After PAX East, WrestleQuest became one of my most anticipated games of the year. The marriage of turn-based RPGs with pro wrestling was a ceremony I wanted to attend, and the small taste I got at the show left me wanting more. Now that I've had even more time in WrestleQuest's squared circle, there's a wider story at play here. WrestleQuest may put wrestling at the fore, but this game centers around something much more relatable: Nostalgia.
Let's start with the overall premise: you play as "Muchacho Man" Randy Santos – a poncho-wearing variant of Hall of Fame pro wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage – who is a resident of Toy World. After one look at Toy World, the first inklings of the broader message start to take wing. See, as the name suggests, this world is populated with toys. The heroes, the villains, and everyone in between are some sort of action figure, stuffed animal, etc. Randy himself has noticeable hinges for elbows and knees, as do the other inhabitants of the gym he works for. We see characters that look like Lego people, we see dolls resembling Barbie, and the list goes on.
What at the start looks like a dive into the "golden age" of pro wrestling instead becomes a look into simply being a kid. Think back to when you were playing with toys, and you wanted a certain character, but you didn't have the right figure. You just had to replace the missing piece with something you had, right? For me, that's how Michaelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became WWF champion, or how Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe became bitter enemies with Tommy the Green Power Ranger. WrestleQuest is built on that exact principle, with all manner of figure archetypes to find during the adventure.
Where I expect this idea to really take root, however, is within Randy himself – or, I suppose, the child playing with the figurine. Every once in a while, a mention of pro wrestling's scripted nature comes up in conversation. Someone mentions "the writers" or "the script" and everyone seems to be in on the joke…except Randy, who immediately questions their phrasing or outright rejects the idea. I've only played a few hours, so I've not seen too much of this play out, but if WrestleQuest decides to analyze that moment of realization every wrestling fan eventually has, I am fascinated by what might be on the other side.
Where pro wrestling does take center stage is in the battle mechanics, which take the turn-based RPG stylings of a Final Fantasy and turn them into a wrestling match. A character's most powerful attacks are called Gimmicks, and these require Action Points (AP) to use. Gimmicks are powerful wrestling moves – Randy can unleash the Grande Splash or the South Of The Border Stunner for big damage – or they can be used to heal, buff stats, and more. Each character has their own Gimmicks, but eventually they can unlock tag-team and triple-team Gimmicks along with more powerful single-wrestler moves.
So far, this sounds like standard turn-based RPG fare with a few exceptions, but one major difference is how you win a majority of the battles. When an enemy is downed, Randy or a teammate must "pin" the fallen foe, and a pin is only successful if the player can complete a quick minigame. If a pin fails, the enemy gets up with a small bit of health, and the team must take it down again. I love this mechanic to death, as it really makes the battle system feel like a proper, down-to-the-wire wrestling match despite being such a simple change to the battle structure.
Where I definitely have more questions is the overall story arc. I mentioned the potential examination of Randy's struggles to understand what wrestling really is, but I wonder just how deep down the nostalgic wormhole Mega Cat plans to take this thing. I've already met a few interesting characters, made a story decision that made me more "face" than "heel" on the in-game morality scale, and visited some interesting locales, but I don't really know what the point is yet. That sounds harsher than I mean it to, surely, but at the moment I don't have a clear sense of what the story is outside of "Randy Santos wants to be the best, like no one ever was." If that's all there is to it, then cool, but if there's something deeper at play here, I look forward to finding out what that is.
WrestleQuest is Toy Story, but every toy in the movie was made by LJN. It's a nostalgic romp through a bygone era, with a unique battle scheme and plenty of nods not only to real-world wrestlers throughout history, but also the feelings of playing with toys as a child. I came for the RPG/wrasslin' hybrid, but if the story continues down the path I think it's going to, I could be in for a Macho Man elbow drop to the feels.
