Welcome to the wild and wonderful Monday edition of the PDC. I apologize for having no weekend column, but understand that working 2 consecutive doubleshifts at work will drain you from doing anything. It's not like I had any good ideas to write about, anyway.

Today, we'll eat some delicious DAILY APPLES, and then we'll review the first WWF Nintendo game, WWF Wrestlemania, which was made out of 1989. The Nintendo Entertainment System was RED HOT in the late 1980's, as was the WWF. It was only fitting that they'd get together and produce a lovechild.

Oh, and something to add to the MUSCLE game in Wednesday's PDC.... I completely forgot that wrestling rings change as you win each match. After the first win, you fight in an Ice ring. That's right, the ring is very slippery and with the strange control as it is, the game gets quite hard. If you beat the ice ring, you will fight in a ring with electric ring! If you even touch the ropes, you're shocked! I guess this funny feature bumps the game up a letter grade from C to C+, I suppose. Maybe even a B-.

Lots to cover today, so on to the PDC!

~DAILY APPLES~

-FINGER OF SHAME to the History Channel for their "Body Slams! The History of Professional Wrestling" special. Screw it, DOUBLE FINGER OF SHAME to them for the special. Why? The special is nothing more than a renamed version of the Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling, which was on A&E years ago. The History Channel recycled old material and renamed it to appear as something new. At least a new audience, though, is getting exposed to what was a great documentary named the "Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling".

The documentary is very good, as it's professionally narrated by the then later PTC celebrity chairman, the late Steve Allen. It's highly informative, and it has a lot of big names contributing, like Hulk Hogan, Verne Gagne, Vince McMahon, and several wrestling historians. If you missed it on A&E, I'd recommend watching the renamed version on the History Channel, or looking in your local video store for the "Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling". You can order the video at Amazon.com by Clicking Here.

-My money is on the WWF taking Scott Steiner AFTER the WWA Pay Per View. If Steiner is on that show, it will raise fans' expectations to see him on ALL shows in the future for WWA events. The WWF will pick Steiner off, thereby hurting WWA's product. That's what they did with Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, as the WWF yanked him after the television tapings went down. Just watch and see.

-Not a bad Sunday Night Heat last night. It's the first time, in a long time, that I watched it. Matches were solid, and the show featured a lot of wrestlers who have disappeared from RAW or Smackdown lately, like Christian, Kane, Lance Storm, Test, Tajiri, and Scotty 2 Hotty. I laughed at the Hurricane and Scotty 2 Hotty dancing after their match. Oh man, what a charismatic team they'd make together! It appears that the WWF is burned out on ideas for Christian, as they had him for a fallguy against Kane on Heat. I'm just amazed at how they neglect their best heel midcarder so much. Stupid stuff with Kurt Angle, though, on Heat. Angle and his limo driver approached a transvestite, which is ridiculous in itself, and then the limo driver wanted to stay with "it" when Angle wanted to leave. Stupid, stupid, stupid.... Too bad WrestleCrap no longer exists, or they could have put that in the archives.

-By the way... I'm not commenting on Sting's wrestling retirement until HE makes it official. I'm talking about if or when he releases his own statement by himself. My guess is that Sting sees nothing of his interest in the current way the business is being handled, therefore, he's not coming back to wrestling unless it changes or probably a nice offer comes his way. If he has no plans to return to wrestling, my hope is that the WWF makes him a one-time-only deal to participate in the 30 man Royal Rumble for 2002.

-No matches have been announced for RAW, as of this writing... However, we get to unfortunately witness Triple H and Stephanie renewing their wedding vows. You know, it figures the WWF would try a wedding angle to boost ratings. I'll put lots of money that Kurt Angle, and possibly Chris Jericho, will ruin this ceremony. Whatever. I wouldn't doubt that the renewing vows ceremony will set up Angle/Jericho vs. Austin/Triple H for Smackdown. Tonight, there will be NO Rock at RAW, for he'll be out filming more parts to the Scorpion King. That's pathetic on how short the film was after editing. Its organization will probably show you how successful the film will be. We'll probably see more NWO segments, which is a good thing.

NES Wrestling History

WWF Wrestlemania (1989)

You'd figure that the first WWF game would be groundbreaking, innovative, and/or the BEST wrestling game ever on a gaming system. That's the thinking, but definitely not the truth. Well, there was ONE mode that was innovative, but the wrestling game, as a whole, isn't very good. Oh, and the game was produced by Acclaim. Now you don't look surprised...

First of all, probably the only positive about this game. It has a decent championship mode, where you go through all of the wrestlers. Also, you can set up a little tournament with your friends. The gaming modes are good for its time, as no other wrestling game had any ideas like this. Of course, what's a championship and tournament mode with a poor wrestling game?

The game does have a decent listing of wrestlers to choose from. You can be the Honky Tonk Man, Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Million Dollar Man, Macho Man Randy Savage, and Bam Bam Bigelow. You can tell this game took a few years to make, as wrestlers like the Ultimate Warrior or Rick Rude were excluded. I recommend using Bam Bam for the offensive moves, and Andre the Giant because he's like a tree in the ring and can't be taken down.

The sound, well, the effects sound like Jason on Friday the 13th for NES trying to stab you. But I really like the music. Especially for the intro. Some of the better NES music at the time. While you're wrestling a match, all of a sudden, your wrestler's theme music starts playing and it's not bad. In a later NES WWF game, the theme music is just horrible!

How about the graphics. They are pretty good. Acclaim was always known for producing good graphics for any game. Take Mortal Kombat ONE for the SNES. Acclaim totally screwed up the control for that game, but the fighters look close to the arcade version. The character selection has good pictures of the wrestlers, and in the ring, the wrestlers resemble the real life characters. Especially Bam Bam Bigelow! It really looks like him, as you'll see in the next image.

The gameplay is the REAL drawback of this game. Everything surrounding this game is solid, but Acclaim's programmers just don't know how to make gaming engines. Nothing has changed, too. You can just mostly do punches and kicks, or bouncing off the ropes moves. It's extremely pathetic and an embarrassment to the WWF at the time. It's sad when all 3 games of 1986 have more moves than a 1989 game by Acclaim, who was considered one of the bests back then and ever.

Even worse is how the power situation is. As you can see from the pictures, you get a powerbar. Well, if you take consecutive hits from your opponent, your body will begin to flash, and you'll be weak at the time. As you're flashing, there's a chance that an icon will appear to boost your energy. Looking at the picture, you can see sunglasses for Macho Man. I believe Hogan has his cross necklace, Andre has a foot, Million Dollar Man has his $$, and Honky may have a guitar or a music note. But who cares, this is extremely stupid! It barely replenishes your energy, and the icon scoots across the screen way too fast to even touch it.

LAST WORD: If you had an NES and you were a wrestling fan, you had this game at one time. I know I unfortunately did, and every game store that I see selling NES games has this game in stock. It's pathetic. The movelist is absurd, and that's for a game with good graphics and unlimited potential with the WWF's resources at the time. But yuck, this game is horrible on its gameplay. I'll give it a

C-

(C Minus) for the good graphics and gaming modes, but the gameplay completely holds it down. This is the first of 4 eyesores of WWF NES games.

Next NES Review: World Championship Wrestling from 1989 this Wednesday

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@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow, probably around 6 pm, with my RAW review. Until then, why not chill?

Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.

Mr. Tito © 1998 - 2002 LoP/WH