The Simpsons Wrestling (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Activision's 2001 license-based wrestling game for the Sony PlayStation, The Simpsons Wrestling.

Played through the Champion Circuit (hard difficulty level) with Ned Flanders. Following the end credits, I put a couple random matches using some of the fun, weird things available through codes. The music during the credits was the show's theme song. To avoid any copyright issues, I silenced that bit.

The Simpsons Wrestling - it sounds like a terrible idea for a game, but it's also an idea that you hope they get right, because if they pull it off, it'd be awesome. Right?

Well, it didn't work out quite that well, but it isn't a disaster, either. It's not a wrestling game, first of all. It's really more like an arena fighter (kinda like Power Stone but MUCH simpler), with play split into rounds like in Street Fighter. Not a biggie, really, unless you had your heart set on it being Monday Night RAW presents The Simpsons.

Even though it got blasted for its graphics when it first came out, I think The Simpsons Wrestling looks pretty good for a PS1 game. The cel-shaded graphics are rough, but I love the aesthetic. Since it was a late release, I can only imagine it was being unfairly compared to Dreamcast and PS2 titles for all of the criticism leveled at it.

Anyway, all of the characters (and yeah, just about all of the favorites are here, playable and in cameos!) are all easily recognizable with their signature features intact, and the style keeps pretty consistent with the show's super-bright colors, simple lines, and loads of background gags. It also features all of the show's original voice actors, which is a HUGE plus in a game like this! I do believe, though, that every Simpsons game that featured voice used the real actors - are there any exceptions?

The gameplay doesn't hold up quite as well as the presentation - it's a lot of straight button-mashing, the game moves a bit too fast for any real precision, and the characters are not very balanced at all - but for a novelty game with a couple friends, it's certainly good for a few hours of mindless entertainment. The difficulty spike near the end with Smithers and Kang, though. Ouch. On the whole, though, it's a massive jump in quality and playability over Celebrity Deathmatch (think Sideshow Bob's "uhhhhhhhh" when he walks through a field of rakes - sums up my feelings well on that game).

Anyways, I have some fun memories with Simpsons Wrestling, and I hope you enjoy the video of me heaping some Jesus on some heathens. Ned's lightning attack is something to be feared!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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