Wrestling games are notorious for their hit-or-miss quality, no matter what property is being adapted. Even mainstream wrestling heavies can get pinned by lesser-known original IPs, proving that it's unwise to count on brand recognition alone.
While the wrestling games have carried the wrestling game torch for quite a few years now🤡, there are many other titles to choose ♐from if you want a different kind of fix.
Updated on January 10, 2022 by Michael Llewellyn: If you were going to ask most gamers about wrestling games they will likely list the ones under the WWE banner. This is because the WWE has dominated professional wrestling in tཧhe West⛦ on television and in the video game market since the collapse of WCW.
However, its nearest rival AEW is bringing the fight to the wrestling titan on TV and with their upcoming wrestling game designed around the AKI engine. As a result, fans are looking elsewhere for wrestling games that aren't WWE to get their wrestling fixes until the AEW wrestling game is released. In the meantime, this list has been updated with the best non-WWE wrestling games available.
11 ♉ Pro Wrestling
- Released: 1987
- Developer: Nintendo
- Platform: NES
It may seem odd to give the thumbs up to Pro Wrestling, but one must remember the context. Wrestling games were in their infancy in the 8-bit days of 1987, yet Pro Wrestlin♌g managed to cobbl🌟e together something resembling a close approximation of the real thing.
This was no small feat given the NES's limited hardware, bronze-age graphics, and sound. Nevertheless, Pro Wrestling was a blast to play, turning button-mashing into a whole new art form as gamers performed suplexes, turnbuckle drops, and out-of-ring brawls with raw simplicity. What it lacked in-depth and content, it made up for with excitement.
10 R🥀etroMania Wꦉrestling
- Released: 2021
- Developer: RetroSoft Studios
- Platform: PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One
Released in 2021, RetroMania Wrestling is an unlicensed wrestling g🐎ame that still features lots of 🅘recognizable faces from the golden and attitude eras of wrestling. It was developed as a spiritual successor to the popular arcade title WWF WrestlingFest.
The game features a story mode with former WWE superstar Johnny Retro AKA John Morrison in the lead. It has branching choices where you get to decide who to form an alliance with and who to betray. As far as gameplay is concerned it's purely an arcade experience that feels the polar opposite to a game like Fire Pro but the mechanics are a lot of fun and great for a Saturday sat around the TV with friends and family.
9 🔜 🍎 Action Arcade Wrestling
- Released: 2021
- Developer: Reverb Communications Inc.
- Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One
Indie-developed Action Arcade Wrestling al♉ongside the above-mentioned RetroMania Wrestling helped fill the void that was left wide open in th💫e absence of a proper WWE game.
Action Arcade Wrestling is another throwback arcade wrestling game that echos classics like Saturday Nꩵight Slam Masters and Wrestle War. It uses an attractive retro-style cell-shading and allows you to download community-created wrestlers like Fire Pro Wrestling World.
8 Saturday Night Slam Mas💟ters
- Released: 1994
- Developer: Capcom
- Platform: Genesis/Megadrive and SNES
Capcom jumped into the wrestling biz with 1994's arcade smash Saturday Night Slam Masters, and it remains one of the more enjoyable titles in the genre. Set in the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter universe, the ღgame would bring back Final Fight protagonist Mike Haggar, an ex-wrestler who would later 🍌become Mayor of Metro City.
Slam Masters was a mixture of traditional wrestling mechanics and freestyle combat in the vein of side-scrolling brawlers, which created an🗹 interesting mix of gameplay modes. It would also get a seq🍌uel in 1994, entitled Ring Of Destruction.
7 ♈ Tecmo World Wrestl♚ing
- Released: 1990
- Developer: Tecmo
- Platform: NES
Pro Wrestling wasn't the only wrestling title to drop on the original NES, but it certainly helped lay the brickwork for Tecmo World Wrestling, which came out three years later. It was a significant step up from its spiritual predecessor, with an expanded character roster and a complex move list.
Compared side by side, Tecmo World Wrestlin✱g could definitely be seen as an unofficial sequel to Pro Wrestling, thanks to similar gameplay mechanics, and a combat system that felt a lot like a much-needed upgrade.
6 💜 Def Jam: Fight For New York
- Released:
- Developer: AKI
- Platform: PS2 and Xbox
Hip hop fans soaked up Def Jam: Fight For New York, but even those who aren't fans of the musical genre might enjoy what the game has to offer. In addition to having one of the deepest stories of any wrestling game, the mixture of melee combat and traditional wrestling mechanics mixes perfectly with the atmosphere.
Besides, where else can one pit Method Man against Ice-T in a fictional battle for the winning pin? At the end of the day, Def Jam represents some of the best facets of a wrestling game, even if the DNA isn't completely genuine.
5 💦 Fire Pro Wrestling 2 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ
- Released: 2002
- Developer: Spike Chunsoft
- Platform: GBA
The Fire Pro Wrestling series was one of the most sought-after wrestling franchises in the West. This is becaus�🍃�e the majority of the games were never released outside of Japan, despite receiving praise from importers that were looking for a more die-hard wrestling experience.
However, Fire Pro Wrestling and its sequel Fire Pro Wrestling 2 landed on American shores and brought one of the best wrestling experiences ever developed to the handheld screen. Despite the limitations of the system's button layout, Fire Pro Wrestling on the GBA worked surprisingly well considering how in-depth the move and control system is.
4 WCW Vs. NWO World Tour ✱ 🍌
- Released: 1997
- Developer: AKI Corporation
- Platform: N64
A successor to the WCW vs. The World on the PS1, WCW vs. NWO World Tour took advantage of the extra power offered by the N64 to lay the foundations fo🌌r one of the greatest wrestling seriꦦes of all time. Developed by AKI the engine is still considered by many fans to be the best that wrestling games can offer.
The same engine was used in classics like WWF No Mercy and the Def Jam games. As a result, WCW vs NWO is both accessible aওnd deep with matches that can go back and forth depending on your skill.
3 🍰 Fire Pro Wrestling Returns
- Released: 2007
- Developer: Spike Chunsoft
- Platform: PS2
Released in North America in 2007, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns was considered to be one of the most complete wrestling games of all time. While it lacked licensed wrestlers there are still lots of unofficial lookalikes in the game 🐬and a robust character creation system.
Matches are tactical affairs that develop over the course of the match. The quality of a match is graded on how exciting it is for the fans with near-misses and back and forth action. The gameplay takes a little getting used to but practice makes perfect and 🌳patience is rewarded.
2 🐓 WCW/NWO Revenge
- Released: 1998
- Developer: AKI Corporation
- Platform: N64
The third and final WCW title to come from AKI was thei🦂r best yet. It featured WCW wrestlers when the company was at its best with the likes of Sting, Goldberg, DDP, Hollywood Hogan, and more.
The AKI wrestl𒊎ing engine was refined even further with its momentum-based gameplay feeling better than ever. As with its predecessor, matches between good players can be a back and forth affair with reversal having countermoves and counters that can be reversed.