RetroMania Wrestling

RetroMania Wrestling is a fully-realized throwback with a ton of heart and polish, delivering one of the finest 2D wrestling titles in decades.

RetroMania Wrestling isn’t the most technically accomplished wrestling game out there, but it is a joyous arcade brawler that gets more entertaining the more people you can rope in to a match. Like the game that inspired it, it’s not going to occupy you for hours in a single sitting but you’ll keep coming back for another dose of wrestle ’em up action.

Despite its dated aesthetics, RetroMania Wrestling can still bring the pain. Unfortunately that struggle translates to issues both in and out of the ring. Sometimes, it's important to consider why design decisions were abandoned in the past, rather than meticulously recreating frustrating mechanics for modern audiences in the name of authenticity.

RetroMania Wrestling looks like WWF WrestleFest, plays (a bit) like Fire Pro and has a wide variety of entertaining arenas to play in. However, the tiny roster, lack of creation modes, lack of online and brief single-player experiences mean you're really going to need to be interested in local multiplayer if you're going to be playing this one for a long time. To give it the Cena test: it's got our respect for going old-school and it'll get loyalty from the cult following it'll inevitably gain, but it still needs a bit more hustle before it's the finished product, whereas just now it feels lik...

RetroMania Wrestling is an arcade wrestler that looks and plays well, let down by limited scope.

RetroMania Wrestling is a game designed with a very specific type of professional wrestling fan in mind, and those individuals may be able to enjoy it for what it is. It has a nice selection of arenas and a small but decent roster. The biggest problems with RetroMania Wrestling are its lack of content and high price point, but maybe future updates will make it a more fully-featured game that matches its asking price.