Thirty years ago, WWF Wrestlefest was a cabinet game released by Technos for the arcade. Wrerstlefest was a follow-up to the lesser known Technos WWF Superstars, which I didn’t actually play until a few years after the sequel. The game featured a Royal Rumble match and Tag Team Challenge, with the Legion of Doom being the final team.
Wrestlefest featured ten playable characters, with mainstays of the era like Jake “the Snake” Roberts and Hulk Hogan( see full list below). The only playable tag team was Demolition, and the rest were solo stars. The Legion of Doom unfortunately were not playable characters.
The game featured cut scenes with “Mean” Gene Okerlund and pre-match introductions by WWF ring announcer Mike McGuirk. Wrestlefest was one of our goto games at the arcade when we were in high school. Many quarters were popped into that machine during lunch breaks and before school, spares and self appointed spares.😁
I recall some people being able to fill the full hour playing the Rumble match by using sneaky tactics like leaving the player 4 slot open. If anyone joined they would triple-team them and toss them over the rope. My personal go-to was the team of Jake "the Snake" Roberts and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
Next up was Mr. Perfect and Earthquake if the others were occupied by another player. Much like its predecessor, when your health was low you could insert a quarter to power up and restart the time. While playing with four players there was always that risk of having your quarter taken by another player. Sadly, Wrestlefest never made it to home consoles. In 2012, THQ released a remake of the Wrestlefest under the name WWE Wrestlefest. The roster was updated with current stars like The Undertaker, John Cena, Randy Orton, and Rey Mysterio, but also former stars like The Rock, Stone Cold, Jake Roberts and more.
Recently Retrosoft Studios released a tribute to Wrestlefest titled ‘RetroMania Wrestling’.
( https://www.retromaniawrestling.com/ ) The game is currently available on the Nintendo Switch and PC, with other systems to follow. A full review of this game will follow when a physical copy is released. It is currently only available in digital format.
WWF Wrestlest was, and still is one of my favorite Wrestling games from the Arcade. It holds some great memories with friends from high school, and from an age where everything seemed a little less complicated. If you have the ability to emulate arcade games, be sure to check out Wrestlefest. For a game that was released thirty years ago, it still plays and looks awesome.
https://youtu.be/uO529MYnous WWF Wrestlefest intro video
Game Features:
Two modes of play: Tag Team Challange and Royal Rumble
Each WWF Superstar is programmed with new and exciting trademarked holds and moves.
Larger, more animated graphics
Up to four players at one time
Special wire cage match
Buy-in and continuation feature
Roster:
Hulk Hogan
The Ultimate Warrior
"Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase
Big Boss Man
Jake "The Snake" Roberts
Earthquake
Mr. Perfect
Sgt. Slaughter
Demolition Smash
Demolition Crush
Hawk (non-selectable boss tag team)
Animal (non-selectable boss tag team)
Share your memories of Wrestlefest in the comments below!
Coming next week McFarlane Mortal Kombat Shao Khan Review and Photo Gallery
