Pro Wrestling Promise

There is a special time in the history of wrestling games that centres around the Nintendo 64 and the games co-developed by Asmik and AKI. The pinnacle of these games was WWF No Mercy. It was, for its time, a wrestling gold mine, one that was propelled to greatness by it fantastic gameplay and wondrous ‘create-a-wrestler’ features.

There’s a few indie developers who have tried to revive that magic of the N64 wrestling gem, and one in particular has caught my eye.

Called Ultra Pro Wrestling, the new grappler is coming from Hyperfocus Studios out of Scotland.

Anyone familiar with those old wrestling games will recognise the similarities in animation and on screen momentum meters. The big news about UPW though is the announced DLC to be forthcoming. A host of wrestling stars, past and present are billed for UPW, so it’s clear that Hyperfocus has a lot of confidence in bringing the game to fans.

Ultra Pro Wrestling is still in the early stages of development, but is already aiming for a release on the PS4/5, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’ probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it.

Something I’m doing at the moment? Playing through the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection, and all the other mainline Final Fantasy games up 12 on the Switch.