10 Non-WWE Wrestling Games

If you ask me (and you didn't) WCW/nWo Revenge is the greatest wrestling game of all time. Everything about it was perfect for the time and WWE knew it as the ywould tap AKI and its amazing system for two of their own game that continued to refine things. The grappling system is part of what ensured the game's success and popularity. The system was simple to learn and allowed for a variety of moves to be performed depending on the character. The graphics were improved from World Tour, and many new features were introduced to expand the popular series.

The Fire Pro Wrestling series is not only one of the longest running wrestling series, but one of the longest running video game series of all time. But don't feel bad if you haven't heard of it as its been exclusive to Japan for most of its life. As a huge wrestling video game fan I knew of the series, but it wasn't until the GBA that the series made its way stateside with Fire Pro Wrestling. The game features over 1,200 different technique and it's safe to say that you'll never stop having fun with this one. Hell, it's 2017 and I still have my GBA for this game alone. Add to the fact that the game features a robust CAW system with insane depth that can handle 66 wrestlers and you can have a roster full of current wrestlers to run your own federation. While Revenge may be my favorite wrestling game, Fire Pro Wrestling is the best technical wrestling game around. Leave your button mashing at home and get ready to wrestle!

A winner is you in this NES classic wrestling title. While not the first wrestling game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, it's probably the best that the system got in North America. The game was one of the first wrestling games to feature an in-ring referee that actually worked. The AI used for the referee in the game is fairly accurate for the time as he will have to move into position to start the count. A fun little thing is that Pro Wrestling was also the first wrestling title to feature a cameraman at ringside that activly followed the action.

Def Jam: Fight for NY is a hip hop-influenced 3D action video game published by Electronic Arts and developed by the same team behind WCW/nWo Revenge. That should be enough to let you know how good this title plays as a wrestling game, even though the term wrestling is never used. Def Jam Fight for NY emphasizes the use of the game's various environments and the surrounding crowd to cause damage. The gameplay is expanded from the original game, which was primarily a wrestling game and fighters can now choose one, two, or three of five different fighting styles.

I never said this would be a list of good wrestling games and ECW Hardcore Revolution is anything but. While Hardcore Revolution was the first wrestling game to be based on ECW, the game itself was simply WWF Attitude with a new coat of paint. Much of the content was the same, but elements were changed to replace WWE (WWF at the time) owned material with ECW material. The similarities are so strong that match rules from WWF Attitude are retained. Some matches could be won or lost via a ring-out count or disqualification, which does not happen in ECW. Hardcore indeed.

Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring is wrestling game for the PS3 that is based on the lucha libre style of wrestling. You'd be forgiven if you missed out on this one as I only found out about it after finding it in the bargain bin of the local GameStop well after the PS3 was dead. The problem is that the game fails to match the fast-paced style that comes to define lucha libre. Wrestlers lumber around very slowly and things often become nearly unplayable when more than two characters are in the ring. But the worst thing you'll deal with is the damn game freezing on you. I can't honestly tell you another console game that has ever actually frozen on me.

WCW Superbrawl Wrestling came about before WCW made waves during the Monday Night Wars. The gameplay takes place from a ¾ overhead perspective and each wrestler shares a moveset in the game, with the exception of their signature moves. While the game looks great and features some cool digitized audio from Tony Schiavone on commentary, and wrestlers saying a catchphrase after performing their signature move, the gameplay didn't fare as well. The game was very stiff and getting wrestler to, well , wreslte was a chore.

TNA Impact! was developed by Midway Studios Los Angeles and published by Midway Games. The game sold an impressive 1.5 million units, but financial issues at Midway Games (this was before the Mortal Kombat revival) prevented a planned sequel. The game is geared towards a quick-paced, high-impact style of play, with less emphasis on submission maneuvers. TNA Impact! look pretty great at the time and used a easy to pick up control scheme but was criticized for its limited and repetitive movesets, poor entrances, and lack of championship belts in a damn wrestling game.

This one just barely makes the list as it straddles the line between wrestling game and what amounts to Final Fight in a ring. As this is based on an arcade game Slam Masters uses a three button configuration (grab, attack, and jump). Each character has two special attacks: a non-grappling technique and a finisher. When an opponent's life meter is depleted, he must either be pinned for a three-count or forced to submit. Slam Masters is a lot of fun and a nice break from the more traditional wrestling fare. The game aslo feature Hagger from Final Fight and several mentions and connections to the Street Fighter universe (at least in the US version), so it features some nice fan service to Capcom fans.

Boobs. There, I said it. That's really the only reason one would pick up Rumble Roses. Hell, I'll admit that those bouncing boobies were the reason I picked this on up in my younger days. I least picked it up because of the wrestling bit too, but that was secondary. Rumble Roses comes from Yuke's and uses the same engine as their WWE game WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. This means that you get a pretty impressive wrestling game, only with boobs; well, more so than in normal WWE wrestling. Rumble Roses features an all female cast as you would expect. There are regular matches and mud wrestling matches, as well as a story mode. Each character is claimed to contain 10,000 polygons which is a record number for the PlayStation 2 and it shows.