Play WWF Wrestlemania Challenge (Japan) Online

WWF WrestleMania Challenge came out for the NES in 1991, developed by Rare and published by LJN. It was one of several wrestling games on the system, trying to capture the over the top action of the WWF at the time with the limited hardware. You could tell they were aiming for the spectacle of the real events, even if the graphics were simple and the action was a bit stiff.

You pick a wrestler like Hulk Hogan or Randy Savage and face off against opponents in one on one matches. The main goal is to win matches by pinfall or submission, working your way through a tournament. You punch, kick, and grapple, building up a special meter to unleash a signature move like Hogan's leg drop. The ring ropes have a strange, bouncy physics to them, and the sprites are small but full of character. It's not a fast game; the action feels deliberate, sometimes even clunky, and the computer opponents can be frustratingly tough. Playing it feels like trying to stage a main event with action figures that only bend in a few places.