WWF Steel Cage Challenge (NES) Playthrough
154A playthrough of LJN's 1992 license-based wrestling game for the NES, WWF Steel Cage Challenge.
This video shows all of the game modes played on the medium difficulty level:
One-on-One, Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker 0:16
Tag Team, IRS & Roddy Piper vs. Sid Justice & The Undertaker 3:03
Tag Team Championship as Jake Roberts & Bret Hart 6:02
WWF Championship as The Mountie 19:20
Following in the footsteps of WWF Wrestlemania (https://youtu.be/GpDi-8B7_nQ) and WWF Wrestlemania Challenge (https://youtu.be/EkrQtnc54Yk), WWF Steel Cage Challenge was the third WWF-branded game to appear on the NES, the second to wear LJN's rainbow badge of shame, and the first to not be created by Rare.
Created by Sculptured Software, WWF Steel Cage Challenge is essentially a cut-down 8-bit adaptation of WWF Super Wrestlemania (https://youtu.be/cCh40MGXaFo) with cage matches and tournaments thrown in to freshen things up.
The roster of ten playable WWF stars includes The Mountie, Ted DiBiase, IRS, Bret Hart, Sid Justice, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, The Undertaker, Jake Roberts, and Hulk Hogan, each of whom are personally introduced (with their theme songs) by Howard Finkle at the beginning of each match.
The wrestlers' in-game sprites look the part, but their looks are the only thing that differentiates them from one another. Everyone has the same moves, there are no finishers, and there are no differences in strength or speed between them.
Disappointingly, the moment-to-moment gameplay doesn’t fare much better. It's slow, shallow, the controls are plagued by lag, and the AI is dumb as a stump. You can risk throws, turnbuckle leaps, and off-the-rope maneuvers if you like, but they're all unnecessary wastes of time. If you're playing to win, all you need to do is to push up against your opponent and hit A to do a headbutt, and as he's recovering, do it again, and again, and again until his life gauge is empty. Then knock him down, hit down+B to pin, and the belt is yours.
It's boring and unsatisfying to play, and without the flashy graphics and sound of the 16-bit machines, there's little to draw your attention away from the anemic gameplay. The sprites are small and poorly animated, and the in-game audio is limited to horribly bitcrushed thumps and grunts that are often lost in the wall of white noise that's meant to be the cheering of the crowd.
Sculptured Software had some hits in their day, but this wasn't one of them. WWF Steel Cage Challenge isn't a game that tries to be interesting or fun. It's a game that exists solely to profit off the back of a lucrative license. Games like this gave rise to LJN's reputation.
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