Editor’s Note: This is a translation of Hideyuki “Geta” Iwashita’s blog. Geta-san was the Director of the AKI wrestling games including WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF No Mercy and Virtual Pro Wrestling 1+2, and is also a consultant on the AEW “Fight Forever” game. All copyright and intellectual property rights in the underlying Japanese text (and the drawings) rests with Geta-san as the original creator.
Original blog is here: “プロレスをゲームにする”ということ – 似て非なるその他のスポーツゲームとの違いとは？ (geta-pro.jp)
A unique sports genre
I have been involved in the development of numerous games so far. Among them, I am extremely proud as a game creator and as a pro wrestling fan to have worked on the “Virtual Pro Wrestling” series, which is still loved by people all over the world.
As a result, I was able to work on various fighting games based on the idea of starting with a pro wrestling game. I believe that this pro wrestling/fighting game genre is distinct from ordinary popular games in terms of how they are made.
The difference is that ordinary games are created based on a “general fiction,” though they may consider concepts like gravity and physics. In contrast, the pro wrestling/fighting genre already has a “real” existence performed by living humans, and it must be recreated in the game.
Differences from other sports games A common misconception here is the comparison with sports games. Pure sports games have clearly defined rules for competition and are conducted within those boundaries.
Therefore, in making a game, the construction of the game system, excluding things like direction, can simply follow the rules.
For example, sports games like baseball, soccer, and golf, which represent ball games, can be made recognizable to anyone without any discrepancies.
To put it crudely, the behavior of the ball used in the competition is the game system itself, and if you add the subtleties and behavior of the surrounding players, it can be considered complete.
Well, I am well aware that it is not as simple as “just adding,” but it is true that there is a significant advantage in terms of creating the framework of the game.
You can’t make a baseball game and unknowingly end up with a basketball game. That’s not possible.
The rule of pro wrestling is that “there are no rules.” However, when creating games based on pro wrestling or martial arts, it’s not that simple.
These genres have basic rules regarding safety to ensure that players are not exposed to danger, but beyond that, it’s essentially “anything goes.”
In particular, in pro wrestling, in addition to applying techniques to damage the opponent normally, there are also attacks that target vital points, use weapons, or cause bleeding, making it seem as if there are virtually no rules.
To incorporate this into a game and maintain consistency is no ordinary challenge, as can be seen from this one example alone.
Pro wrestling and martial arts are truly “incomparable genres” in the world of games.
Summary of this discussion:
- Creating games based on pro wrestling and martial arts is significantly more difficult than creating games based on pure ball sports.
- Competitive sports have strict rules for victory and defeat, and deviations are not allowed. However, pro wrestling and martial arts have their appeal in aspects that go beyond the rules.
