Legends of Wrestling

by Acclaim Entertainment Inc.

Product Features

• 30 classic wrestlers
• Awesome commentary
• Cool graphics
• 12 match types
• Six-player action

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000631VF
• Item Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 28, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,543 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Legends of Wrestling brings 30 of pro wrestling's all-time best out of retirement and back into the ring. You play as Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, George "The Animal" Steele, and others. You can also create your own wrestler or build a team of wrestlers.

The game features 12 bone-crushing match types, ranging from the ladder to six- and eight-man elimination bouts. Singles and tag-team career mode take you to arenas across the U.S. and all over the world. Throughout, you can link moves together to create near-lethal combos. Special guest referees are on the lookout all the while.

Legends of Wrestling's TV broadcast style uses new camera angles and cutscenes. In-depth match analysis and career guidance comes from Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Captain Lou Albano himself. Interactive wrestler entrances, complete with crowd responses and grappler taunts, heighten the realism. And if you want to go super pro, use the create-a-stencil feature to add logos and text to the ring attire of your favorite legends.

Amazon.co.uk

When Acclaim lost the extremely lucrative rights to produce the official WWF games, the company invested in the WCW license--which promptly went bankrupt. Without another recognizable federation to back, Acclaim produced this game featuring ex-wrestling stars. Legends of Wrestling's presentation lacks the polished sheen of WWF SmackDown. Character selection and in-between bout screens are basic and static affairs. This lack of polish is highlighted by the prebout introductions, in which the wrestlers high-five nonexistent crowd members on the way down to the ring, where they inexplicably pause until the next loading sequence kicks in.

Once you get into the ring, though, the game has a much more solid feel. But it comes at a price: the slow-paced action. Plus, the computer AI can be poor as it often ignores chances to finish off defenseless opponents. Despite this, there is enjoyment to be had. Fights with three or four wrestlers are fun, but as with most games of this genre, multiplayer is where this game takes off: it supports up to five players. A simple career mode and unlockable wrestlers add to the package, along with the simple joy of smashing chairs over your opponents' heads.

Legends of Wrestling does push the genre in the right direction with interesting additions such as a counter gauge that enables you to evade attacks with a well-timed button press. If you're not put off by its slow nature and basic look, it's an enjoyable alternative to SmackDown. --Jonathan Winter

Note: This review refers to the PlayStation2 version.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Legends of Wrestling nostalgia, July 18, 2002

By 

S. N. LLOYD-COOMBS (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legends of Wrestling (Video Game)

This is a review which is over three sentences long (unlike others), for all the people who actually want to know about this game from a wrestling "mark" (fan).

The first wrestling game for Nintendo Gamecube has come out, `Legends of Wrestling'. Now, I first of all bought the Nintendo Gamecube for its excellent history in marketing the best wrestling games. My friend (James, deserves to get a mention) bought this game for me as a birthday present and this became the first step in my own resolution to own every wrestling game on the Gamecube however bad or good they were and review them fairly.

Now how do I feel in this first step for pro wrestling games on the Gamecube? Well....

Acclaim is the producer of this game and on the Nintendo 64 produced other wrestling games, such as:
-WWF Warzone
-WWF Attitude
-ECW Hardcore Revolution

Acclaim's wrestling games are known for its repetitious style and no real advancements from its past games. This can be seen in some aspects on Legends of Wrestling.

Legends of Wrestling first of all does not have the WWE license and does not have wrestlers such as Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bruno Sammartino and other legends of the pro wrestling business. But Acclaim were lucky enough to have gotten the rights to the names of Hulk Hogan and RVD when they were free agents, before they got hired by the WWE. This is a huge pro in the game as you can wrestle as the immortal Hulk Hogan and a future wrestling star Rob Van Dam (not related to Jean Claude Van-Dam). Other wrestlers you can grapple with are Sabu, Terry Funk, Bret Hart, Koko B.Ware and many more. There are a total of 30 wrestlers and you do not start off with all wrestlers. They have to be unlocked by doing career mode.

The graphics on this game are average. The bodies on some of the wrestlers are bulky and very unproportioned. Its got more of an arcade feel than anything else.

There are 4 match types: Singles, Tag match, 3 way match, 4 way match. Not many choices but it does include a career mode where you can take the wrestler of your choice and make them compete in the US territories for championship belts. When they get popular enough (there is a popularity meter which you gain percentage by the things you do in matches) they will then compete oversea's in Japan and Canada for the world title. You will also be guided by either Jimmy Hart (if you're a "face" - good guy) or Captain Lou Albano (if you're a "heel" - bad guy) the game's managers. Your wrestler wrestles in arena's such as Barns, gyms and stadiums. How glamorous!

The sound in this game is not too crash hot. Sometimes it skips sounds and is silent, for example, when you do a bodyslam. This is only on occasions though. But when the sounds do pitch in its superb. The rumble of when they're spiked into the ground is excellent. Just imagine hearing the ECW canvas sound effect. Loud and Clear.

Another feature is the `Create a Wrestler'. This is excellent as you have so many choices to make your very own wrestler. The moves list is huge, too many to choose from and write about. You can also edit the appearance of your wrestler eg. what they wear, face type, body type and even head size (golfball to beachball size). Also you give them attributes such as strength, recovery, stamina etc. When finished making your own wrestler, you save and can load them to play with. You can even do a career with them. Excellent feature. By the way there is no `Create a Stencil'.

The combo system in this game is its main pro. The combo meter is under your health meter. When your in the 'Tie-up' of the move there is a red bar with a section of green. An arrow then goes along the meter and you press either A or B when the arrow gets to the green section and this turns into a combo of wrestling moves. Excellent attribute to the game.

Overall here is what the game has to offer.

Pro's:
-Legends of Wrestling (A big plus to nostalgic pro wrestling fans)
-Sound (When it does not go silent after the camera angle changes)
-Combo System
-Create a Wrestler
-The ECW feel of the game

Cons:
-Sound (When it goes silent)
-Lastability
-Wrestlers (The non-legends that are included in this game just for the sake of it)
-Lack of Match types
-Koko B.Ware

News just in - Acclaim are now in the making of `Legends of Wrestling 2'.

Overall this game is for the real wrestling fans out there, more for fans of the old time wrestling. For people who are unfamiliar with wrestling, this should be only for rental.

It gets 3 out of 5 stars!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I Could Be A Great Game, But This One Isn't Finished, February 4, 2003

By 

Emile Jongbloed - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legends of Wrestling (Video Game)

When i bought it, it thought it would be great but...... the wrestlers look great but don't look like the real wrestlers on which they are supposed to look. And where did they get that fake entrance music it is really bad...

The wrestlers don't have many moves (it's a pity to say that when you are trying a difficult move, your move will always be reversed by the other wrestler.. it's frustrating)

...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars hmmm, May 26, 2011

By 

Joseph Parker "precisionspared" (austin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Legends of Wrestling (Video Game)

I got to this game a little bit late. I really loved the wrestling games on the old super nintendo, and enjoyed them on the n64, and even though i could see the games getting better, i was becoming less and less of a wrestling fan. I grew up I guess. I have a gamecube now, which i have had for some time, and don't intend to get a newer system, but have purchased and beaten most of the games on the system, and remember when this came out that I was intrigued because of all of the old wrestlers that were more from my generation, and I have to tell you that many of the licenses for main moves and themes are not here. There is no wrestling organization that is present here, and it is one of the worst games I have ever played. I remember when I was younger that I would be upset in how similar many of the move lists were for the wrestlers, so that it didn't feel like them, but at least the combat would be servicable, where here all the buttons seem to stick and there is very little control to what is going on in the room, and really horrible camera. I love the idea of this game, but the execution is horrible.