The first surprise I got from WWF Wrestlemania was in the pre-title credits. “**Hulk Hogan, Hulkmania, and Hulkster are trademarks of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. licensed exclusively to Titansports, Inc.” Hulk Hogan is a property of Marvel? Taken aback, I wondered if that was still the case. Is he now owned by Disney? The answers to those are no and no, or at least only in the sense that we are all, when it comes down to it, owned by Disney. But the previous arrangement where he licensed rights to the name made sense. I had never considered the origins of the name Hulk but, well, duh. Not just that, though, but more widely, because here was a game based on entertainment featuring people with larger than life assumed identities, interacting in serial format.
Obviously then, before the fight scenes, there has to be some snappy dialogue. Dialogue in games can be a tough thing. It’s extremely difficult for reasons technical and beyond to give players free rein to say what they like in an interaction and have them receive appropriate responses. Give them the wrong constricted choices, though, and the whole feeling of immersion can be compromised. WWF Wrestlemania keeps it pretty simple in its trash-talking, giving you three different options which don’t differ all that much in content, and scrolls your choice in big text across a picture of a monitor showing the gathered crowds. Context, though, renders it absolutely fitting. Of course The British Bulldog is only going to say one of a few possible things; the act depends on it. Words on a screen, on a screen, for a player playing a role as a player playing a role. The artificiality is again on proud display.
With the important bit out of the way, things proceed to the ring. It again tends towards the simple, and though it’s far from the worst fighting game I’ve come across, it’s much less effective in getting across anything of the atmosphere it’s trying to. The joystick-endangering waggle required to get out of holds is a throwback to much older sports games and one way of getting the player to feel physically involved in the process. You can leave the ring and pick up a chair and hit your opponent with it, which is more bare essential than anything particularly inventive, but is appreciated nonetheless. Even if there is no referee to hit with it.
That is all a weak concession to entertainment, and to the show, though. The game seems to have the right idea through all of the spotlights and razzmatazz of the intro and then lose it all in the fight. Surely there must have been better alternatives? Some kind of mechanism where you could insult your opponent mid-fight, with the tide of the contest turning on those remarks, perhaps? I have a lot of wrestling games ahead, so I’m looking forward to seeing if anyone comes up with better.
Gallup all formats chart, Computer & Video Games Issue 124, March 1992