Technos Japan’s WWF Superstars and WWF WrestleFest were quarter-munching wrestling games that pitted Vince McMahon’s gimmick-fueled beefcakes against each other in cartoony, over-the-top bouts. Those games are now decades old, and the series sat dormant until an awful WrestleFest remake hit iOS devices in 2012. Fortunately, RetroSoft Studios has crafted a loving homage to those classic games with RetroMania Wrestling. The $29.99 PC game doesn’t carry the WWF (now WWE) license, but it retains a similar graphics style and simple, arcade-like controls. As a result, RetroMania Wrestling isn’t as robust a package as the excellent, sim-like Fire Pro Wrestling World, but it has enough button-mashing action to recommend for a rousing good time.
RetroMania Wrestling’s Cast of Characters
The roster contains 16 licensed characters that are mainly pulled from the independent circuit: Nick Aldis, The Blue World Order (Big Stevie Cool, Blue Meanie, and Hollywood Nova), Colt Cabana, Matt Cardona, Jeff Cobb, Tommy Dreamer, The Legion of Doom/Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk), Austin Idol, Nikia Koloff, Brian Meyers, Johnny Retro (aka Johnny Morrison), Zack Sabre, Jr., and Warhorse. That lineup would’ve been massive decades ago, but it feels a bit thin in contemporary times. For comparison’s sake, Fire Pro Wrestling World launched with a fictional, 30-person roster, which is small by that series’ standard (the PlayStation 3′ Fire Pro Wrestling Returns offered hundreds of characters).
RetroMania Wrestling’s small roster wouldn’t be an issue if the game included a Fire Pro-style create-a-wrestler mode, but it lacks that, too. On the upside, RetroSoft Studios states that three additional characters—Chris Bey, Mr. Hughes, and James Storm—will arrive as DLC. The company promises even more wrasslin’ legends in 2022. RetroMania Wrestling features 17 rings, and many of them recall real-world shows and venues, such as WCW’s Bash at the Beach and the ECW Arena.
In a surprising move, RetroMania Wrestling features the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) license, and the legendary promotion is prominently featured in the 10 Pounds of Gold arcade mode. It’s cool to see the NWA in the video game world, but between it and the real-world wrestlers, I wonder if this game will vanish from digital storefronts should RetroSoft Studios lose the licenses at a future time. After all, games preservation is a major industry issue.
The Squared Circle
RetroMania Wrestling has several match types, including single, standard tag, six-man tag, eight-man tag, three-way dance, four-way dance, and Retro Rumble (the game’s 16-man take on the WWE’s classic, time-based Royal Rumble match). Like any wrestling game worth its salt, RetroMania features cage matches, falls-count-anywhere bouts, and tornado rumbles. Despite the hardcore match types, I haven’t seen an ounce of blood in my time with the game.
Considering the game’s relatively small scope, these modes offer fine gameplay variety. That said, if you’re coming from Fire Pro Wrestling, a game with exploding death matches, kickboxing rules, and UFC-style cafe fights, RetroMania Wrestling’s game types may seem like slim pickings. There’s an entertaining story mode that features branching paths based on your dialogue-tree decisions, as well as the 10 Pounds of Gold arcade mode that tasks you with climbing the ranks to defeat Nick Aldis to win the NWA World Heavyweight belt.
Selling the Move
Gameplay is paramount, and RetroMania Wrestling captures the arcade style feel that its predecessors made famous decades ago. Like Fire Pro Wrestling World, RetroMania Wrestling uses a timing-based grapple system that features light, medium, and heavy grapple attacks.
RetroSoft Studios designed the game so that match pace resemble real-world sports entertainment contests. You’re supposed to attack opponents with light moves at the beginning of a match, move on to medium-strength moves as you wear them down a bit, and then bust out your haymakers—high-impact maneuvers and finishers—after they’re properly beaten down.
This system gives matches a sense of momentum; in fact, there’s a literal Momentum Meter just south of a character’s Health Meter that displays when you should bust out medium or hard attacks. The meter fills as you land blows or bust out a taunt, and depletes as you take damage. Foes can easily reverse your moves if you’re low on Momentum.
If you dip into Options, you can adjust Second Wind, a trait that seems to randomly give beat-down wrestlers a chance to escape a match-ending pin. It’s like the reverse of Fire Pro Wrestling Word’s Critical knockout move, and makes for hype moments and potential comebacks.
The sports game features button-mashing elements, too. If you and your opponent enter grapple moves at the same time, the first person (or AI) who mashes out the most button inputs wins the collar-and-elbow tie up. Finishing moves are present, but they lack pizzazz. They could benefit from more visual pop or crowd noises.
You wouldn’t expect a budget wrestling game to feature play-by-play commentary, but RetroMania has just that. A slider in Options determines how chatty the game gets, but that also exposes the limited commentary lines when it’s maxed out. Still, the commentary adds TV-like flair to the in-ring action. In addition, a ring announcer provides fully voiced match intros after the wrestlers make their way to the squared circle. This is something that Fire Pro Wrestling World lacks.
Overall, the game looks and moves like WrestleFest, and keen-eyed observers will even spot familiar, returning moves. On that topic, RetroMania Wrestling favors the loose, rough-and-tumble American wrestling style; the game lacks luchadores and the Japanese strong style. Hopefully, the future DLC characters will bring additional play styles.
Can Your PC Run RetroMania Wrestling?
If it’s a PC that boots up, most likely. The sports game isn’t particularly demanding, so a PC featuring an AMD or Intel dual-core CPU, AMD Radeon HD or Intel HD GPU, 2GB of RAM, 500MB of storage, and the Windows 7 operating system will do the job. As expected, RetroMania Wrestling doesn’t include many graphics options, but it lets you adjust the aspect ratio, pick a scaling shader level, toggle between fullscreen and windowed views, and activate or deactivate shadows.
The game performed well in testing. My gaming PC, a rig that houses an Intel Core i5 processor and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card, pushed RetroMania Wrestling at 60 frames per second. As a Steam game, the sports title features full controller support and more than three dozen Steam Achievements. RetroMania Wrestling lacks online play, so it’s a shame that it doesn’t leverage Steam Remote Play Together so friends can fight via internet-powered couch co-op. Still, 2-8 players can play in local co-op action.
A Contender
Developer RetroSoft Studio promised arcade-style wrestling, and delivered it with RetroMania Wrestling. Despite its relatively small roster and match types, the game is a faithful homage to classic wrestling titles that adds fun, contemporary touches. RetroMania Wrestling lacks online play and Fire Pro Wrestling World’s in-depth character creator and deep move set, but it’s an enjoyable diversion for those moments when you want to flop on the couch with friends and unleash digital carnage.
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