Why Was WWE All Stars Successful Despite Being Different

Story Highlights

WWE All Stars is a wrestling game based on arcade-style gameplay with a never-before-seen theme.
Although the game doesn’t have dozens of match types or a huge roster, it still provides an unforgettable experience.
The game’s gameplay element makes it stand out, as it has the kind of moves and animations that no other wrestling game has.

The wrestling genre in video games has experienced many ups and downs over the past few decades. Some masterpieces from this genre were famous among fans and enjoyed by casual gamers.

On the other hand, we got some of the worst wrestling games, which were despised by everyone who knew how video games should work.

Quality Over Quantity

Among all these wrestling games, one game that probably stands out the most is WWE All-Stars. This is one of the few wrestling games that look very different from the typical genre theme.

WWE All Stars Cover — WWE All-Stars Cover (Image By Retro Place)

It’s one of those games you first look at and fall in love with, or you don’t want to see it again. But that’s just the first impression, which can almost certainly change when you play it. The thing about WWE All Stars is that it serves the user with little in quantity but much in quality, which is why your opinion can change about it.

Play Modes And Match Types

When you start the game, you will only see a few play modes: Exhibition, Path Of Champions, and Fantasy Warfare. The Exhibition mode was regular play mode like other wrestling games, but had so less amount of match types compared to the others.

This game only had standard, tornado tag team, steel cage, extreme rules, and elimination match types. Path of Champions was a 10-man gauntlet match with a bit of story element served with short cutscenes.

WWE All Stars Match Types — WWE All-Stars Match Types (Moby Games)

The Fantasy Warfare play mode provides players with a couple of dream matches between superstars of the current generation and the superstars of the previous generations.

Every match has a build-up promo video of the two superstars, which adds some spice to the dream match. This is all for the match and play modes, but as I said earlier, this game focuses on quality over quantity.

One Of A Kind Gameplay

The quality thing comes from the basics of the gameplay. The game is so far from realism in every sense, but the arcade style is so much fun that you don’t mind it.

Everything is smooth and satisfying to watch, from the regular punches and kicks to the special moves. The animations are arcade, and each one differs from what we see in other wrestling games.

WWE All Stars Gameplay — WWE All-Stars Gameplay (Image By Giant Bomb)

You can pull a combination of moves by executing regular moves correctly. The number of combinations you can draw is also mesmerizing. Furthermore, each animation of a move has several reversal techniques, which keeps the animations fresh.

You can also reverse an already reversed move. This keeps the back-and-forth action going and provides players with great technical wrestling.

Short But Impactful Roster

The superstars in the game are also fully arcades, having unrealistic steroid muscles and different looks from their real-life counterparts, which further boosts the fun element of the game. The superstars are also limited, just like the match types. However, each superstar has a unique vibe because of the unique looks and arcade move animations.

The roster consists of some of the top stars from the current generation(of that time) and the golden era of WWE. At the start, some of the superstars are locked, which can be unlocked by progressing through the different play modes of the game.

WWE All Stars Roster — WWE All-Stars Roster (Image By YT/iAnthuny)

The superstars are divided into classes like the heavyweight and the cruiserweight. Each class of superstars has a different playing style than the other. If you pick a heavyweight star, you will casually punch people out of the ring like they are made of cardboard.

Cruiserweights can be high-flying and hard to catch and possess unique abilities, like climbing the turnbuckles just by backflipping from any part of the ring’s canvas.

These interesting gameplay abilities, alongside the arcadey-steroid theme of the game, made me fall in love with the game. There was supposed to be a sequel to this game, but unfortunately, it never happened. But if it were still possible, the sequel would get a positive response from the fans as it was a demand back in the day as well.

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Asad Kashif

Heya, I’m Asad (Irre) Kashif! I’ve been writing about anything and everything since as far back as I can remember. Professionally, I started writing five years ago, working both as a ghostwriter and writing under my own name. As a published author and a council member in Orpheus, my journey in the world of writing has been fulfilling and dynamic.

I still cherish the essays I wrote about my favorite PS2 games, and I’m thrilled to have transformed my passion for game journalism into a career. I’m a theory crafter for Genshin Impact (and now Wuthering Waves) and have a deep love for roguelites and roguelikes. While I prefer indie games for their distinct aesthetic and vibes, I do enjoy triple-A games occasionally. I’ve also been playing League since season 6, and I main Akali! I have a keen interest in discovering and playing more obscure games, as well as researching forgotten titles. Additionally, I am a front-end programmer who dabbles a bit in gamedev occasionally.