is a professional wrestling video game developed and released by

Technōs Japan was a Japanese video game Video game developer, developer, best known for the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun (series), Kunio-kun'' Media franchise, franchises (the latter including ''Renegade (video game), Renegade'', ''Super Dodge Ball'' and ...

for arcades in 1991, featuring stars of the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWF). The game was distributed by Technōs in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and by

Tecmo , was a Japanese video game corporation founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in Kudankita, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

in Japan,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

. It is the sequel to Technōs' previous WWF game, ''

WWF Superstars is a List of wrestling video games, wrestling video game manufactured by Technōs Japan and released for arcade game, arcades in 1989. It is the first WWE, WWF arcade game to be released. A series of unrelated games with the WWF Superstars (Game ...

''. Compared to ''Superstars'', ''WrestleFest'' adds a variety of different wrestlers to the roster as well as enhanced graphics and sound. There are more voice samples, including commentary and pre-match introductions by WWF ring announcer

Mike McGuirk Michelle Kathleen McGuirk (born March 16, 1958) is an American professional wrestling personality, best known as a ring announcer for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1986 through 1994. She is the daughter of professional wrestler Leroy Mc ...

. The voiced

cut scene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s featuring

Gene Okerlund Eugene Arthur Okerlund (December 19, 1942 – January 2, 2019), better known by his ring name "Mean Gene" Okerlund, was an American professional wrestling interviewer, announcer and television host. He was best known for his work in the World Wres ...

from ''Superstars'' returned as well. In February 2012, THQ released a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of the game for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

featuring both current and former wrestlers, retitled ''WWE WrestleFest''.

Gameplay

Just like its predecessor, ''WrestleFest'' simulates

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

matches. The game adds support for up to four simultaneous players and the ability to insert more credits into the machine to buy

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

. Two modes of play are available. In the new

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle roya ...

mode, the player picks one superstar and takes him through a Royal Rumble match. In

Saturday Night's Main Event ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' is an American professional wrestling television program that is produced by WWE (known at the time of launch as the World Wrestling Federation). Premiering in 1985, it originally aired on NBC in the United Stat ...

mode, the player must pick two wrestlers to form a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

and take them through a series of matches, including a title match with the

Legion of Doom The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in ''Challenge of the Super Friends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univers ...

. In this mode, players can perform numerous double team moves. Additionally, after a team member has been on the apron for a certain length of time, they will "power up," temporarily giving them the ability to win all grapples and inflict more damage than usual. The game features ten selectable wrestlers.

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

The Ultimate Warrior Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. Best known by his ring name The Ultimate Warrior, he wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 198 ...

, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and

Big Boss Man Ray Washington Traylor Jr. (May 2, 1963 – September 22, 2004) was an American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Big Boss Man, as well as for his appearances wit ...

return from ''WWF Superstars''.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts Aurelian Smith Jr. (born May 30, 1955), better known by the ring name Jake "The Snake" Roberts, is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he performs as manager to Lance Archer. He is be ...

Earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

, Mr. Perfect,

Sgt. Slaughter Robert Rudolph Remus (born August 27, 1948), best known by his ring name Sgt. Slaughter, is a voice actor and retired American professional wrestler who is currently signed to WWE in the ambassador program. From the late 1970s to the early 198 ...

, Demolition Smash, and Demolition Crush, are available as new superstars, with

The Legion of Doom The Legion of Doom is a group of supervillains who originated in ''Challenge of the Super Friends'', an animated series from Hanna-Barbera based on DC Comics' Justice League. The Legion of Doom has since been incorporated into the main DC Univers ...

(

Hawk Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

and

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

) making an appearance as a non-selectable

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

tag team champions. Each wrestler has their own signature maneuvers.

Reception

In North America, ''RePlay'' reported ''WWF WrestleFest'' to be the second most-popular arcade game of the month in October 1991. It went on to be the highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1992 in the United States, according to the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA). In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''WWF WrestleFest'' on their December 1, 1991 issue as being the third most-popular arcade at the time. ''

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...

'' gave the game a 3 out of 5. While critical to the graphics being cartoony, they praised its gameplay. ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' rated the game with an 88% score, citing the game's variety of characters and high

replay value Replay may refer to: * Replay (sports), a replayed match between two sport teams Technology * Game replay, a recording of a game session. * Instant replay, in motion pictures and television, a showing again of part of a film * Replay Professional, ...

. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' also gave the game a positive review, describing the gameplay as enjoyable. ''

'' magazine awarded it "Best Beat'Em Up Game" in 1991, along with

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

's ''

Vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), a ...

''.

Follow-up titles

THQ released a

of the game for

under the title ''WWE WrestleFest'' on February 21, 2012. The remake introduced a roster composed of more contemporary WWE stars such as

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American part-time professional wrestler, actor, and former rapper. He is currently signed to WWE. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is tied w ...

Randy Orton Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor who is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand but is currently out of action due to a back injury. H ...

and

Rey Mysterio Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest profes ...

, along with former performers including The Rock,

Stone Cold Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, and retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most ...

Jake Roberts Aurelian Smith Jr. (born May 30, 1955), better known by the ring name Jake "The Snake" Roberts, is an American professional wrestler and actor currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he performs as manager to Lance Archer. He is be ...

and

Randy Savage Randall Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestl ...

. In addition to the return of the Saturday Night's Main Event and Royal Rumble game modes, the remake also featured standard one-on-one, tag team, steel cage and gauntlet match types, along with online multiplayer. The game also included "Road to WrestleMania" mode, where the player goes through a series of matches to try to win various WWE titles. A series of

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...

packs were released for the game, featuring additional wrestlers and arenas. Versions for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

and Android were also announced, but never released. The 2021 title ''

RetroMania Wrestling ''RetroMania Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling video game by RetroSoft Studios. The game was released on April 1, 2021. The game was created as an homage to classic WWF arcade games ''WWF Superstars'' and ''WWF WrestleFest''. Gameplay ''R ...

'' was heavily inspired by ''WrestleFest'' and was also promoted as a successor to the original arcade game.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wwf Wrestlefest 1991 video games Arcade video games IOS games Multiplayer and single-player video games Professional wrestling games Technōs Japan games Tecmo games Video games developed in Japan WWE video games