Being a near life long wrestling die hard, I’ve played my fair share of wrestling related video games. While the overall strides wrestling games have taken throughout the years is apparent, The early years were not so kind. The Sega 32X released WWF Raw on its system, which was a port of the 16 bit game with the same name. While the sheer simplicity of the gameplay is obvious, it’s also apparent that the 32X version makes absolutely no strides in terms of diversifying its self from its 16 bit counterpart.
Throughout most of its brief history, the 32X failed to establish any sort of concrete advantages over the Super Nintendo, nor its own Sega Genesis. WWF Raw helps illustrate this fact. Take a look below — one picture is a screen cap of the 32X version of WWF Raw, and the other is a screen cap of the same game on the Super Nintendo. Can you tell which is which?
Can you answer the $64,000 question?
If you were able to choose correctly, you’ll also notice the fact that the differences between both versions are so minute, that you’d be hard pressed to ever consider the 32X a proper 32 bit system or add on. Visually, it’s a lazy port, with not enough to enhance the look on its 16 bit boost over from the 16 bit consoles. I mean, for its time it’s not too bad of a game to look at, but with a technological leap, you’d think many aspects would be cleaned up and enhanced a bit. At least selecting a wrestler is slightly quicker on the 32X as opposed to the somewhat slow character select on the Super Nintendo.
Wrestler entrance themes sound like they were simplified on the 32X. The Super Nintendo had some great MIDI type versions of wrestler entrance themes, making it feel like the effort given was legitimate. The 32X version on the other hand, sounds more dummy-down, and a bit lazy. While it still sounds good, with a couple of themes sounding better on the 32X (Owen Hart for example), it’s a clear downgrade from the 16 bit version. The sound effects do sound cleaned up enough to make it sound better than the Super Nintendo version, with the crowd sounding like an actual crowd, although their volume never changes.
Doink the Clown -never has there been a character portrayed by so many different wrestlers!
What matters most is how the game plays, and they both play exactly the same. There’s not vertical running so most of what you do will be left to right running and walking up and down with zero interaction with the ropes above or below you. You have a very limited number of attacks both grappling and striking wise. Signature moves look impressive for its time, and other than a wrestlers look, that’s the only real way you can tell the difference between them.
When it comes to WWF Raw on the Super Nintendo and the 32X, your gameplay experience will be about the same. But if you are looking for a leap forward by playing the 32X version, you’ll be quite disappointed. With a better sounding entrance theme package, the Super Nintendo barely edges out the 32X version. If you want a worth playing wrestling game, pick up Pro Wrestling for its simplicity, and because of STAR MAN!
....Hey yo.
SNES Rating: 5.7
32X Rating: 5.6
RSS
iTunes
YouTube
flickr
Myspace
follow us