WWF WrestleFest

Infobox VG
title = WWF WrestleFest


developer = Technos Japan Corporation
publisher = Technos Japan Corporation
designer = Shinichi Saito (director), Kunio Taki (producer)
release = vgrelease|NA|June 1991
genre = Sports
modes = Up to 4 players, simultaneous
cabinet = Upright
arcade system = CPU: 68000 and Z80 with a YM2151 and an OKI MSM6295 ADPCM for sounds.
display = Raster resolution 456x336
input = Joystick, 2 buttons
platforms = Arcade

"WWF WrestleFest" is a professional wrestling arcade game released by Technos in 1991, featuring stars of World Wrestling Federation. The game is the sequel to "WWF Superstars". The game was distributed by Technos in Japan and North America and by Tecmo in Europe and Australasia.

Features

"WrestleFest's" main attraction was its graphics, considered great at the time. Like "Superstars" before it, the game features many of the trademark moves and taunts of the featured WWF Superstars. The game also allows the player to insert more credits into the machine to buy energy - a feature similar to one used in an earlier Technos release, "The Combatribes".

"Wrestlefest" included a new Royal Rumble mode as well as four-player simultaneous play. There are also voice samples, including commentary and pre-match introductions by WWF ring announcer Mike McGuirk. The voiced cut scenes featuring Gene Okerlund from "Superstars" returned as well.

Gameplay

Gameplay in "WrestleFest" is similar to its predecessor - in Saturday Night's Main Event mode, the player must pick two wrestlers to form a tag team and take them through a series of matches, including a title match with the unplayable Legion of Doom. After winning the title match, the player must once again take their team through a series of matches and finally defeat the Legion of Doom a second time to complete the game.

Players can perform numerous double-team moves by tagging their partner with the opponent in the proper position or tagging while holding the opponent in a headlock. Additionally, after a team member has been on the apron for a certain length of time, they will "power up," temporarily giving them the ability to win all grapples and inflict more damage than usual.

In Royal Rumble mode, the player picks one superstar and takes him through a Royal Rumble match. Elimination occurs by pinfall, submission, or being thrown out of the ring. Before a new wrestler enters the match, an insert of the wrestler taunting in front of a camera appears on screen.

The moveset in "WrestleFest" differs from "WWF Superstars" in that more than one maneuver is assigned to each control combination, and these vary widely among the characters. For example, Ted DiBiase may respond to the "punch" button during a grapple by performing a backbreaker, a piledriver, a suplex, or his Million Dollar Dream finisher. Which move he performs depends partially on a CPU "variety" sequence and on the energy level of the opponent.

Featured wrestlers

In the original version, Demolition must be selected as a team in Main Event mode, and can not be teamed with any other playable characters. Under emulation, however, cheat codes were created that allow the player to team Smash or Crush with other characters.

Hawk and Animal are not initially selectable in the arcade version, but cheat codes exist to allow them to be playable (both together and separately) under emulation. A second player can also "buy-in" to the game while the first player battles Legion of Doom in the Main Event mode, allowing them to control Hawk and Animal and continue playing as them if they win the two-player match. Hawk and Animal both have twice as much energy as the other characters. However, if the Doomsday Device is not set up in a precise area of the ring, Hawk will not go to the top rope, and the timer will have to be allowed to run out or the game will need to be reset.

All playable characters can perform their familiar finishing maneuvers when the opponent is weakened enough. The Legion of Doom can perform their team finisher, "The Doomsday Device." The "Demolition Decapitation" finisher does not appear in the game. Instead, Smash and Crush perform a suplex and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, respectively, as finishers.

References

*cite web | url=http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10388 | title=Coin-Op Museum: WWF WrestleFest | accessdate=December 8 | accessyear=2005
*cite web | url=http://www.i-mockery.com/classicgames/detailed.php?type=arcade&id=653 | title=I-Mockery.com: Classic Game Review of WWF WrestleFest | accessdate=December 31 | accessyear= 2005
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cs2CHHpsu0 "WWF WrestleFest" gameplay footage]