Graphics - Pretty good! Each wrestler has their trademark look. The ring is big and vibrant. There are also animated announcers behind the ring (probably Vince McMahon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan as they were the WWF announcing team when this game was released [1993]). There is also a ref in his trademark blue shirt and black slacks (this was the WWF ref uniform back then). And when you win, WWF ring announcer Howard Finkel enters the ring and raises your arm in victory.
Sound - There are the trademark grunts and a very active crowd. The music in this game is totally PHAT! Thanks to the SNES sound chip, there are excellent reditions of the wrestlers' entrance songs, from Savage's "Pomp & Circumstance", Bret Hart's "Hart Attack", and Shawn Michaels' "Sexy Boy". My fave songs are Ric Flair's (WHOOO!), Crush (excellent metal-sounding song), Shawn Michaels', Ted DiBiase's, and Yokozuna's.
Control - Excellent!
Playability - You have several modes of play : one-on-one, tag, 6-man tag, and the Royal Rumble. In one-on-one, you can have a one-fall exhibition match wither either 1 or 2 players (in 1 player mode, you can pick the opponent or have the computer pick the opponent), a brawl (match ends when somebody's health meter reaches zero), and tournament (if you beat all 11 opponents, you win the World Wrestling Federation Championship). In tag team mode, you can have 1 player, 2 players competitive, or 2 players cooperative. Unlike the Genesis version, there is no tournament mode in tag team, so you will not be able to go for the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team championship. In 6-man tag mode, you can have one player, 2 player competive, or 2 player cooperative...there is no tournament mode in 6-man (well, the WWF never had a 6-man championship...only World Class and the NWA/WCW had 6-man titles). Finally, the Royal Rumble match where you must throw your opponents over the top rope without being thrown over the top rope yourself (stay off the turnbuckles because you risk being knocked off the turnbuckle onto the floor, which would eliminate you). There are 12 wrestlers in this game : The Undertaker, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Tatanka (aka Chris Chavis), Crush (babyface "Kona" Crush version), "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (WHOOOOO!), "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon (aka "Last Call" Scott Hall), Yokozuna (who sadly died last year), "Narcissist" Lex Luger, "Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase ("Everybody has a price for the Million Dollar Man! Gya-ha-ha-ha!"), "Macho Man"Randy Savage (OOH YEAH! DIG IT!), & Mr. Perfect (aka Curt Hennig).
Overall - A great wrestling game!
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WWF Steel Cage Challenge was the second wrestling game for the NES. It was a learning process, the graphics are poor, the sounds are poor, the colors are poor, the gameplay is poor. The only thing keeping this game alive at the time was the first grapple feature where you perform power moves after fighting your opponent for leverage in a grapple. There was also a nice selection of 12 wrestlers, Bret Hart, Hogan, Undertaker, Sid, IRS, Ted Dibiase, and a few others, the downfall is that the wrestlers were rather small with a gigantic ring. Finally the nicest part of the game was the Road to Wrestlemania which featured a season of wrestling and even cage matches! The cage match is difficult to work with because of how bad the play control is.
