WWF Super WrestleMania was the first wrestling game published by LJN on the SNES. It isn’t good, but it does show you the direction these games were going in. It has the same control scheme as the other LJN games but leaves the stupid gauge out of the grapples.
There isn’t much here. The controls and graphics are okay, and every wrestler plays the same. There is also a limited number of game modes to choose from. I would rather play Royal Rumble than continue to play this game.
I was expecting too much from the WWF games on the SNES. They’re all playable, but I don’t see much of a reason to. I’m glad that I can move on to some of the other SNES wrestling games.
TLDR: A Bare-Bones Wrestling Game with Decent Controls and Graphics.
Narrative
There is no story mode in this game. Even worse, there are few options to craft a narrative. There is no tournament mode or championship mode. It is a bare-bones game that lacks much of what you might expect from a wrestling game on the SNES.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the other LJN games. It uses the same tug-of-war grapple system as the other WWF games published by LJN. The gauge, which might have indicated if you’re winning the grapple, isn’t in this game. I like this because that stupid gauge was pointless.
There are ten wrestlers in this game. This is fine, but I wonder why the developers were limited to ten. Here is a list of the wrestlers:
- Randy Savage
- Hulk Hogan
- Typhoon
- Earthquake
- The Undertaker
- Hawk
- Animal
- Ted DiBiase
- Jake the Snake
- Sid Justice
The SNES and Genesis versions were different as far as the rosters went. It was cool when they did stuff like this. However, I saw something that said Brett Hart and Rick Martel are in the SNES version. This isn’t true, and I think whoever wrote that was thinking about one of the other LJN games.
This is somewhat understandable. The LJN games all play the same, and the WWF liked to call their games WrestleMania. This can lead to confusion about which game you’re talking about.
WWF Super WrestleMania is lacking quite a bit when it comes to game modes. There are only three, but you can play with one or two players. Here is a list of the game modes:
- One on One
- Tag Team
- Survivor Series (Four on Four elimination match)
There isn’t much there. It resembles how I felt while playing WrestleMania: The Arcade Game. It plays fine, but there isn’t much to it.
The controls are fine. However, the character’s movement looks sluggish. I didn’t notice anything wrong with how moves and strikes come out, but it looks like a slow game. It is a little hard to explain this, and you need to see it for yourself.
There are no finishing mores or signature moves in the game. This is a huge disappointment. On the SNES, I expect the developers to do more than possible on the NES. I guess I set my expectations too high.
Every wrestler plays the same. They have the same set of moves, which is very disappointing. It makes your choice of character a little pointless. They might have different stats, but I didn’t notice a difference.
Overall, this game is playable. I don’t see much of a reason to play it today unless you want to make a comedy video about it or something like that. The controls and graphics are decent for the SNES. However, it has limited game modes, and many features you would expect from a wrestling game on the SNES aren’t here.
Visuals
WWF Super WrestleMania looks okay. It isn’t as flashy as WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, and it isn’t as detailed as some other wrestling games on the SNES. It looks similar to WCW SuperBrawl.
This was the first LJN wrestling game on the SNES, and it is the only one to get the character models right. Each wrestler looks a little different, and the wrestlers are different sizes! It is nice that Earthquake and Typhoon look bigger than Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
The wrestler’s movement is a little off. They look like they’re trying to walk through quicksand or mud. It also feels that way when playing the game.
Overall, this isn’t the best-looking wrestling game on the SNES, but it is a very good-looking one. The character sprites are well-detailed; you can tell who everyone is, and the developers used different character models. The animations on the moves look a little stiff, and the character’s move is rough.
7/10. WWF Super WrestleMania looks good and has decent controls, but there is a lack of content in this game. There are only three game modes; the roster is small, and each character plays the same.
Pros
- Decent Controls
- Decent Graphics
- Pick-up and Play
Cons
- Every wrestler is the same
- Few game modes
- No finishing moves or signature moves
Conclusion
I played these out of order, which might have affected how I viewed them. Super WrestleMania was the first LJN wrestling game on the SNES, and it set up where the developer would take the games. They all had the same controls, similar graphics, and the same issues.
The tug-of-war system wasn’t that great. There is also the issue of each wrestler playing the same. This did help the developers when they were working on the games, but it was disappointing when playing them.
I might have reacted differently to these games if I had some nostalgia for them. Unfortunately, I don’t because I can’t remember playing these games like I played the NES or PlayStation wrestling games. These games were a step up from the NES games that LJN published, but they aren’t as good as the unlicensed games.