Evolution Schematic 04.13.08: WWE Video Games (Part 4)

OK, OK, so it’s been a while. But dammit, I’m Mathew Sforcina! I’m not some punk kid, who has just come in off the street…

Actually, that’s it! I deliberately held off so that the new guys could take centre stage. Yes, yes, I’m such a warm and generous guy that I did not post because I wanted you to read and love the new guys without being focused on my awesomeness. Yes, I know I’m kind as well as great, thank you.

*sees no-one is buying it*

All right, I’m lazy, whatever.

Part 1 and Part 2 AND Part 3 of this series are waiting for your reading pleasure. We had gone through perhaps the darkest period of time for WWE Video Games, as they went Cartoony, with Mortal Kombat style gameplay. Not that that’s a bad thing, but in a Wrestling game, it just doesn’t work. And while I said that things began to look up with the next one, you really couldn’t tell by looking at it…

Phase 18- Mmmmmm, blocky.

Name: WWF War Zone
Console/s: Playstation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy
Release Date: August 11, 1998
Playable Characters: Ahmed Johnson, Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart (PS and N64 Only), The British Bulldog, Cactus Jack (PS and N64 Only), Dude Love (PS and N64 Only), Faarooq, Goldust, Jeff Robinson (PS and N64 Only), Kane, “The World’s Most Dangerious Man” Ken Shamrock, Mankind, Headbanger Mosh (PS and N64 Only), “The Black Hart” Owen Hart, Pamela (PS and N64 Only), Rattlesnake (PS and N64 Only), The Rock, “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Sue (PS and N64 Only), Headbanger Thrasher (PS and N64 Only), Trainer (PS and N64 Only), Triple H, The Undertaker
Unplayable Character/s: Jerry “The King” Lawler, Vince McMahon
Match Type/s: One-on-One, Tag Team, Cage, Weapons (Hardcore Match), Tornado Tag, War (Triangle/4 Way elimination match), Royal Rumble (N64 Only), Gauntlet (N64 Only), WWF Challenge, Training.
Other Features: FMV (PS only), Entrances and Comments, Voice Samples, Crowd Noise Samples, Groupie (PS only), Create-A-Wrestler, Hidden Characters, Hidden Modes.
Screenshots:
N64:

PS:

GB:

Info:

This was a step in the right direction. A lot of positive, good things came out of this game. A somewhat decent single player mode, Create A Wrestler was great, especially given you could create female wrestlers, all 3 Faces of Foley, great sound with crowd noise including unique crowd chants, hidden characters (shame that they chose to insert some Acclaim employees rather than, say, more real wrestlers) this game had a lot going for it.

Pity the controls sucked.

I mean, really sucked. At least in some people’s opinion. It’s certainly an odd layout. You had a punch, kick and lock up button. Great. So, you lock up, and then enter several directions then a button to do a move.

*checks to see if this is the Midway game*

For some people that was fine, if you play a lot of fighting games with crazy moves, it’s natural. But while wrestling fans are by no means stupid or without patience, it seems counter productive to have to point in a few difference directions to hit a decent move. But again, some people liked it. Certainly for a GB port, while it removed a lot of features, it was a good game on the GB, and a decent game on the main consoles, albeit one that nowadays is not regarded as quite the classic it seemed at the time. Still, at least the Groupie was hot. You may know her.

But still, overall, it was a good game. The next, and last upgrade, would be a further improvement.

Phase 19- Shane McMahon, Play By Play guy. Yippie.

Name: WWF Attitude
Console/s: PS, N64, Dreamcast, GBC
Release Date: July 31, 1999
Playable Characters: Al Snow, “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn, Bradshaw (PS/N64/DC only), “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher (PS/N64/DC only), Christian (PS/N64/DC only), Chyna (PS/N64/DC only), D’Lo Brown (PS/N64/DC only), “Dr. Death” Steve Williams (PS/N64/DC only), Droz (PS/N64/DC only), Edge, Faarooq (PS/N64/DC only), Gangrel, Goldust, Head (PS/N64/DC only), Headbanger Mosh (PS/N64/DC only), Headbanger Thrasher (PS/N64/DC only), Jacqueline (PS/N64/DC only), Jeff Jarrett, Jerry “The King” Lawler (PS/N64/DC only), Kane, “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” Ken Shamrock, Kurrgan (PS/N64/DC only), Mankind (And Cactus Jack & Dude Love PS/N64/DC only), Marc Mero (PS/N64/DC only), Mark Henry (PS/N64/DC only), Owen Hart (PS/N64/DC only), Paul Bearer (PS/N64/DC only), Road Dogg Jesse James, Sable, Sgt. Slaughter (PS/N64/DC only), “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels (PS/N64/DC only), “The Lethal Weapon” Steve Blackman (PS/N64/DC only), “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, TAKA Michinoku, The Big Boss Man, The Godfather, The Rock, The Undertaker, Trainer (PS/N64/DC only), Triple H, Val Venis, X-Pac
Unplayable Character/s: Shane McMahon
Match Type/s: Unless otherwise stated, the modes are NOT in the GBC version. Verses (GBC), Tag Team (GBC), Tornado Tag, One on Two, One on Three, Lumberjack, Gauntlet, Tag Gauntlet, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Battle Royal, War (4 Corners Elimination match), Stable Match (Team Elimination match), Triple Threat, Triangle, King Of The Ring (GBC), First Blood, Cage (GBC), Finisher, ‘Ironman’, Hardcore, Training (GBC), Challenge Mode (GBC), Career Mode (GBC Only).
Other Features: Blood, Commentary, swearing, alternate costumes, Create A Wrestler, Create A PPV, Create An Arena, ‘Special Moves’, crowd interaction, opening taunts, Extra Modes.
Screenshots:
N64:

PS:

Dreamcast:

GBC:

Info:

Take everything in War Zone, apart from the controls, and amp it up to the max, tossing in some more adult themes and sex. What do you get? A video game that Vince Russo would be proud to call his own, WWF Attitude. Taking it’s name from their slogan that would be repeated ad nauseam at the time, the game was violent, bloody, filled with sex, weapons, swearing and bizarre characters (Head was a playable guy. Al Snow’s little friend, with no body, just a head, gloves and boots. When a guy like that is in your wrestling game, you know this ain’t Rock n Wrestling anymore). Women fought men, you could bleed from anywhere, like it for you hit in the head, you bled from the head. Hit in the gut, your body began to bleed. Take a kick to the leg and your legs began to bleed…

Ok, so it was a little hit and miss, like the WWF at the time. But there was a lot going for this game, all of it slightly held back by the controls, which were still bizarrely complicated. Do you really need to press 3 different directions to nail a Samoan Drop?

But the moves themselves were improved, with everyone having a Finisher and a Signature move, as well as a couple of pick up moves that allowed you to walk around before choosing when to release. While they were designed to be used in the Rumble match, the idea was ahead of it’s time, becoming much more important later on in some more modern games.

It was a game for it’s time, and for the company. WWF could seemingly do no wrong as it retook the lead in the Monday Night War and conquered all it’s path. A small part of this was, perhaps, due to WWF leaving Acclaim and letting THQ and AKI make their next game. A game largely forgotten outside a small dedicate fan base due to it’s sequel being much more well known. But while the PPV sucked, the game was pretty darn good.

Phase 20- Hey, how appropriate!

Name: WrestleMania 2000
Console/s: N64, GBC
Release Date: November 16, 1999
Playable Characters: Al Snow, The Big Boss Man (Both N64 and GBC), The Big Show (Both N64 and GBC), The Blue Meanie, Bradshaw, ‘Too Sexy’ Brian Christopher, Cactus Jack, Chaz, Chris Jericho, Christian, Chyna, D’Lo Brown, Debra, Droz, Dude Love, Edge, Faarooq, Gangrel, Gerald Brisco, The Godfather, Hardcore Holly, Ivory, Jacqueline, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett (Both N64 and GBC), Jerry “The King” Lawler, Jim Ross, Kane (Both N64 and GBC), Ken Shamrock (Both N64 and GBC), Mankind (Both N64 and GBC), Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Michael Hayes, Mideon, Mr. Ass (Both N64 and GBC), Pat Patterson, Paul Bearer, Prince Albert, Road Dogg (Both N64 and GBC), The Rock (Both N64 and GBC), Scott Taylor, ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ Shawn Michaels (Both N64 and GBC), Stephanie McMahon, Steve Blackman, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (Both N64 and GBC), Terri Runnels, Test, Thrasher, Triple H (Both N64 and GBC), Tori, The Undertaker (Both N64 and GBC), Val Venis (Both N64 and GBC), Vince McMahon, Viscera, X-Pac (Both N64 and GBC).
Unplayable Character/s: Vince McMahon (GBC only)
Match Type/s: N64: Single, Tag, 3 Way, Cage, Royal Rumble, King Of The Ring, Road To Wrestlemania. GBC: Career, Training.
Other Features: Blood (NTSC only), Create A PPV, Create A Belt, Create A Wrestler, Edit appearance, the AKI Game Engine.
Screenshots:
N64:

GBC:

Info:

On the surface, it seems that everything apart from the roster size that was good was taken out, at least in the N64 version. The Game Boy versions were always a bit sucky, relatively. They were ok, but nothing to write home about. But Attitude was good, in it’s way, and this seems to head backwards. No multitude of match types, no funny modes, no blood (if you’re in Europe or Australia, thanks Germany), this seems like a big step back. But apart from the minor bonuses (little slowdown, roster size, belt and PPV creation), there is one major, major addition.

The AKI Wrestling Game Engine.

Simply put, the best 3D wrestling engine thus far produced. Developed for the WCW video games (another topic for another set of ES’, way way WAY down the line) but almost perfected here. Simple, effective and versatile, the game handled and worked simply but perfectly. Controls were fluid, logical and consistent, no billions of controller presses, just a punch/kick and a grapple button. Lock up, then another direction and a button does a move. The waggle stick is your taunt and finisher, and the rest of the controls are in logical, easy locations.

Visual effects, audio, characters, match types, all of these are important, but without a solid game play engine, they’re meaningless. The AKI engine was the most solid one ever produced, and thus a great game was made. But it only really worked on the N64. So the other major consoles had to work out something else to do.

Sony decided to create a brand new engine, and somehow produced the biggest franchise in Wrestling Video Game History. At least in terms of sales.

Phase 21- A Juggernaut Is Born.

Name: WWF SmackDown!
Console/s: Playstation
Release Date: February 29, 2000
Playable Characters: Al Snow, Big Bossman, Big Show, Billy Gunn, Bradshaw, Bubba Ray Dudley, Chris Jericho, Christian, Chyna, Debra, D’Lo Brown, D-Von Dudley, Edge, Faarooq, Gangrel, The Godfather, Hardcore Holly, Jeff Hardy, Kane, Ken Shamrock, Mankind, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Paul Bearer, Road Dogg, The Rock, Shane McMahon, Steve Blackman, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Test, Tori, Triple H, The Undertaker, Val Venis, Vince McMahon, and X-Pac.
Unplayable Character/s: None, although body parts exist for The Blue Meanie, Gerald Brisco, Ivory, Jacqueline, Mideon, Pat Patterson, Prince Albert, Stephanie McMahon, Stevie Richards, and Viscera.
Match Type/s: Singles, Tag Team, Handicap (2 on 1, 3 on 1), Battle Royal, Royal Rumble, King Of The Ring, Hardcore, Falls Count Anywhere, Cage, Survival (3 way and 4 way), Special Referee, I Quit, Season.
Other Features: Create A PPV, Create A Wrestler, Belt Records, Backstage
Screenshot:

Info:

Ok, so your major competitor has the best wrestling engine around, and you can’t use it. But you want a big, good game. What do you do?

Go the other direction, obviously.

WM2000 was realistic, solid. So Smackdown went cartoony and arcadey, but in a good way. There was more game styles, more fluid animation and graphics, entrances had video and full music, albeit short, and a storyline that gave you options and choices, rather than the huge, slightly more sedated Season mode in WM2000. The game was still wrestling, just focused on a much different aspect, the Entertainment in Sports Entertainment, whereas AKI was the Sports. Both had their fans, both worked in their own way. Certainly the I Quit match and the backstage rooms were well liked. I miss that kitchen.

Of course while we tend to nowadays focus on the Playstation and the N64, there was another console out at the time, the Dreamcast. They decided that they needed a WWF Wrestling game as well. But rather than put any effort into it, they just ported over their arcade game. And given that the arcade game wasn’t that great to begin with…

Phase 22- The game’s centred around the Royal Rumble, but there’s less than 30 guys in the game.

*slow, sarcastic clap*

Name: WWF Royal Rumble
Console/s: Arcade, Dreamcast
Release Date: August 15, 2000
Playable Characters: Al Snow, The Big Show, Chris Jericho, D’Lo Brown, Edge, The Godfather, Jeff Hardy, Kane, Kurt Angle, Mankind, Matt Hardy, Rikishi, Road Dogg, The Rock, Shane McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tazz, Triple H, The Undertaker, Vince McMahon, X-Pac
Unplayable Character/s: None
Match Type/s: Exhibition, Royal Rumble, verses.
Other Features: 9 guys on screen at once, corner men, random backstage/cage matches, backstage areas, weapons
Screenshots:
Arcade:

Dreamcast:

Info:

A lazy, lazy game.

No effort to upgrade, just ported across. No story mode, just 10 one on one matches with a tag partner to help attack, with random cage and backstage brawls. Lots of weapons that bend and break, which is good, but not enough to counter the negatives. Perhaps the biggest is the fact that for a game based on the Royal Rumble, with 30, 60 or 90 opponents, you have a grand total, including 2 unlockables, of 21 wrestlers.

Just brilliant.

A lousy, lousy game, with a couple of benefits far, far, far from balancing out the crap. If this was the best the DC could offer, no wonder it died.

But then again, I might be being a little hard on it. After all, Smackdown came out just before it, so it was fighting uphill to being with. And then came the next WWF game released, for the N64, which was one of the finest games ever released. Not just WWF, of ALL games. Mainly because Steven Richards was front and centre, baby…