Wrestling Game Rundown

WWE WrestleMania XIX (GameCube) Review

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This time next year will mark 10 years since this review site/blog began and the second ever review I did was the first “Wrestling Game Rundown” review… safe to say I haven’t gotten through these as quickly as I’d hoped back then! Still, I want to see if I can get through the remaining ones before we hit that milestone next year, and given its WrestleMania XL weekend right now why not get the next entry up, given it’s a WrestleMania game! XIX will forever be remembered for its frankly bizarre, almost scrolling beat ‘em-like “Revenge Mode” but what about the rest of the game? Let’s take a look!

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A Look at the Total Extreme Wrestling Series (PC)

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As I mentioned a few Wrestling Game Rundowns ago when I looked at EWR, I didn’t want to exclude its sequel series TEW when looking at my wrestling game history but I also didn’t want, at current count, eight reviews all being extremely similar to each other either. So I’ve compromised and will instead look at TEW 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2020 all at once right now as a “Special” edition of the Rundown. It obviously won’t be a deep dive into each game, but I will touch on improvements and memories / current thoughts of each iteration. So… let’s get started!

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Legends of Wrestling II (PS2) Review

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After the original Legends of Wrestling was a “Fun experiment” that I quickly grew tired of Legends of Wrestling II came along and much to my surprise was far more playable than I was expecting, crossing over into just plain “good” thanks to the new territories-based career mode and the addition of four World of Sport era legends from the UK (in the PAL version). Does it still hold up in 2022 though? The answer may not be as straight forward as I would’ve thought!

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WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth (PS2) Review

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The next entry into the Smackdown! series of WWE games is the rather stupid sounding “Shut Your Mouth”, I guess they’d already used “Know Your Role” on SD!2 and “Just Bring It!” in the last game so ran out of Rock catchphrases? (Well, baring in mind “Smackdown! If You Smell” sounds weird) Subtitle aside SYM and its sequel are the high point of PS2 WWE games and frankly among the best in the whole Yukes SD/SvR/2K run that only recently came to an end. So let’s take a look!

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Extreme Warfare Revenge (PC) Review

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I went back and forth on whether to review this or not. On the one hand if I’m recounting and reviewing every wrestling game I’ve ever played missing out the one I probably played the most would seem like a massive disservice, but on the other hand it’s a text-based simulator, a free one at that so it’s not going to be much to look at for a review! Still, I had to include EWR so I will, as for its sequel game series Total Extreme Wrestling, I’ll have a quick general look at them together down the line rather than throw out five or six very similar reviews with not-very-interesting pictures in them… With that being said, let’s review EWR, complete with some not-very-interesting pictures!

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WWE WrestleMania X8 (GameCube) Review

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I remember being really excited for WrestleMania X8, assuming that since it was a Nintendo console exclusive it would be like the AKI games on the N64… Boy, was I ever wrong. I can’t say it was terrible but given the Smackdown! series on the PS2 was about to hit its stride I can say that I only played this for a month or so… What’s it like now, in 2021?! Well, the answer may surprise you… Okay it won’t.

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Legends of Wrestling (PS2) Review

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I remember being excited by the idea of Legends of Wrestling but it wasn’t until the second entry that I really enjoyed myself… and then the less said about entry #3 the better (well, until I review it, obviously…) So going back to LOW it was a strange experience, the golf swing-o-meter system is here like in LOW II though slightly worse and the roster, move variety and graphical style are also all far less. Makes sense given it came out first, but that did make it rather a chore to play through for this review… Oh well, let’s take a look!

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Fire Pro Wrestling (GBA) Review

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Here we go, my first step into the world of Fire Pro, a step that led to one of the most addictive games I can ever remember playing in Fire Pro Returns. GBA’s Fire Pro to get back on topic was a really fun game and it didn’t take long for me to get the hang of the timing-based controls, plus it’s always fun to rename characters! Let’s take a look then…

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WWF Smackdown! Just Bring It! (PS2) Review

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Just Bring It! is not only the first PS2 game on this never-ending marathon, but it’s also the last WWF game on it… because of the name change to WWE, obviously! Far from the last game from that company… It’s also the last game to have eight people in the ring at once for a good while, plus the first game to have proper commentary! … Man, the commentary… Me and my friend still quote it for a laugh sometimes… So with all these firsts and lasts, what’s it actually like? Let’s find out!

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WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role (PS1) Review

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When Smackdown! 2 came out, all I was interested in was the impending release of No Mercy on the N64, so even though I played it once or twice around a friend’s house, it was “quick and arcade-y” and just “not as good”. While that’s still true, the following year (or two… possibly longer) I brought it cheap and had a good laugh with a friend doing the endless career mode together. Turns out having a quick and simple control style and a bit of a weird and funny career mode can do wonders to cover any flaw… for a while. Let’s take a look!

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