Overview
Tecmo World Wrestling is a 1989 (Japan) / 1990 (US) NES wrestling game developed and published by Tecmo. In Japan it is known as Gekitou Pro Wrestling!! Toukon Densetsu ("Intense Pro Wrestling!! Legend of the Fighting Spirit"). It introduced novel concepts for NES pro wrestling titles at the time, including cinematic cutscenes and a play-by-play announcer.
Gameplay
Tecmo World Wrestling's gameplay and scenario was extremely similar to the earlier NES wrestling title Pro Wrestling, but added a much larger array of moves for the wrestlers to perform, providing a more diverse roster of characters. Unlike Pro Wrestling, health meters for both the player and computer opponent were displayed on screen.
The single player mode took the player's selected character through the remainder of the roster, until they were victorious in the title match and moved on to face the final boss of the game, the "Earl of Doom" Blue King. In another similarity to Pro Wrestling, Blue King was an unplayable character who could do every character's moves (akin to Pro Wrestling's Great Puma). Between matches, the player could engage in button mashing training exercises (either squats, sit-ups, or push-ups) to boost their strength.
The two player mode was a basic one-on-one battle between players selecting any wrestler from the roster.
Features
Tecmo included a unique feature in the game in which certain moves, if done when the opponent is at low health, would trigger a cinematic cutscene (similar in appearance to what Tecmo had done with its earlier NES Ninja Gaiden titles) that displayed the move being performed from a close-up, more detailed perspective. This provided a much more dramatic presentation to the bout as it neared its conclusion.
Also included was a play-by-play announced named Tom Talker. Talker called the action on the fly via text. This was the first example of play-by-play in any home console pro wrestling video game (WWF MicroLeague Wrestling for the Commodore 64 was released in 1987 and also contained text play-by-play).
Roster
| Name | Nickname | Finishing Moves | Notes |
|---|
| Akira Dragon | The Samurai | Back Brain Kick, German Suplex | Visually inspired by wrestler Antonio Inoki |
| El Tigre | Striker | Back Drop, Northern Lights Suplex (misspelled in the game as "Northern Right Suplex") | Visually inspired by wrestler Tiger Mask |
| Pat Gordon | Greek Warrior | Back Drop, Power Slam |
| Rex Beat | The British Star | Power Bomb, Death Drop | Visually inspired by tag team The Road Warriors |
| Jackie Lee | Kung-Fu Master | German Suplex, Power Slam |
| Boris Chekov | The Siberian Machine | Giant Swing, Power Slam | Visually inspired by wrestler Stan Hansen |
| Mark Rose | Mr. Tattoo | Back Drop, Northern Lights Suplex (misspelled in the game as "Northern Right Suplex") |
| Julio Falcon | Iguanaman | Death Drop, Power Slam |
| Randy Gomez | The Flying Hand Grenade | Back Brain Kick, Power Bomb |
| Dr. Guildo | The Technician | Death Drop, Giant Swing | Visually inspired by wrestler Big Van Vader |
| Blue King | Earl of Doom | (can use any move from any character) | Non-playable boss character |
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