Tag Team Wrestling. The Review.Tag Team Wrestling: The Review So I've played my fair share of wrestling games on the NES and let me tell ya, there's not much gold in them thar hills. This was the first wrestling game I had when I was a kid. I was maybe 6 or 7 at the time when my parents brought in a box full of Nintendo zappers, power packs, those old grey hook up pieces for the tv/vcr adapter, and of course a bunch of random games thrown in as well. I practically dove into the box, stringing the cords out everywhere, no doubt annoying my parents at the same time. But then I noticed the cartridge of Tag Team Wrestling right in the middle of the pile. Looking at the cover I wasn't sure what to make of it. You had a great image of two teams and the rivalry they have for each other. I remember my brother saying "could be good, could be bad. It's Data East so ya never know." With a shrug. I was a huge wrestling fan though and I couldn't be so passive about this. Quickly and excitedly I shoved the cartridge into the Nes, slammed down the lid and hit power. What came next haunted me for years to come. This hopeful gem turned out to be a nightmare. So what am I rambling about ? Yeah, let me tell you about Tag Team Wrestling...
:: Graphics - 4 :: Press power and you're greeted with the title screen giving you the options for 1 and 2 players. It's basically all text so nothing to really judge on so far. The game starts you out right away with your first match as soon as you press start. Everything is just bland, bad, and boring. That's right the three unholy B's of gaming. Seriously, the crowd looks like a heap of rubbish polluting the area around the ring. The ring itself isn't that badly done. There is a camera man who pretends to capture the action but we all know he's just moving it back and forth because there's nothing new to see here. That's right and that's how it's going to stay. You never play as anyone else unless you play two player mode. Not only do you never play as anyone else but you ALWAYS face the same opponents. The only change is that your wrestlers secondary color on their outfits change. Same with the enemies. They even took the time to add in two play by play men to resemble the wrestling you'd see on tv. The camera man actually looks great because of the detail and focus they put on the camera, honestly though I would have preferred if they just threw out the audience, the commentators, and even the camera guy, despite how cool his camera looks. At least if they done that they could have put a little more into the character animations for the various moves. Or maybe threw in a couple more teams. I gave the graphics 4 drop kicks out of 10.
:: Sound - 5 :: The sound effects aren't that bad actually. I like the sounds of the sprites when they get hit sometimes. It sounds like they're going to get sick, which is appropriate because the horrible color pallet's are about to make me sick! Oh right enough about the graphics. Sorry about that. The music isn't that great either, mostly because it's just two songs. one for when you win or lose and one for the match itself. The music during the match is actually cool. I don't know why but I love it for a wrestling game. It just sounds so perfect for it's place. The ring bell sound is pretty awful as well but not as bad as the hysterical counting of the referee who just appears out of no where when there is a pinning move. These sounds just might be the definition of lack luster. I give the sounds 5 flashing rings out of 10.
:: Addictive - 7 :: You might be asking yourself why I'm giving this game such a high rating. Well before you think I'm going soft on this abysmal waste of space let me explain myself. When you first start playing you're likely to just get smacked up and thrown about like a rag doll. But sooner or later you start to understand the horrible control scheme and you begin to get ahead. But then the opponent just turns red and moves faster than humanly possible to unleash the pain on your can. Enter the Strong Bads. These guys are your opponents for every match as stated before. Being the resident bad guys they love to cheat. The Strong Bad's are going to be cheating more and more often as you progress through the game. So get used to it or give up. I strongly recommend that you give up. So why haven't I? I don't know maybe I'm a masochist or something for the Nes. *trudges on* Anyway I started to get the hang of the controls and before I knew it I was about to kick the snot out of those vile scum bag cheating pieces of trash known as the Strong Bads. Until they turn red of course. When they turn red and get mad you're butt's toast. In later rounds this happens so often that you'll start having to attempt pins just to turn them back from red. Even still you're going to have a problem with them. Believe it or not I'm not finished yet with how addictive this game can get. You start out doing the same move over and over because you've no idea how to work these controls. But slowly you figure out that you hit by pressing A then cycle through a move list of an impressive amount of moves! And that's where it started getting addicting. Before I knew it I was performing brain busters and back drops like a pro. And knowing these moves is a big part of kicking the snot out of them Strong Bads. I'm a bit worried now as sometimes I start to enjoy this game. I give the addictive quality 7 back breakers out of 10
:: Story - X :: So here's the story. You're an up and coming tag team called the Ricky Fighters. Every night they throw you against the same team for a handful of matches and the better team gets a trophy. This happens over and over while you occasionally change the colors of your uniform. Riveting tale, aye? Yeah there's no story here, Broski. Just move along.
:: Depth - X :: What we have here, is an extreme lack of depth.. But what were you expecting? This is a wrestling game, just move along.
:: Difficulty - 8 :: At first it's just impossible as you get your tail handed to you over and over mostly because you're trying to learn the buttons and while you're doing that the Strong Bads are exploding with anger for no apparent reason and kicking the snot out of you. It's despicable.. But after a bit you get the hang of things and you'll some what enjoy the move list. The real problem here is how often the opponents start turning red in later matches. It's just ridiculous and never fails to straight up tick me right off. I give the difficulty 8 Neck Hangs out of 10.
:: Overall - 5.5 :: Yeah all in all I think Tag Team Wrestling is just barely deserving of it's 5.5 rating. The game does have some incredibly bad parts to it, but there is also a few unique and nice things as well. The wrestler sprites themselves aren't that bad, but they're not good either. The game play is unforgiving and infuriating, but after a bit it starts to grow on you. One song's bad, the other one is good. The sounds aren't to bad and the referee's count always makes me laugh. I'll admit that I enjoyed it a little bit. But I still hate it! Please do yourself a favor. Play this once or twice to understand what I'm talking about then just move on to better games. There is always Pro Wrestling for the Nes and of course World Championship Wrestling on the Nes as well. Go play one of them, they're a thousand times better off than this load of bull scat.
Graphics
4 Sound
5 Addictive
6 Difficulty
8
User Notice 
