Theatre is WWF Royal Rumble, arguably the best pre-AKI wrestling game released. We took on the Royal Rumble mode with Hulk Hogan, successfully eliminating 10 of the 11 opponents. The Undertaker ruined my perfect run – the cheeky sod.

Some might argue that the sequel, WWF Raw, was better, but I prefer the wrestler selection and slower pace of Royal Rumble.

Acclaim’s final 16-bit wrestling game got a low profile release on the 32X. It was one of the more maligned 32X games upon release because there’s almost no discernible difference between it and the Mega Drive version beyond a couple of extra animations and a secret character.

Lemme tell ya something, Mean Gene!

WWF WrestleMania Steel Cage Challenge was the third and final WWF game published by Acclaim for the NES, but the first and only one to be released on the Master System. It was the first home console wrestling game to feature steel cage matches. The wrestlers featured in the game differ based on the system – Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, I.R.S., Ted DiBiase, Bret Hart and the Undertaker are in both versions, while Roddy Piper, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Mountie and Sid Justice are NES exclusive and Ric Flair, Tatanka, Papa Shango and Shawn Michaels are Master System exclusive.

Search for Steel Cage Challenge on eBay