WWF King of the Ring

Overview

WWF King of the Ring is a wrestling game developed by Eastridge Technology and published by LJN for the NES and Game Boy platforms.

Featured Wrestlers

• Hulk Hogan ( Speed: 4 Strength: 7 Stamina: 5)
• "Macho Man" Randy Savage (Speed: 5 Strength: 4 Stamina: 7)
• Bret Hart (Speed: 6 Strength: 4 Stamina: 6)
• The Undertaker (Speed: 4 Strength: 6 Stamina: 6)
• "The Narcissist" Lex Luger (Speed: 3 Strength: 7 Stamina: 5)
• Mr Perfect (Speed: 6 Strength: 4 Stamina: 5)
• Razor Ramon (Speed: 3 Strength: 7 Stamina: 5)
• Shawn Michaels (Speed: 6 Strength: 3 Stamina: 6)
• Yokozuna (Speed: 3 Strength: 7 Stamina: 4) [Not featured in GB version]
• Bam Bam Bigelow (Speed: 4 Strength: 6 Stamina: 4) [Not featured in GB version]
• "You" (A customizable character in terms of name and attributes)

Modes

One player modes:

- One on one

- Tag team

- Tournament (You take on a ladder of all the in game wrestlers to win the WWF Championship)

- King of the Ring (A single elimination tournament with the winner being declared King of the Ring)

Two player modes:

- One on one

- Tag Team (Versus only, no co-op)

Critical Reception

When the NES version was released Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the review scores of 8,6,6 and 7 out of ten. Ed Semrad, who gave the highest score, wrote, "...There are lots of wrestlers to pipick from, each being quite different from the other. Being only a two-button game does not really hinder it from being fun, but being on an 8-bit system does have its limitations -- like the occasional character [having his] legs disappearing when thrown...".

Sushi-X wrote, "...The graphics are weak and lots of flicker gets annoying real fast. The game play is decent and the cart proves to be fun with two players".

Development

WWF King of the Ring was the last NES/GB game made by Gray Matter.

During development Hulk Hogan complained about his player character's hairline so the developers added pixels to his sprite. When he complained again the developers gave him a comically full head of hair. This changed was approved.

The game used two wrestler body types: fat and non-fat. One unnamed wrestler complained he had been placed in the wrong category, so he had to be remade as a non-fat character.