🤼‍♂️ Action Arcade Wrestling | Nintendo Switch | Review | 7.5/10 | "Ric Flair controversially won, causing my nan, in her 60s at the time, to shout abuse at the TV. " 🤼‍♂️ @AAWGame #IndieGame #IndieGameDev

If you grew up in the late 80s-early 90s, you either got wrestling or you didn't. I have memories of watching WWF (as it was) on a Saturday at my dad's house, with characters like Brutus 'The Barber' Beefcake, who did actually cut his opponents' hair off from time to time, or Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, who brought snakes with him to ringside (pretty sure neither would happen these days). 

I also remember watching the 1992 Royal Rumble at my grandparents' house, where Ric Flair controversially won, causing my nan, in her 60s at the time, to shout abuse at the TV. 

With family like this, it's not surprising that I'm one of the ones who got it.

So I'm always interested in a new wrestling game. I played a lot of Wrestlefest in the arcades before graduating to the home computer and console versions. I had Wrestlemania on the original Game Boy, WWF Wrestlemania on the Amiga, Tecmo World Wrestling on the NES, and I got a couple of the annual ones on various PlayStation generations. All vary in terms of quality, but they all scratched the itch somewhat.

Action Arcade Wrestling could have been released back in the '90s, and that is a good thing. Remarkably easy to pick up and play, it's got a great move set and a big roster to choose from. You have one button to strike, one to grapple and lots of scope to mix it up. Within a couple of matches, you'll be pulling off DDTs, German suplexes and, er, breathing fire to your heart's content. The game modes range from your standard one-on-one matchups, tag team (tornado and normal) of up to 5 per team, through to Battle Royal and Elimination modes. It's a great selection, and this is where one of my few bugbears about the game comes in - there's no career mode, it's exhibition matches only. Fun exhibition matches of course, but it does cut the appeal as you've got no real sense of progress or continuity.

The second thing is a bit more of an irritation. With AAW being an independent game, the roster is just made-up wrestlers. Thankfully, the devs, VICO Game Studio, have created an excellent creation mode where you can put together your own wrestler, either recreating your favourites from real(ish) life or just putting yourself in the game to get kicked around. The only problem is, this mode is only available via Steam, so you'll need access to a PC. It's mitigated somewhat by the fact you can download other players' creations, so assuming you just want say, Hulk Hogan or Undertaker, there are hundreds of versions, but it's a pain if you want to put yourself in the game, or the main character from your self-penned anime script.

Graphics and music are appropriate to the retro appeal - cel-shaded visuals and music very reminiscent of older sports titles. There's a neat little tutorial to get you started, and once that's done you know pretty much all you need to. This makes it ideal for multiplayer sessions, as everyone can get to the same level very quickly, and the aforementioned lack of a career mode means this is where the real longevity is.