A 1995 combination Wrestling/Fighting arcade title based on WrestleMania. Developed by Midway Games, it could be seen as a mashup of Mortal Kombat's fighting style with the extreme speed and over-the-top insanity of the NBA Jam series.
The roster consists of the following eight wrestlers: Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Bam Bam Bigelow, Yokozuna, Doink the Clown and Lex Luger, with the SNES port omitting Yokozuna and Bam Bam Bigelow to save cartridge space.
The game received a home-release-exclusive followup in 1996, WWF In Your House. The gameplay is much the same, although it has a mostly-new roster (only Bret Hart, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels returnnote ) and themed stages for each wrestler.
WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game provides examples of the following tropes:
- All-American Face: This was made during Lex Luger's "Made in the USA" tenure, so he counts.
- Batter Up!: Shawn Michaels hits the opponent with a wooden baseball bat in one of his special moves.
- Button Mashing: For recovering from a run into the ropes or being slammed.
- Comeback Mechanic: If a wrestler is pinned and has a full super bar, they can kick out for Second Wind, continuing the match one strike away from falling.
- Critical Hit: High risk attacks hit harder, as well as first attacks.
- Denser and Wackier: The wrestlers go from merely larger-than-life to having superpowers and "bleeding" themed objects like fishes and hearts.
- The sequel, WWF In Your House, takes this even further with themed stages for each of the characters.
- Digitized Sprites: Every wrestler was digitized in a fashion similar to MK.
- Fighting Clown: Literally in Doink the Clown.
- Finishing Move: The Undertaker has his own special pin
that can be done under certain conditions. - Hand Blast: Yes, projectiles are present. The Undertaker in particular has a couple variants.
- Kill It with Fire: Bam Bam Bigelow's attack off the top rope leaves the opponent covered in flames.
- Launcher Move: Uppercuts in this game function similarly to MK. That is to say, your opponent will go flying.
- Machete Mayhem: Fittingly, Razor Ramon gets one that he uses in his special moves.
- Mirror Match: Commonplace, given the small roster.
- Mundane Made Awesome: While the WWE is known for having a flair for the dramatic, this game cranks it up to eleven in terms of the moves, making even the lightest punches seem like a major attack.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Wrestlers can attain a Second Wind when downed with a full super meter. If they activate second wind, they get back up one chip away from being knocked out. There is no third wind.
- Partial Transformation: Certain attacks will morph the limbs in use into various objects, like hammers or chainsaws.
- Playing with Fire: Bam Bam Bigelow makes use of this power in his special moves.
- Punctuated Pounding: Razor's Rug Shake attack. With each slam he says, "Nobody... Messes... With... The Bad Guy!"
- Shock and Awe: Doink's joy buzzer, complete with X-Ray Sparks.
- Shout-Out: Vince McMahon, on commentary, would occasionally belt out a "Boom-shakalaka!", a reference to the NBA Jam series.
- Three Round Deathmatch: Best two out of three falls wins the match, much like a traditional fighting game.
