Thursday, April 25, 2013

Throwback Thursday: WWF No Mercy








This was in my view, the BEST wrestling video game in Nintendo 64 History. WWF No Mercy was the culmination of wrestling games on Nintendo 64 before WWF/E made their transition to Nintendo Gamecube. By this point, WWF destroyed WCW in the Monday Night Wars and the roster was even more incredible than before. The Rock was at the very top of his game. It was the perfect combination of Revenge and WrestleMania 2000. Create A Wrestler Mode was more detailed and improved, where there were more movesets, more attributes to customize, and each piece of ring attire is put in different sections. Like Revenge and WM 2000, wrestlers have four different types of ring attires. Unlike WM 2000, you could not only edit the heights and weights of wrestlers, but you could also edit their body type and music as well. The movesets will still have to be the same. Some of the unlockables, such as Taka Michinoku, Funaki, JR and Jerry Lawler have different slots, but identical movesets. No Mercy also marked the first time that wrestlers could fight backstage. This was also the first Nintendo 64 wrestling game that included ladder matches and special guest referee matches. Each superstar had a referee shirt as their fourth attire. This was also the first game where you could break the announcer's table. No Mercy goes to another level beyond the career mode of WrestleMania 2000. WWF No Mercy introduces a Championship Mode, where you could choose which titles that you want to go for. Each title has a story behind it (Which is how things should still be). Angles included Stone Cold's feud with The Rock, and the angle between Triple H and Mankind.

Titles in Championship Mode:
WWF Championship
Intercontinental Championship
European Championship
Tag Team Championship
Hardcore Championship

Another huge feature was added to the game called "Smackdown Mall". When you earn money through winning matches through Story and Survival mode, you could use it to unlock characters, arenas, ring attire, moves, weapons, props, and weapons. The Roster was loaded even more.

The Rock
Stone Cold
Undertaker
Triple H
Kane
Mankind
Big Show
Y2J Chris Jericho
Kurt Angle
Chris Benoit
Eddie Guerrero
Dean Malenko
Perry Saturn
British Bulldog
Tazz
Edge
Christian
X-Pac
Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh & D-Von)
Matt Hardy
Jeff Hardy
Faarooq
Bradshaw
Viscera
Test
Albert
Steven Richards
Bull Buchanan
Hardcore Holly
Crash Holly
Al Snow
Rikishi
Grand Master Sexay
Scotty Too Hotty
Road Dogg Jesse James
Billy Gunn
D'Lo Brown
Mark Henry
Godfather
Val Venis
Big Bossman
Essa Rios

Women:
Chyna
Trish Stratus
Lita
The Kat
Terri Runnels
Ivory
Tori
Jacqueline
Debra

Unlockables:

Characters:
Shawn Michaels
Andre The Giant
Vince McMahon
Cactus Jack
Mick Foley
Ken Shamrock
Shane McMahon
Stephanie McMahon
Linda McMahon
Jim Ross/Jerry Lawler
Pat Patterson/Gerald Brisco
Earl Hebner
Godfather's Ho
Michael Cole
Paul Bearer
Funaki
Howard Finkel

Arenas:
Backlash

Titles:
Smoking Skull Belt

WWF had great new additions with new phenomenon Kurt Angle. WWF also added other former WCW/ECW stars Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Tazz, to add into the mix.

Overall, No Mercy received great reviews. IGN gave it a 9.0, 7.7 from GameStop, and B+ from Game Revolution. When GamePro said that it would have you grappling for days, they were not lying at all. I was hooked even more than I was to Revenge and WrestleMania 2000. The initial copies of No Mercy had issues where the saved content would get erased. Thankfully, I never faced that problem, as I apparently purchased one of the later copies. No Mercy is another classic that us Old School fans from the late 90's will always enjoy.





4 comments:

  1. This was a kick ass game. One of first games I ever rented from Blockbuster. Brings back good memories. Gotta love the nostalgia factor with these articles. I'm sure you get that feel when you right these articles.

    This game is considered the best wrestling video game ever by most people. Smackdown Here Comes the Pain has to be up there as well. You eventually gotta compile your personal list of the best wrestling games ever.

    If you excuse me, I'll be booting my N64 emulator.

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    1. This was my favorite N64 game. In fact, I do get that nostalgic feeling when I write these. I simply reminisce when I get the ideas. One day, I will come up with my list of the greatest wrestling games ever.

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  2. I know every nook and cranny of this game, I've been hacking it since 2005. The era was wonderful, along with the gameplay, but there was so much more to this game that made it surpass every game that came after it. There were details like how hooking the leg gave you better results in a pin than just a normal cover, working on body parts to bring them to submit, totally customizable rules.

    Even better were the things you DIDNT see. Programmed deep into the game's memory were movesets for the Big Show, Raven, Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Jun Akiyama and many other guys. There were a lot of left-over graphics from VPW2, no mercy's Japanese predecessor, sound effects that didn't make the final cut, like the A**HOLE chant, The brahma bull title that didn't make it in, the rock's eyebrow face, etc. No mercy had to be the most solid pro wrestling game EVER created.

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  3. thanks for the tips and information..i really appreciate it.. Watch Wrestling

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