WWF Royal Rumble plays like a better version of WWF Raw. The controls are better, the graphics are about the same, and the roster is about the same. The two games are very similar, but Royal Rumble is better.
However, the same issues from WWF Raw are present in Royal Rumble. The characters play the same, and the character sprites look the same. It also uses the same control scheme as WWF Raw, which feels more refined in this game.
I think this is the best of the WWF games on the SNES. I still have some to play, but I don’t think they will be better than this one. I still like HammerLock Wrestling more than this one.
TLDR: Great Graphics and Decent Controls.
Narrative
Like the other wrestling games from this period, this game has no story. It is up to the player or players to craft a story based on what they want to do. This lets you create your championships, groups of wrestlers, and rivalries.
Gameplay
WWF Royal Rumble is the WWF game that I’ve had the most fun with so far. It is similar to how I felt about WWF WrestleMania Challenge on the NES. It doesn’t have as many features as WWF Raw, but I’m having more fun with it.
There is a difficulty setting in this game, similar to WWF Raw. It also makes as much sense as that one. You pick 1 to 10, and that sets the difficulty. I wonder why they went with this over the Easy, Normal, Hard format. I guessed that one was easy and ten was hard.
The roster is pretty good. It is interesting coming from WWF Raw to this game. There is a difference between the SNES and Sega Genesis, but I’ll cover that when I talk about the Genesis wrestling games. Here is a rundown of the roster:
- Brett Hart
- Shawn Michaels
- The Undertaker
- Razor Ramon
- Randy Savage
- Crush
- Lex Luger
- Ric Flair (SNES)
- Mr. Perfect (SNES)
- Ted DiBiase (SNES)
- Yokozuna (SNES)
- Tatanka (SNES)
It is a pretty good roster. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a ROM hack that combines the rosters.
A few game modes can also be played as either single-player or two-player. While there isn’t as much variety in this game as in WWF Raw, I like the game modes offered. Here are the three main modes:
- Exhibition (One or Two Players)
- Tag Team Match
- Six Man Tag Match
- Royal Rumble
I don’t like the Royal Rumble in these games. I always found it a pain in the ass to try and throw someone out of the ring. It was always a nightmare, even when I knew exactly what was needed to toss people out of the ring.
Royal Rumble uses the same grapple system as WWF Raw. This system was also in Super WrestleMania, so I played these games out of order. It also seems to have worsened, as I found it easier to use in this game.
You have to mash a button after you lock up in a grapple until you win. Once you win the grapple, your character will perform a move. Each character seems to have the same move set, which is pathetic.
The only negative thing about this is that I have to mash buttons to do anything. I wish I had a turbo button so I could save my thumbs. I would’ve preferred if they had stuck with the same control scheme you would see in Fire Pro Wrestling and many other wrestling games. I think HammerLock has better controls than this game.
Overall, I think the gameplay is good. It feels easier to do moves in this game than in WWF Raw. It might have had something to do with the difficulty setting, but it still felt easier to do everything in the game.
Visuals
Royal Rumble looks good. At this point, the developers were creating good-looking games that didn’t always have good controls. However, I have the same issue with this game as I had with WWF Raw. All of the characters are based on the same model.
There are minor graphical changes, but they all have the same body type. This makes things a little strange, like having Yokozuna smaller than Shawn Michaels. It doesn’t make much sense.
Everything else about the game looks good. The moves look good, the character animations look good, and the game’s presentation looks good. Everything about the game itself looks good.
There isn’t much to complain about. The only thing that I could think of was the character models. The digitized photos are good, and the characters somewhat resemble the wrestler’s real-life counterparts.
Overall, the graphics are good. We’re way past the awful graphics from Steel Cage Challenge, and this game looks good compared to other wrestling games.
7.5/10. WWF Royal Rumble has good graphics, but the control scheme isn’t all that great. I think this will be a problem for all of the LJN games on the SNES. So far, the two that I’ve played look great, but the control scheme isn’t very good.
Pros
- Decent Roster
- Good Controls
- Lots of Game Modes
Cons
- No Story Mode
- Characters are based on the same model
Conclusion
I like this game more than WWF Raw. It is still an average game with a bad control scheme, or at least one I dislike. It is a good-looking game, but it could’ve been much better.
The LJN games on the NES either looked okay and played terribly, or they looked and controlled horribly. The SNES games have looked good, and the controls have been hit-and-miss. While I wouldn’t say I like it, it functions as it should.
WWF Royal Rumble is my favorite of the licensed wrestling games I’ve played on the SNES. It is better than WCW SuperBrawl and WWF Raw, but I like HammerLock Wrestling more than this game. I’m looking forward to what is next and seeing where it lines up with the other games.