Hands down, the best wrestling game ever!
Nearly 25 years after its release, Pro Wrestling for the Nintendo Entertainment System is still quite possibly the best console wrestling game ever
These days it seems that Wrestling games are a dime a dozen. However, back in 1987 when the NES was just starting to pick up speed they were hard to come by. Acclaim had released Wrestlemania, but that hardly resembled wrestling and was mediocre at best. Then the guys at Nintendo quietly released what to this day is quite possibly the best wrestling game to ever grace a home console: Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestling offers an absolutely amazing amount of accuracy and depth for a wrestling game. All of the standard issue wrestling moves are there. There are several interesting wrestlers to choose from each with their own personality and special set of moves. However, what sets Pro Wrestling ahead of its time is its extraordinarily fun gameplay and revolutionary move system. In the early 90s games such as Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat made joystick and button move combinations (i.e. Back, Forward + Punch) commonplace. However, Pro Wrestling is one of the earliest games to utilize such a simple, yet effective move system. It is easy to learn and logically mapped. Pressing left and B throws your opponent left towards the ropes. Right and B sends them to the right. Up and A performs a suplex; a move that raises your opponent up. Down and A performs a pile driver; a move that drives your opponent down into the mat. When playing, this system feels extremely natural and makes it easy to become "one with the game".
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Pro Wrestling is its terrific AI. You have to be smart about how you wrestle. You can't just do any move at anytime. You have to wear your opponent down. If you try to perform a high risk move such as a suplex too early in the match, you'll find that it will quickly be reversed and you will be the one receiving the damage! As well, traditional button mashing is pointless (unless you are in a lock-up). This leads to a few of my minor gripes about the game. First, playing Pro-Wrestling with a turbo controller sucks 90% of the fun out. Sure it can be quite satisfying to obliterate every opponent and defend the V.W.A. title until ultimately beating the game but the skill and suspense is obviously destroyed in the process. My second and more serious complaint is that wrestlers who are equipped with the Back Drop and particularly King Slender who has both the back drop and back breaker posses an almost insurmountable advantage over opponents who do not. The back drop can be performed at anytime and inflicts almost as much damage as a pile driver. This is great against the CPU but isn't really fair when playing human opponents. These gripes aside, Pro Wrestling does a stunning job of putting the real-life back and forth into a match. Just when you think you've got your opponent finished off, they'll come back and leave you wondering how the match will end! Audible buzzers let you know just how much "life" your wrestler has left. This is definitely an acceptable precursor to the traditional "energy bar" used today which hadn't yet become the standard back in 1987.
The graphics in Pro Wrestling are pretty much what you'd expect to see in a first generation NES title. However they do accurately portray the sport and make you feel like a part of the action. Sound in the game leaves a bit to be desired. Powerful moves like the Suplex and Pile driver have a very satisfying sound that lets you know you've really done some damage. However other moves such as a body slam or move off the turnbuckle have a simple "splat" sound that doesn't seem as representative. The music in Pro Wrestling is memorable and yet quickly becomes quite annoying. After a few matches, you'll have the "Pro Wrestling Riff" looping over and over in your mind. While this might not seem like a bad thing, this particular riff isn't quite as enjoyable as something like the "Super Mario Bros. Riff". In fact, if I was looking to really annoy someone, I might choose to play the Pro Wrestling music very loudly for an extended period of time. Still it is catchy and I can still hear it playing in my head.
The NES had its fair share of sports titles. And unfortunately due to its early release and "love it or hate it" genre, Pro Wrestling is a game you might have missed. However, missing out on this game is missing out on not only one of the best games for the NES but flat out one of the best games ever. It is a technical marvel that is still impressive today and considering the technology on which it was released it only makes Pro Wrestling that much more legendary.