A Small Pedrogames.Com Spending Spree

I purchased a couple games from pedrogames.com tonight.  My budget has been cramped recently so I had to be pretty selective.

The first game I bought was WWF: Steel Cage Challenge.  I've always had an interest in wrestling games and have posted about them before (http://www.salzmafia.com/labels/wrestling.php).  But two things occured that started to make me jones for this game.  The first is I finally got to watch "The Wrestler" and it was an incredibly cool movie.  I don't particularly like movies with alot of action and no dialog, but this movie was perfect.  If you haven't seen it yet, there is a popular scene in the movie where the main character "The Ram" returns home (to a trailer) from the hospital after recovering from a heart attack.  He now needs to take it easy and he's bored.  Looking down below his TV he sees his Nintendo and invites a neighborhood kid over to play Wrestle Jam.

Wrestle Jam is a fictious game.  It doesn't actually exist as a rom or cart that I know of and from what I read it was specifically programmed for the movie.  Here are a few screen shots:

"The Ram" and a neighborhood kid talk about "Call of Duty 4" while playing Nintendo.

The title screen to Wrestle Jam.  "The Ram VS. The Ayatollah"

The match begins!

Anyways The Ram beats the kid to a pulp, and the kid, bored, wants to go home.  Well in reading comments on other blogs about this same story (which is two years old as of this posting) much of the comments compared the game to other wrestling titles on Nintendo.  Wrestlemania is probably the closest:

So, I started looking at videos of all of the different wrestling games and I stumbled upon WWF: Steel Cage Challenge.  The animations in this game really caught my attention which is the second reason why I wanted it.  It was released in 1992, near the end of the life of the NES, so it's no surprise that it looks as good as it does:

We'll find out in less than a week if WWF: Steel Cage Challenge is worth it or not.

The next purchase is going to remain a secret for now.  But I'll give a hint.  If Elevator Action and Shinobi had a child together it would be this game.

Tag Team Wrestling

Tag Team Wrestling for Nintendo NES is just awful.  And I hate to say that of any game, but there is no other way to describe it.  If there was ever a low point in the history of Data East, this game has to be it.

It's pretty embarrassing.  From the title screen press "Start" then you'll immediately hear "Ding!" and the match begins.  The characters barely look like wrestlers, and the fact that they have two frames of animation (which is limited to moving legs) doesn't help any.

Half of the time I couldn't decribe to you what was happening on the screen.  Seriously, concentrate on the screenshot.  Where does one wrestler begin and the other one end?  Why does the audience look like zombies?  Actually it just looks like a bunch of heads on the floor.

There is at least one redeeming thing about this game and it's the box art.  It reminds me alot of early Atari box art where a professional artist actually took the time to create something that captured the mood that the publisher wanted to convey in the game.  It's just a shame that the game doesn't have the energy that the box has.

Wrestlefest

ideogames, believe it or not, can serve as a legitimate record of history. For example, if you watch a movie made in the 1940's you can see the particular feel of that era. The same is true with music, but not only will music reflect a particular era, but the technology used to make the music is a reflection of the time as well. Intentional or not, movies and music archive a legitimate record of history.  The same is true for videogames and I have an excellent example.

What made me think to post this? An article on FoxNews.Com titled "Pro Wrestlers Come And Gone" was probably the inspiration.  Now mind you, I am not a fan of Wrestling.  At least not now anyways.  In the 80's and early 90's it was a completely different deal.  I was also 20 years younger and had completely different priorities.  For me, Wrestling died a few years before WWE.

 

To me, the best wrestling videogame ever made was Wrestlefest by Technos (1991).  That year of manufactuer is very significant.  In fact, any arcade game manufactured in 1991 and 1992 is probably equally significant.  If you went out of your way to play Street Fighter II in an arcade when it was first released then you remember Wrestlefest.  The reason why is because most arcades had Wrestlefest, and if you walked into an arcade that had 20 quarters waiting on Street Figher II you had nothing better to do to kill time then play Wrestlefest or any of the other miriad of arcade games available at the time.

 
So in reading the article on FoxNews.Com I was a little shocked.  I was a little surprised.  And here is why:
 

Wrestlefest featured 12 WWF wrestlers.  The line up was as follows:

 

Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Mr. Perfect, Earthquake, Ted DiBiase, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Big Bossman, Sgt. Slaughter, Smash (Demolition), Crush (Demolition), Hawk (Legion of Doom), Animal (Legion of Doom).

 

This was an impressive line up, and what was more impressive is that the characters looked like the actual wrestlers.  Some of the images were digitized, which to some degree that might be cheating when it comes to creating the likeness of an actual person in a video game, but the majority of the images were clearly hand drawn and done well.  But then again, I'd expect nothing less from Technos.

 

Anyways the death roster from FoxNews.Com was as follows:

• 
  
  Mr. Perfect: The man known as Mr. Perfect passed away on Feb. 10, 2003, from an acute cocaine intoxication. His father says steroids and pain killers also contritubed to his death. He was 44.
  
  
• 
  
  Earthquake: Earthquake retired from wrestling in 2004 after he revealed he had bladder cancer. The disease took his life on June 7, 2006. He was 42.
  
  
• Big Bossman: Ray Traylor, a former prison guard, made his wrestling debut in 1985. He joined the WWE in 1988 as the Big Boss Man. He died on Sept. 22, 2004, after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 41. 
• Crush: Brian Adams began his wrestling career in 1986 and debuted with the WWE in 1990 as part of the tag-team Demolition. In March 1995, Adams was arrested for purchasing steroids. He died August 13, 2007, at the age of 44. Authorities believe nandrolone, testosterone, and HGH played a part in his death.
• Hawk: Hawk battled through drugs and alcohol most of his career. He passed away Oct. 19, 2003, from an apparent heart attack. He was 46.

So 5 out of the 12 are already dead.  Hulk Hogan is still trying to get his life turned back around.  Ted DiBiase does alot of Christian work I hear, Jake "The Snake" Roberts entered rehab at WWE's expense, Sgt. Slaughter doesn't have any relevant gossip (although in relation to this videogame blog he did appear on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show along with follow Wrestler Captain Lou Albano who played Mario, who is also dead).  The Ultimate Warrior started a blog http://www.ultimatewarrior.com/ which is worth a good laugh, and as for the rest of them... who really gives a damn?

The point is that a videogame captured a moment in history, when these 12 men were on top of their game, with their names and likenesses to be found in almost every arcade in America.  And now they are just filler material on a slow news day for FoxNews.Com.  18 years from now will the rest be dead?