Wrecking Crew (video game)

A Mario spin-off where players demolish objects with a hammer.

Wrecking Crew is an action game developed and published by Nintendo, first released for arcades in 1984 as VS. Wrecking Crew. It was designed by Yoshio Sakamoto and Makoto Kanoh as a spin-off of the Mario franchise, and later launched for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. The game introduced the antagonist Spike, who would appear in later Mario-related media.

Quick Facts

Developer

Nintendo R&D1

Publisher

Nintendo

Producer

Gunpei Yokoi

Director

Satoru Okada

Artist

Yoshio Sakamoto; Hiroji Kiyotake

Composer

Hirokazu Tanaka

Series

Mario

Platforms

Arcade
Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Disk System
Game Boy Advance

Facts from the source article.

Did You Know?

In Japan, Game Machine listed Vs. Wrecking Crew as the thirteenth most-successful table arcade unit of October 1984.
Reviewing the Wii U re-release, Stephen Kelly of Nintendo Life gave the game a 6/10 score.

Re-releases

Wrecking Crew saw multiple re-releases over the years. It first returned in 1989 on the Family Computer Disk System, then in 2004 as the 14th Famicom Mini title for the Game Boy Advance. The game also appeared as a bonus playable feature in its follow-up, Wrecking Crew '98. A Wii Virtual Console version arrived in 2007. In September 2011, it was temporarily given to Nintendo 3DS owners through the Ambassador Program, with a general Japanese release on the 3DS Virtual Console in September 2012 and other regions in 2013. A Wii U Virtual Console release followed in June 2013. Unlike the original NES game, all Virtual Console versions except the 3DS one allow players to save custom level designs. In July 2019, it joined the Nintendo Classics service on the Nintendo Switch. Hamster Corporation then brought VS. Wrecking Crew to the Switch in April 2020 as part of their Arcade Archives series.

Sequel

Wrecking Crew '98 is an action puzzle game that came out in Japan in 1998, first on the Super Famicom's Nintendo Power download service and later on a cartridge. It shifts away from the original's goal of clearing all panels from a level. Instead, players must match three or more same-colored panels on their side of the screen to remove them. When panels vanish, any blocks or panels above fall down, which can create chain combos.

Matching four or more panels of one color sends an attack at the opponent, with each color causing a different effect. The match ends when a player's screen gets completely filled with panels. In the story, Mario returns from a trip to find Bowser building tall bases that block sunlight from the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario gets his magic hammer from his Wrecking Crew days and starts tearing down the bases.

At each site, he faces a member of Bowser's construction crew, including his old rival Foreman Spike. The main single-player mode is Story mode, where Mario moves through an overworld to enter construction sites and defeat opponents. Finishing stages within a time limit unlocks secret stages and an alternate ending. Clearing stages also unlocks up to 12 characters for Versus mode, which supports one or two players.

Beating the Story unlocks Tournament mode, an eight-player single-elimination contest. A playable version of the original Wrecking Crew is available from the main menu. The game was re-released on the Wii U's Virtual Console in Japan on September 28, 2016, and on the Nintendo Classics service on April 12, 2024, marking its first Western release. A fanmade English translation patch came out in October 2017.

Legacy

Foreman Spike appears as a playable character in Mobile Golf (2001). The Bonus Stage theme from Wrecking Crew was remixed for Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (2005). The Golden Hammer appears as a usable item in the Super Smash Bros. series, beginning with Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008). A Wrecking Crew stage appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). Spike appears in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), voiced by Sebastian Maniscalco, as the former boss of Mario and Luigi. After nearly 40 years, the name was standardized to Spike in Japan, where he was previously known as Blackie or Blacky.