Favorite wrestling game series

[ringsyde]

Time to settle this thing. Which series do you love? Which one makes you fell like you made the right decision when you bought it?

Conversely, which series makes you hate life?

I love FirePro, and I've enjoyed Toukon, but I am an AKI mark, so Virtual Pro I & II and the American N64 games (Mania 2000, Revenge, No Mercy & World Tour) are at the top of my list. Vrtual Pro wins out because of the quality and depth.

[Chris Ingersoll]

Of the ones I've played, I have to go with N64 AKI. The one Fire Pro game I played didn't wow me (it was the first Fire Pro Advance, so I know it was limited), and Yuke's has yet to impress me; for every advance they make, it seems as if they either keep something stupid or make something worse. I didn't play the first Def Jam game, but as good as DJ:FfNY was, it still isn't as good as WCW v. NwO, WCW/nWo Revange, WM2000, or No Mercy.

Legends of Wrestling was made by "Ack! Lame!" right? Their N64 titles (WWF Attitude, WWF Warzone, ECW whatever) were a horror to control, and I avoided the LoW series because of it.

[CaseyJones1]

I'm not re-registered so can't vote, but Firepro(big surprise for anyone that has read my posts here). I like the AKI games, but the AI sucks since you can't program it and on the high levels everyone fights pretty much the same with the CPU involved. There was a gameshark cheat to tweak things a little bit but they only had like 4 personality classes you could tweak and that's it.

In Firepro, your edit can wrestle exactly like the real guy if you tweak the CPU logic correctly(this alone is more of a hobby for some people than actually playing the game-that's how deep it is-great for E-fedding too).

I suck at CPU logic so I just download edits that other people have done where they got things right-makes everything easier that way.

As for hating things, the Legends of Wrestling games suck bigtime because the wrestlers do all these wacky super indy wrestlers from 2000 moves. And the hundreds of glitches that make the game nearly unplayable....

[Big Bri]

I played WCW vs. NWO at my buddy's house a few times back in the day (before I owned a game system). I thought that was really cool, but my favorite game of all time has to be "Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain" for PS2. It's predecessor, "Shut Your Mouth", and the current version, "SD Vs. RAW" are pretty decent, but HCTP beats them both. What an awesome roster! Plus, in the hardcore matches you can travel throughout the arena and I like the options it gives you when you're talking to certain superstars. Plus, the create-a-wrestler and create-a-taunt options are endless! I hope SD Vs. RAW II reintegrates some of these great features and gets rid of the online play (although I heard it will be on it, too bad.)

I've heard many of you guys praise "No Mercy". That came out, again, before I owned a game system. So could you mention a few of it's top features? Just curious.

[CaseyJones1]

It had the AKI engine like Revenge, had ladder matches, had hardcore matches that you could go all over the arena, breakable tables, and you could do moves onto weapons.

It was SLOOOOOOW though when you did four player due to system limitations, which is the only knock against it....unless you had one of those copies that deleted your save every so often, which would be a much bigger knock.

[Tongsoon of Cygnus]

Shut Your Mouth was a good one to play. For its simplicity, I still say nothing beats the old WCW MAYHEM video game. For a WCW game, it offered a lot, and I still plug it in every now and again. The commentary was totally top-notch (something lacking in today's games). So, I'd have to go with SDSYM or WCW MAYHEM.

[gamemaster]

I say No Mercy only because I just recieved Virtual Pro 2 over the weekend and it is really awesome but I have cranked out endless hours on No Mercy. I do think that Virtual Pro does have a better engine though but I marked hard for a Frog Splash off the ladder back in the day.

[the_faction]

I think the one thing that people constantly overlook about the true brilliance of the AKI games was the weight they added to everything.

When someone is put in a hold you saw the weight behind them getting picked up, they actually sold it and they took they're time getting up.

Current games are so fast it's to arcadey. Someone gets hit with a powerbomb and they are literaly back and standing with 1.5 seconds. To me that decimates any credibility.

I still play No Mercy to this day, and legitametly every other week.

[Chris Ingersoll]

CaseyJones1 said:

unless you had one of those copies that deleted your save every so often, which would be a much bigger knock.

You know what? My version has that problem.

AND I STILL PLAY IT.

I re-made my characters and keep them backed up on a Memory Pak; the arenas and characters are either easy to re-purchase or not necessary for my enjoyment.

THAT'S how awesome I find this game to be. It's has a horrible glitch in it that could potentially undo a lot of hard work, and I don't care.

thefaction said:

Current games are so fast it's to arcadey. Someone gets hit with a powerbomb and they are literaly back and standing with 1.5 seconds. To me that decimates any credibility.

Like, for example, when you have to escape a 4-way cage match.

[Nemecys X]

I think people praise No Mercy so much because the WWE finally had some good wrestling games where moves weren't based on hitting an endless sequence, like Mortal Combat. I loved the create a ppv and belt (well the belt was on WM 2000 but very similar game), and you could defend belts in exhibition and ppv modes. If smackdown could incorporate these features (I don't like SvR's create a ppv), it could really improve.

I only have the original FPW for the GBA and it is excellent. Wrestlers do actually follow their programmed fight style, and the game includes octogon matches. Now all they need is the similar title match idea from NM to be perfect.

Jay

[pikemojo]

BrianB, I can't believe that you rank Mayhem as one of the best wrestling games ever. The commentary was excellent I will give you that and of course the roster was awesome as well as the graphics but the control was very shaky as was the collision detection.
I loved the fact that they had pre recorded a bunch of different names so when you entered in Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels it would say Steve or Shawn as call names. I am kinda surprised no other game company has tried that. It worked pretty well.

[Tongsoon of Cygnus]

Now you see why I thought it was a superior game to some of the ones out now. Even though it was 32-bit, the graphics were great. Every wrestler had their own little entrance thing, and nothing has surpassed it on the commentary side. Granted, it was somewhat sluggish and slow, and the collision detection needed work, but it was a simple game when it came to pulling off moves. I didn't have to hit the buttons 19 times for a piledriver. It's the simplicity of the control layout that appealed to me. Not to mention the intro to the game was really cool. It was a way-better game than WCW Thunder, and FAR better than those LOW games out now.

[gamemaster]

pikemojo said:

I loved the fact that they had pre recorded a bunch of different names so when you entered in Steve Austin or Shawn Michaels it would say Steve or Shawn as call names. I am kinda surprised no other game company has tried that. It worked pretty well.

Legends had this option but really who cares. I really tried hard to like this game but its reversal system and shody collision was garbage. It was kinda sad that the entrance where they said your created wrestlers naem was the best part of the game. I may pick up showdown just have it in my collection for like 6 bucks.

[Casey F Jones]

Nemecys said:

I think people praise No Mercy so much because the WWE finally had some good wrestling games where moves weren't based on hitting an endless sequence, like Mortal Combat. I loved the create a ppv and belt (well the belt was on WM 2000 but very similar game), and you could defend belts in exhibition and ppv modes. If smackdown could incorporate these features (I don't like SvR's create a ppv), it could really improve.

I only have the original FPW for the GBA and it is excellent. Wrestlers do actually follow their programmed fight style, and the game includes octogon matches. Now all they need is the similar title match idea from NM to be perfect.

Jay

You'd like Virtual Pro Wrestling 2-same AKI engine, but has MMA mode(not an octagon, but in a ring. You can set it up to have rounds and have points that limit your ropebreaks like Pancrase).

If you play VPW2's MMA guys, using Don Frye is fun. Why?

Well, you know how some people can't get weapons outside the ring? Every MMA guy is like that BUT Don Frye, who also pro wrestled as a heel member of Chono's Team Black in New Japan. Only gets chairs, but can get them.

Nothing says comedy like smacking someone with a chair in an MMA match(other than using Poison Sawada Julie's power of Jakai evil snake powers in a MMA match).

[theace4ever]

when it comes to the console games I loved Pro Wrestling & Tecmo World Wrestling on the old school 8 bit Nintendo system, on SNES it was WWF Royal Rumble, WWF Raw, & Saturday Night Slammasters (tag team version, though Sega was only singles matches, but did have the Death Match option), on N64 it was WCW/NWO World Tour, Revenge, WM2000, & No Mercy, Playstation I liked Power Move Pro Wrestling...the more recent games I would have to say Smackdown - Shut Your Mouth and Raw vs Smackdown, I do actually like Showdown: Legends of Wrestling...and I saved the best for last - Fire Pro Wrestling...hell yeah...I love anygame that allows me to make Vader and give Kevin Nash a friggin critical *evil chuckle*

[Chris Ingersoll]

theace4ever said:

when it comes to the console games I loved Pro Wrestling & Tecmo World Wrestling on the old school 8 bit Nintendo system

Man, Tecmo World Wrestling was, at the time, the pinnacle of video game wrestling. Finishers, an announcer, replays, specific moves, movesets that changed over the course of the match... just 16 bits of awesome in an 8-bit cartridge.

[theace4ever]

not too mention when you finally beat the game, they swerve you with the "Blue King"...I remember the first time he came out , I was like "Oh Shet!!!" He was beating me badly, we tumbled outside the ring and battled there..I managed to knock him down and rll in the ring..the bell rang and I won by countout..I marked out big time over a cheap win LOL..I did play again and the next time I actually pinned him..though took me a few times of getting my ass whooped to do it lol

[Chris Ingersoll]

theace4ever said:

not too mention when you finally beat the game, they swerve you with the "Blue King"...I remember the first time he came out , I was like "Oh Shet!!!" He was beating me badly, we tumbled outside the ring and battled there..I managed to knock him down and rll in the ring..the bell rang and I won by countout..I marked out big time over a cheap win LOL..I did play again and the next time I actually pinned him..though took me a few times of getting I disagree whooped to do it lol

Blue King and Great Puma (from Pro Wrestling) were some of the cheapest bastards in gaming history. I dont think I ever actually pinned B.King, but I'm pretty sure I did steal a CO occasionally. I'm almost certain that I never beat Puma.

[Thad Killian]

Dude...I owned Puma with Starman...Puma's my lil' B**ch now...unfortunately, I have him stored in the garage at the moment...but take that Puma...ya scank!