Today’s Retro Corner will focus on a time when wrestling games didn’t suck, WCW vs NWO Revenge will be the game I’m highlighting. Now I understand what everyone is thinking and yes, WCW vs NWO Revenge isn’t the best wrestling on the Nintendo 64, in fact I can think of another three wrestling games that are better. The reason I’m picking WCW vs NWO Revenge is because it was the first wrestling game that I played from AKI Corporation who would go on to create the greatest wrestling game ever made.
My history with wrestling games began with Super Wrestlemania Arcade for the Super Nintendo, it was a crazy wrestling game that was completely over the top and felt more like a fighting game than it did a wrestling game. I loved it and still do to this day just because it was so wacky, it knew how to have fun with itself. I also enjoyed WWF Warzone and WWF Attitude although I liked them more because they were wrestling games rather than they were doing anything special.
For Christmas in 1998 I asked my parents for a copy of WCW vs NWO Revenge, at the time I had moved away from WWF like many and jumped to WCW for my wrestling fix so I naturally decided to get a WCW game even if it wasn’t very good. I had heard of WCW vs NWO World Tour but was a little too busy in 1997 with Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing & Goldeneye to get round to it.
When I first booted up the game I was blown away by the in game intro at the time, it wasn’t some random video of the show but actual in game graphics. Not only that but it perfectly captured the wrestling scene during the 90′s, particularly what was happening in WCW. It’s still one of my favourite intros in a game.
The first thing that struck me about WCW vs NWO Revenge in geenral was that it looked good, REALLY good for an Nintendo 64 game. Graphically the AKI wrestling series always seemed to feature a more “cartoon” like appearance compared to other wrestling games at the time but it was in motion where WCW vs NWO Revenge stood out. I CANNOT give the animation in this game enough praise, even today it’s still as smooth as ever.
There’s a problem I have with animation in all things fighting related and it’s that rarely does a game capture the brutality of a fight, how many games actually have moves that look like they hurt? In WCW vs NWO Revenge moves had impact, they looked like they hurt and they were pure eye candy. If you’re looking to be a professional wrestler then I suggest you learn how to perform the moves simply by watching this game, you won’t find a better animated Jackhammer or Chokeslam anywhere else.
Once I managed to take in the graphics I noticed that WCW vs NWO Revenge went for a simulation based gameplay which usually sounds really boring but totally worked. The gameplay system was simply genius by offering both something that’s easy to pick up yet never at the expense of depth which is something many developers still can’t get right. In it’s most basic form the A button was used to grapple and the B button to strike. You could hold down either one of these buttons to perform a stronger grapple or strike.
Let’s focus on the grapple for a minute here so I can explain to you just where exactly this depth comes into play.
- Weak Grapple —> Direction + A
- Weak Grapple —> Direction + B
- Strong Grapple —> Direction + A
- Strong Grapple —> Direction + B
In order to keep things from becoming too complicated the direction is limited to four different directions instead of eight. Doing a bit of quick maths shows me that you have a 16 different moves at your disposal, now imagine all of those applying to a back grapple and that’s 32 moves. You can also irish whip your opponent into the ropes and a similar principle applies only the game ditches the direction command. The shoulder buttons were used to reverse strikes and grapples if you managed to time it just right. As you can see the bases of the gameplay system is extremely easy to explain and yet offers the depth you would want, it’s all very smartly done.
Going back to the simulation aspect of the game is the fact that this isn’t a fighting game, it’s a wrestling game and you have to wear your opponent down in order to score the pinfall. Instead of having a life meter you have what the game calls a spirit meter which is entirely dynamic meaning it goes from hot to cold depending on the match. Players start with a green meter at the beginning of a match, at this point both wrestlers are in good condition so you’ll want to start with some strikes and weak grapples. As you slowly get stronger your meter starts turning red whilst there’s is down to blue so feel free to start performing those strong grapples.
Unlike other wrestling games in WCW vs NWO Revenge you don’t “win” a special and hold on to it, the the spirit system is based on the momentum of a match. At the peak of your red spirit the little bar will start flashing, flick the joystick in any direction and the wrestler goes into a “Super” state where nothing hurts them and they are free to perform their finishers as much as they want until the meter resets back to green. A good way to build meter is by taunting which totally makes sense in the world of wrestling, it is a showmanship sport after all.
Another key area worth talking about is location based damage, in particular if you are playing as a character who has a submission move as their finisher don’t expect to make the opponent tap the first time. You have to perform specific moves that damage a certain part of the body so it pays off to know each wrestler’s moves well. You’ll know when you’ve done enough damage because the opponent will hold the part of their body that hurts such as their legs.
For 1998 the stuff I mentioned was insane, the game looked the part AND it played the part too. Grab some friends over for some 4-player action and it’s one of the best multiplayer games around, there’s tons of characters to pick from and each have 4 different alternative costumes so there’s plenty to keep everyone happy.
Considering WCW vs NWO Revenge was an Nintendo 64 game it meant that cartridge limitations came into play. There’s nothing in the way of announcers and wrestlers come out to one of two tunes but this was the first wrestling game I played with proper entrances so you can forgive that. The sound effects are superb with some pretty brutal sounding stuff, seriously crank up the volume and listen to a Raven special DDT that totally spikes the opponent in the ring.
There you have it, WCW vs NWO Revenge. Trust me I know all about WWF Wrestlemania 2000, No Mercy, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 and they are all fantastic but I wanted to go for the less obvious choice with this Retro Corner. Even as of today WCW vs NWO Revenge is one of the best wrestling games available and only bettered by it’s sequels. If you have this one or any of the AKI Nintendo 64 wrestling games lying around be sure to pop it in, you’ll be surprised how well it’s aged and why newer games still can’t top it.
In case you’re wondering, no I’m not a fan of the crappy Yukes developed Smackdown/WWE games. If you are a true self respecting wrestling fan then you’ll know that the AKI wrestling games and the Fire Pro series is the only stuff worth your time.
WCW vs NWO Revenge in 2013
After the release of WCW VS NWO Revenge in 1998, AKI Corperation followed with WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and WWF No Mercy. Japan saw the release of Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 which is basically the same thing but for Japan, some players even prefer it. The last release from AKI was WWF No Mercy and for reasons unknown they parted ways with THQ therefore never actually getting the chance to follow up on No Mercy.
Some of you may not know but in 2001 there actually was a sequel to WWF No Mercy in development called WWF Backlash but it never happened because the Nintendo 64 was basically dead and the GameCube was coming out. Why not just move the project to the GameCube? Well like I said, AKI and THQ parted ways so it never happened.
After AKI stopped making WCW games and started doing WWF games EA stepped in and delivered two crap WCW games, Mayhem wasn’t THAT bad but the follow up Backstage Assault was. After noticing AKI & THQ had parted ways EA stepped in to offer AKI the chance to develop WCW Mayhem 2 which would of been WCW vs NWO Revenge 2 when you think about it. Sadly this never came to be either as that asshole Vince McMahon bought WCW and ECW thus killing the wrestling industry due to lack of competition and also putting an end to EA’s WCW deal.
If you want to see a little bit more of WCW Mayhem 2 then be sure to check out Unseen 64.
Okay so the chance of ever getting a follow up to the Nintendo 64 wrestling games went out the window but there is some kind of happy ending to it. Rather than letting whatever they had for WCW Mayhem 2 go to waste, EA and AKI teamed up to bring us Def Jam Vendetta for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It sounds like the dumbest idea on the planet but it actually worked, part of me wants to cry because I can see the great AKI wrestling engine powering the game.
After the success of Dej Jam Vendetta AKI & EA got to work on a sequel which was even better though it was more a street fighting game than it was wrestling. Def Jam Fight for New York is some of the most fun I had with my GameCube, it’s on PS2 & Xbox too so if you’ve never played it then check it out sometime, you can totally throw Sean Paul in front of a train and that makes me happy. AKI didn’t develop Def Jam ICON so stay away from that, it’s trash.
What about the original AKI Nintendo 64 wrestling games, how can I get those? Well by resorting to the good old Nintendo 64 as to date none of their games ever made it to the Virtual Console. Once again it’s a license issue, yeah THQ still hold the license but a bunch of those wrestlers in the game have sadly since passed away amongst other issues. There WAS talk of WWF No Mercy coming to the Virtual Console with an up to date roster but nothing ever came of it, basically us AKI wrestling fans can never catch a damn break.
If I were up to me I’d get AKI to make a new wrestling game, I don’t care if it has a bunch of fake wrestlers or a fake federation. Just give me an AKI wrestling game with a create a wrestler mode and I’ll be the happiest person on the planet. You know I should probably stop calling them AKI, these days they have changed their name to syn Sophia.
There is a TINY glimmer of hope however, you may have heard of THQ financial troubles these days meaning that WWE license may in fact go bye bye. If it does then I’m sure EA is just there waiting to snap it up, given their partnership with the Def Jam games it wouldn’t be out of the question to assume EA would contact syn Sophia to develop a game based on WWE.
No offence to anyone at THQ but I hope you do lose the license, I will never forgive you for dropping AKI/syn Sophia.
