5 Weirdest WWE Video Games Ever

With WWE 2K21 officially cancelled, 2K Games has formally announced its substitute, and man, it's enough to make you require a standing eight count. Titled "WWE Battlegrounds", the game combines arcade animation, dysmorphic bodies (moreso than usual, anyway), and cartoonish violence. The trailer has already been panned by scores of fans, who find it so outlandish to the point of being utterly unplayable. As opposed to *last* year's game, which was unplayable in a more academic sense.

Most WWE video games of the last 30-plus years have been pretty straightforward: a by-the-book recreation of the wrestling we see on television, allowing us to take control of our idols, guiding them to the World title. Most wrestling games in general follow this simple but effective formula, emphasizing the simulation of combat that wrestling represents. This hasn't always been the way of the WWE gaming world, however, as the company is known to go outside the lines to experiment with different genres of video game.

Here are those times when WWE explored that vast realm of possibilities in the gaming world, usually with mixed results.

With WWE 2K21 officially cancelled, 2K Games has formally announced its substitute, and man, it's enough to make you require a standing eight count. Titled "WWE Battlegrounds", the game combines arcade animation, dysmorphic bodies (moreso than usual, anyway), and cartoonish violence. The trailer has already been panned by scores of fans, who find it so outlandish to the point of being utterly unplayable. As opposed to *last* year's game, which was unplayable in a more academic sense.

Most WWE video games of the last 30-plus years have been pretty straightforward: a by-the-book recreation of the wrestling we see on television, allowing us to take control of our idols, guiding them to the World title. Most wrestling games in general follow this simple but effective formula, emphasizing the simulation of combat that wrestling represents. This hasn't always been the way of the WWE gaming world, however, as the company is known to go outside the lines to experiment with different genres of video game.

Here are those times when WWE explored that vast realm of possibilities in the gaming world, usually with mixed results.

5. WWF MicroLeague Wrestling (Commodore 64, 1987)

Admittedly, MicroLeague *does* simulate matches in a textbook manner, but the game itself is very different than the norm. Instead of the physical, sports-style games we're used to, MicroLeague was a turn-based strategy game, where you selected your moves from a sidebar.

Most unusual was the character selection - you could only simulate specific matches, be it Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage, Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff, Ted Dibiase vs. Jake Roberts, etc. And each "matchup" came on its own disk. Talk about primitive.

4. The Fighting Games (Various Platforms And Years)

In 1995, WWF moved away from popular titles like Royal Rumble and Raw to bring us WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, an imaginative title clearly inspired by the globally-popular Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter games. A lesser-renowned title, In Your House, followed the next year.

The company returned to this over-the-top, boundary-pushing style in 2011 with WWE All-Stars, mixing the modern roster with popular legends in gravity-defying combat. In 2015, WWE released Immortals, which laid on the fantasy elements a lot more literally.

3. WWF With Authority! (Microsoft Windows, 2001)

The idea of a digital collectible card game is a little less unusual today with the popularity of the mobile-based SuperCard, though this was a little bit different. Here, the idea was to collect moves and assemble a "playbook" that you would bring into battle with you.

Basically, it was WWE meets Magic: The Gathering, in terms of strategy and employment of your arsenal. The game was preceded by a literal, physical card game called Raw Deal, and many found that to be superior to its video game counterpart.

2. WWF Betrayal (Game Boy Color, 2001)

It's Double Dragon: Attitude Era style! In this nod to classic side-scrolling brawler games, Stephanie McMahon has been kidnapped and you play as either Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, or The Undertaker in an attempt to save the (billion dollar) princess.

Lord only knows why this game was made (especially in 2001), but the visuals alone are enough to catch your eye (particularly Rock looking like a demonic Minoru Suzuki). Near as I can tell, you can't dropkick Abobo out of a helicopter door, so why bother?

1. WWE Crush Hour (Playstation 2 And Gamecube, 2003)

The prior generation of youthful gamer (that includes me) will fondly recall the heyday of the Twisted Metal series, the "demolition derby gone berserk" that fed our maw for senseless vehicular destruction and aggression. Leave it to WWE to cobble together their own version.

Many of the vehicles tied into the wrestlers' personas (Austin in a monster truck, Rock a sports car, Kevin Nash in a big rig *wink wink*), and the war zones were based on actual WWE arenas. Sounds pretty fun, though the game received mixed reviews.