History of WWF/E Games Part 9
WWF Superstars 2
Release
1992
Format
Game Boy
This week it is the 2nd WWF title for the original Game Boy
Background
This was the very first WWF game that was billed as a direct sequel to the one before it. It would take quite a few years for something like this to happen again. I was very excited as a kid when I saw the very first screen shots of this game, as it would be the first time at home I would be able to play a WWF game where I could wrestle inside a steel cage.
Presentation
One thing that WWF Superstars 2 does quite well is that it clearly attempts to try and look like its big brother games WWF Super Wrestlemania on the SNES, and WWF Steel Cage Challenge on the NES. It actually is quite impressive visually that they managed to get it looking just like WWF Steel Cage Challenge (that was released shortly after this) and somewhat like a downgraded version of Super Wrestlemania. I have to give credit to the arena it looks really good, but if I am honest it has lost all of the charm that the first WWF Superstars game had.
The original WWF Superstars was its own game and it just oozed personality. Sadly with WWF Superstars 2 they have tried far to hard to try and be like the NES and SNES games that they had lost those great looking chunky sprites of the first game. WWF Superstars 2 is not a bad looking game but for me personally in getting rid of the look of the first game, they really have taken away a great deal of the charm and uniqueness that this game could have had.
Game Play
The first WWF Superstars game was a great pick up and play game, and it worked perfectly. Sure if it was a home release for lets say the NES you could maybe argue that it was a bit limited, but for a Game Boy title it certainly delivered more than enough hand held WWF action. WWF Superstars 2 while it does offer more game play modes such as tag team and steel cage, the game to simply put it is just as not much fun to play.
You can pick from a choice of six WWF wrestlers and the choices to be fair are really good except for one The Mountie. Now I have nothing against this wrestler as a mater of fact as a kid he was one of my favourite bad guys (who had a awesome theme song) but at the time this game was made I feel that Ric Flair, Roddy Piper or Bret Hart would have made a much better choice.
The overall game play style tries to be similar to that of Super Wrestlemania and it does work. However with the Game Boy only having two buttons it can feel very awkward to play. I can appreciate that they wanted to try and give us a experience like we had on the SNES or NES, but it just really does not work out all that great.
What really spoils this game for me is that like Super Wrestlemania on the SNES none of the wrestler have a signature move. This spoils a wrestling game really bad, it makes every wrestler feel the exact same. While the move set is no more limited than the first game the lack of a signature move hurts, the game really bad. One other thing that kills this game for me is that you are able by pressing the select button once per match to get your health back. This can make the matches feel like such a chore.
Final Thoughts
They really did try to make this game just like the home console versions, but in the process they gave us a game that is just really middle of the road and pretty boring. Being able to wrestle in a steel cage was cool at the time, but because of the game play it still got old really fast, and as a kid I would always rather play the first WWF Superstars than this one. I have always seen this game as a huge missed opportunity, and I have always wondered what this game could have been if they had just expanded on the game engine of the first title.
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