To go along with our AWESOME contest, we had a chance to talk to Guillermo Averbuj, project lead at Sabarasa, the team handling the Wii and PSP versions of Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring. They also sent us some exclusive screenshots, which is fairly awesome. Check it all out!

Gamervision: For those who don’t know, and don’t feel like doing the research, can you
give a basic overview of actual Lucha Libre?

Guillermo Averbuj: Lucha Libre is the Mexican style of professional wrestling recognized throughout the world for its high-flying moves and the mystical personalities of its warriors, known as “Luchadores”. While American wrestling deals more in power-moves and heavier weight categories for their wrestlers, their Mexican counterparts are lighter and more dynamic in the fight, pulling riskier moves and providing for more eccentric and exciting matches.

Gamervision: Now, to the obvious question, but why make a game based on Lucha Libre?

Guillermo Averbuj: American and Japanese wrestling games have existed for quite some time, and luchadores have been present in games for a long time. Street Fighter, Tekken and even Virtua Fighter all have included luchadores on their rosters, but Lucha Libre never got a chance to showcase itself on videogame format before.

Now, thanks to our publishing partner Slang, we have the opportunity to show the world the exciting and sometimes crazy world of Lucha Libre. No game has ever attempted to transmit the rich folklore and action of a real Lucha Libre match, and we intent to change that.



Gamervision: How did the team take advantage of the entertainment side?

Guillermo Averbuj: The world of Lucha Libre is hugely rich in entertainment. Being the second most popular sport in Mexico (the matches are covered in the Sports section of newspapers), drawing huge crowds to arenas and televised matches. Luchadores are some of the most popular personalities in the country and some of them are huge international stars like Rey Mysterio Jr.

The AAA has an ongoing feud between “Tecnicos” and “Rudos”. Tecnicos are the good guys, those who have honed their skills to a high degree and use very complex and technical moves (hence the name, “the technical ones”), never relying on cheating or dubious tactics. On the other side, the Rudos are the burly brawlers who use a lot of brute force and often use dirty tricks to try to win matches.

This difference produces great match-ups in the ring, since the fighters are not only philosophically split, but also divided by the way they fight. We represent this division in the game and players can become either one or the other.

Gamervision: How does the gameplay work?

Guillermo Averbuj: Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring gives players the chance o fight with or against the most popular names in the sport in several game modes, using all of the Wii’s motion control features to simulate some of the action happening on the ring.

Our popularity system requires players to defeat opponents in an exciting manner, winning over the crowd and unlocking the most powerful and damaging moves as the popular frenzy grows, even being able to regain honor by taunting. We feature a gauge system, where players can lock arms with their opponents in a clinch and use both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to execute the risky pain-inflicting moves of Lucha Libre and win the match. One of the things that makes us unique is the ability to break and counter when in a lock. Your opponent grapples you, you not only can try to break the lock, but you can counter as well. That is not the case with other games in wrestling genre.

Gamervision: Masks are obviously an important part of the sport – how are they worked
into the game? Was there ever a time where they were more than cosmetic?

Guillermo Averbuj: Masks are a huge part of the Lucha Libre flavor. Almost all luchadores start their career wearing a mask and using that to build a persona, a sort of alter-ego that draws inspiration from mythical figures or powerful animals. These masks virtually become the face of the luchadores, wearing them during any public appearance outside the ring. The famous Luchador, El Santo was actually buried wearing his mask.

Since the identity and mask of a luchador is almost sacred, they will bet their maks to settle big rivalries and these matches, called “luchas de mascaras”, can be even more exciting than championship bouts. Once unmasked, a luchador can continue their career and bet his hair on a future grudge-match, which can be seen as humilliating as losing you mask so the stakes remain high even for mask-less fighters.

In Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring, players can create their own luchador, complete with a mask design of their own, and play against everyone or in the story mode.



Gamervision: Can the fighters leave the ring or go out into the crowd?

Guillermo Averbuj: Yes, luchadores can leave the ring and walk and fight right in front of the audience, even picking up objects like chairs and use them like weapons to strike their opponents. This can be used as a tactic, but you must be careful because fighters are disqualified if they remain outside of the ring for too long.

Gamervision: Some of the moves seem to be extremely over the top, are they all based
on actual maneuvers, or are any of them more on the impossible side?

Guillermo Averbuj: All our moves are based on references from real luchadores. They really can do all those flying attacks included in the game, and even more. The amount and variety of moves, pins, grapples, and hits these guys perform in each fight is huge, and most of them are really as spectacular as you can experience in the game.

Gamervision: Have you been working with luchadores? How has their reaction to the game
been? Any big name fighters resist being associated?

Guillermo Averbuj: All top fighters from the AAA roster have agreed to lend their personalities and moves to the game. We’ve been working with real luchadores to recreate the signature movements in the game. We also feature the commentary team from the real televised matches, giving it a complete lucha libre experience.

Gamervision: One of the most popular elements of Lucha Libre is that all shapes and
sizes of fighters can compete. How does the game address this?

A. Lucha libre hosts some of the most diverse and insane division that wrestling has to offer, including a very deep female division and a “Mini” division for fighters shorter than 5 feet. We chose to focus on the main feud between Tecnicos and Rudos, since they are the most popular, and adding some female fighters to the roster, leaving the midgets for future incarnations of the game.

Gamervision: How did the story develop? Is it based on any actual feuds that have
taken place?

Guillermo Averbuj: The story of the Wii and PSP version tries to portrait the difficulty a Luchador much face in order to grow in the Lucha Libre world. We incorporated a more fictional aspect in the story mode that involves the mob. It is not based in any of the actual feuds that exist on the AAA because we wanted the player to feel like the protagonist of his own story as a luchador, instead of banking on the stories of other fighters player may already be familiar with.


Once again, we'd like to thank Guillermo and the entire team. Be sure to check back later this week with another interview, this time, from the developers handling the Xbox 360 version!