These are all the wrestling games on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color that I know about and could get my hands on. If I missed one, please let me know, or tell me where you would rank it. There were two that I wasn’t able to play because the copies I had weren’t working.
There were a few surprises on this list. A couple of the games were much better than I was expecting them to be, and one turned out to be part of the Fire Pro Wrestling series. That was a welcome surprise.
Overall, there were only two games that I was very upset with. One of them was a terrible port of a game that I liked, and the other was a lousy port of a forgettable arcade game. The rest were mostly what I was expecting them to be.
I wasn’t expecting anything amazing from these games. I knew they were mostly going to be arcade games, and for the most part, that is what I got. Anyway, let’s get into the list.
WWF Warzone
Developer: Crawfish Interactive
Genre: Wrestling
Review Score: 52/100 (GameRankings)
This one might be a bit surprising, but I really didn’t like the Game Boy version of WWF Warzone. It is a shame, really, because I’m one of the few people who enjoyed the PS1 and N64 versions of the game. The Game Boy port is very bad.
A lot had to change when the game was brought to the Game Boy. The controls really sink this game. I can forgive the graphics because of the hardware, but the controls aren’t good at all.
Would it have been better if it were a Game Boy Color port? Probably not, but it might’ve looked better than the version we got. As it currently stands, this is one of the worst wrestling games I’ve played.
Ring Rage
Developer: Taito
Genre: Arcade Fighting
Review Score: N/A
This is a bad port of an arcade game. Ring Rage is barely a wrestling game. This is basically Pit Fighter set in a wrestling ring.
The controls and graphics are awful. There is very little to this game. The roster is tiny, and there are only a few game modes. Normally, this wouldn’t be much of a problem, but this game doesn’t do anything well.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started playing this game. When I played it, I was very disappointed. Then I started researching the game, and it made more sense. The Game Boy port was released a while after the arcade game, and it isn’t a good port of a forgettable game.
WWF Raw
Developer: Realtime Associates Seattle
Genre: Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
This was a bad port of a game that I already didn’t like. WWF Raw on the Game Boy has all the things I didn’t like about the Genesis and SNES ports of the game, but it looked worse. The controls were also worse than the console ports.
There isn’t too much to say about this game. I didn’t like the controls, the graphics aren’t good, and the roster is weaker than other versions of the game. This was very close to being my least favorite wrestling game on the Game Boy.
If this were all you had, then you probably would’ve liked it. That happens all the time with retro games. When I revisit games like this, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was very hard to do with this game because it is much worse than the console games.
WWF Superstars 2
Developer: Sculptured Software
Genre: Arcade Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
This was a strange one. WWF Superstars 2 is a port of WWF Steelcage Challenge, at least that was the way it felt while I was struggling through this one. It isn’t the worst wrestling game, but it has all the same problems as the other LJN wrestling games on the NES.
This version of the game has fewer wrestlers than the NES version, the controls are a little worse, and the graphics are understandably not as good. Some of this can be overlooked because it is on the Game Boy. The big draw for this game is the steel cage, and it isn’t all that great.
This is a weird one. I’m guessing they wanted to attach this game to WWF Superstars and distance it from Steelcage Challenge. This isn’t a bad idea, but it’s a little strange. There isn’t too much separation between this game and the Game Boy port of WWF Raw.
WWF King of the Ring
Developer: Eastridge Technology and Gray Matter
Genre: Arcade Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
I feel like I’m one of the only people who enjoyed WWF King of the Ring on the NES. It was a fun game for that system, so I had a good idea of what I was getting into with the Game Boy port. This version of the game is exactly what I was expecting from a Game Boy game.
The controls and graphics are alright for the Game Boy. It isn’t anything special, but that’s okay. It is a faithful port of the NES game.
WWF King of the Ring is a decent game for the Game Boy. It works quite well for the handheld, and I would’ve been happy if I had this back in the early 1990s. This game was right in the middle for me. It isn’t a bad game; it is more of an average wrestling game.
WWF Superstars
Developer: Technos Japan
Genre: Arcade Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
I had a lot of fun with WWF Superstars. This was the first wrestling game I played for the Game Boy. It wasn’t amazing, but it was far from being terrible.
The game has decent graphics and good controls. The roster is fairly small, and there are a limited number of game modes. While there isn’t much to this game, what is there is done very well.
WWF Superstars delivers on what you should expect from an early Game Boy game. It is a fun game, even if there isn’t too much to it. I like the game for what it is.
WWF Attitude
Developer: Crawfish Interactive
Genre: Wrestling
Review Score: 62/100 (GameRankings)
This is another port of a PS1/N64/Dreamcast game. I was fully expecting this to be a bad game after playing WWF Warzone. This version of WWF Attitude has a few advantages over Warzone.
This one is a little better than average. I was amazed by how much of the console versions of the game made it into this port. It is a Game Boy Color exclusive, which means it won’t work on the original Game Boy or Game Boy Pocket. The developer made a lot of necessary changes that helped make this a fairly good game.
The graphics are better than some of the other Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. There are a few instances where it is hard to tell who the characters are, but they’re few and far between. I do like this game more than many of the other wrestling games on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color.
WCW Main Event
Developer: Beam Software
Genre: Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
I enjoyed this game quite a bit. WCW Main Event is one of the games that works well for the Game Boy. It has good graphics and controls.
This is a short arcade experience. There aren’t too many game modes, and a limited roster. It doesn’t deliver on what you should expect from a Game Boy game. There is actually a fun story about the roster.
A few of the wrestlers in the game weren’t with WCW when this game was released. Ric Flair had returned to the company, but not in time for the game’s release, and the Steiner Brothers had left the company by the time the game was released. I’m a little surprised this didn’t happen more often when it came to video games.
WWF WrestleMania 2000
Developer: Natsume
Genre: Wrestling Simulation
Review Score: 64/100 (GameRankings)
This is one of the better games on the Game Boy. What amazed me was that this is one of the Game Boy Color games that is compatible with the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Pocket. The developers did an excellent job with this game.
I was very surprised by this part of the game. It has good controls and some very good graphics. It isn’t all good, but the graphics are very good when compared to other Game Boy Games. It is also great that this is compatible with the original Game Boy.
I wish the other ports of PS1 and N64 games had been as good as this one. There is a lot of content in the game to keep you entertained for a while. If the graphics were better, I would’ve put this one above Hal Wrestling.
Hal Wrestling
Developer: Human Entertainment
Genre: Wrestling
Review Score: N/A
This was my favorite wrestling game on the Hal Wrestling. It is part of the Fire Pro Wrestling series, and it was one of the only options for people in North America to try this series of games outside of importing them. It is very similar to Pro Wrestling on the NES.
Out of all the wrestling games on the Game Boy, this one has the best controls and graphics. There are a few minor issues with the game, but the gameplay more than makes up for it. I wish I had played this game when I was a kid.
There is something fun about discovering a game that you didn’t know existed. Hal Wrestling is one of those games for me. It gave me the same feeling I had when I played Pro Wrestling on the NES, and I think it is one of my favorite retro wrestling games at this point. I’m so glad I had a chance to play this one.
Broken Games
There are two games that I had to leave off this list. WCW Mayhem and WWF Betrayal. I couldn’t get either game to work, and I didn’t want to try to use an emulator to play either game. I’ve also left them off this list. At some point, if I can get them to work, I’ll make blog posts on them and update this list.
Conclusion
I do wonder where the Game Boy Color port of WCW Mayhem would’ve been on this list if I had been able to get the game to work. From what I saw on a few YouTube videos, I think it would’ve been either tied or behind WrestleMania 2000. Without being able to play the game, I can’t be sure.
Most of these games deliver on what I would expect from a Game Boy game. They’re short arcade experiences with decent controls, but few game modes. These were games made for a road trip. There were only a few stinkers on this list.
A few games surprised me. The port of WWF WrestleMania 2000 was very good, and I liked Hal Wrestling a lot. I wish we had gotten more games from the Fire Pro series. I don’t know anything about imports, so I didn’t play most of the games in the series.
If you liked this post, please check out my other ranking lists, such as WCW Wrestling Games Ranked or N64 Wrestling Games Ranked.