Saturday Knights launches on Kickstarter

A new game is now available to be backed on Kickstarter, and this is one for the real wrestling fans!

If you ask anybody that owned a Nintendo 64 what their favourite wrestling game of all time is, I have little doubt that they would tell you that it’s one of the several wrestling games that are in the classic stable, including WCW vs nWo World Tour, WCW vs nWo Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and WWF No Mercy.

These games used the AKI engine, which was slower and more methodical than the more fast-paced recent wrestling titles like Smackdown or WWE 2K. It allowed for long matches, more thought behind how you would try to take down your opponent and a far more intuitive and relevant reversal system that made each encounter feel exciting. I remember all-night sessions playing these games with mates as a kid, and often wonder how the engine would translate to today.

Well, now I’ll (hopefully) have that opportunity, as a Kickstarter has launched called Saturday Knights, a Pro Wrestling game with gameplay based on the AKI engine and featuring independent wrestling stars.

The developers have a history working on some big games such as League of Legends,  The Sims and Final Fantasy, and most importantly, they are clearly big wrestling fans. “We will be taking cues as far as gameplay goes, from the AKI engine, but we will build this game from the ground up in the Unity engine, which will allow us to do far more than if this was just a mod.”

Saturday Knights is set to feature a number of match modes, including:

• Tag Team
• 1 vs 1
• 3-Way Dance
• 3 Way Elimination
• 4-Way Dance
• 4-Way Elimination
• 6 Man Tag
• 8 Man Tag
• Submission Match
• Last Man Standing

The game will also feature 4 different arenas, intergender wrestling, unique animations and moves that aren’t featured on current wrestling games and an online mode that will allow you to play with people across the world, at least on PC. Additionally, there are stretch goals attached if they reach certain funding goals, which will allow them to include a Hardcore Mode, Booking Mode and perhaps most excitingly, a DIY mode, allowing you to create your own match types, including a Death Match, complete with barbed wire and flaming tables. E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB!

Saturday Knights needs to reach its funding goal of $270,000 in a months time, so if you’re a wrestling fan like me that has been craving this classic and much-loved gameplay style, you can back it right here on their Kickstarter page. Check out their Kickstarter video below!