Nintendo and violence has had a strange and fascinating history. We know Nintendo as the creators of family-friendly videogames featuring lovable characters and joyfully accessible games. Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Yoshi and Wario all have their own share of beloved Nintendo adventures, but they're all mired within Nintendo's beautiful and wholesome vision. The Nintendo GameCube very much carried this vision, and accelerated the arcade-level accessibility that made Nintendo a household name.
Now take this vision, and swap out your beloved Mushroom Kingdom stars and replace them with sweaty professional wrestlers in their underwear performing strikes and grapples, as well as hitting each other with steel chairs, kendo sticks and 2x4s wrapped in barbed wire-Mick Foley must be very proud, him in his flannel shirts and probably licking barbed wire like it was a sharp-tasting and skin-nicking lollipop.
Nintendo gained prominence for their wrestling games with the N64 and their standout titles WWF WrestleMania 2000 and WWF No Mercy, both of which accrued astronomical success, although No Mercy was the more popular, polished and all-round better game and is considered one of if not the greatest wrestling game ever forged by man.
No Mercy and WrestleMania 2000 came along at a time where the wrestling business was at an all-time high, with The Attitude Era and its incomparable storylines and superstars bringing in a whole-new level of excitement to the WWF product that was never before seen. However, what is most compelling is not the axiomatic successes of these excellent N64 wrestling videogame juggernauts, but what was to come in the next generation of Nintendo exclusive wrestling games.
The Nintendo GameCube, this writer's personal favourite console, and the home to a litany of forgotten relics. This lunchbox-like system may not have been as powerful as its competitors the Playstation 2 and the original Xbox, but the games were vast and exciting-though these WWE games on the Nintendo GameCube were a curious lot.
Throughout its life cycle, the Nintendo GameCube played host to four wrestling games (and no WWE Crush Hour doesn't count), and it would appear as though history has a fairly hard time remembering any of them. WWF WrestleMania X8, WWE WrestleMania XIX, WWE Day of Reckoning and WWE Day of Reckoning 2 all released on the Nintendo GameCube between 2002 and 2005, but unlike their N64 brethren, they all seem to be regarded as middling in the grand tapestry of wrestling videogame history. Why could this be? Is it because they lacked outstanding gameplay modes and matches, or was it because you couldn't defend WWE championships in exhibition mode, or didn't they have great single-player story or career mode offerings?
Let's take a look at each of these titles and extract what was right and what was wrong with all of them, so that we can find an answer as to why they aren't celebrated by history.
WWF WrestleMania X8: Stone Cold Stale
First out of the gate was WWF WrestleMania X8, the last game under the WWF banner before they got the F out and replaced it with an E. WrestleMania X8 which launched on June 2002 in North America, and was based around the WWE pay-per-view of the same name, which took place months earlier. The cover art featured Attitude Era icon Stone Cold Steve Austin, NWO legend and arguably pro-wrestling most iconic figure Hulk Hogan in his Hollywood Hogan getup, and you had one of the most adored ECW and WWE superstars Rob Van Dam. This cover featured NWO-style black and white, and it looked very sharp and very promising from an abstract standpoint-though Stone Cold gives you the kind of look you'd expect if you stole a pack of his beers.
Game modes in WrestleMania X8 were ambitious in their attempts to inspire engrossing single-player engagement. Much like WWF: No Mercy's Championship Mode, Path of a Champion mode allows you pick any WWF superstar and chase one of the coveted championships be that the European, Intercontinental, Tag-Team and of course the WWF championships. Unlike No Mercy though, there are no story cutscenes, no storylines, and no set-ups whatsoever, the mode is merely comprised of a batch of matches strung together, and you've got to win them all in order to advance.
There's no surprise that a vanilla mode like Path of Champion would lead to a tepid reaction from players and critics. To give the mode some credit, it will keep you busy on achieving your goals of winning a WWF championship, and the fact all the titles are open to keep for from the off makes it open and accessible.
The other mode Battle For The Belts is a little more ambitious, but is essentially the same as Path of Champions but with custom championships instead of the real deal. Unlike Path of Champions, the matches become progressively harder as you try to win all 51 belts, so once again it's a mode without story or context, and is instead predicated on busywork.
Clearly the emphasis with WrestleMania X8 is to provide challenge offerings, which may occupy a lot of time, but the stale back-to-back-to-back match routines are hardly exciting, no matter how many championships you can vie for or match types you're embroiled in.
On the subject of match types, WrestleMania X8's offerings are both coherent and commendable. Singles, tag-team, triple threats, fatal 4 ways, and handicap matches are all accounted for, but the zesty stipulations including Hardcore, Iron Man, Hell In A Cell, Cage, Table, Ladder, TLC, Battle Royal and Royal Rumble do a serviceable amount to show improvements from WWF No Mercy on N64.
Gameplay is disappointingly rigid, lacking the fluidity and personality No Mercy had, but it's also riddled with dismaying A.I inconsistencies. There exists peculiarities in the way the A.I behaves, for instance they'll hit hit their finisher, but then afterwards hit an elbow drop or leg drop, and then cover you for a one count! They may hit you and miss, then start climbing the cage in a steel cage match as well! The sloppiness of the A.I isn't quite as bad as WrestleMania 21 on the Xbox, but it's still very jarring.
The moves and general impact don't hit different like they did in previous Nintendo WWF games either. Moves look very basic and don't offer a true sense of awesomeness. The moves look decently animated though, even if the superstars on the end of finisher can look ramrod stiff afterwards, and that voice that exclaims SUBMIT! Is very dry, as if the voice actor returned from delivering soundbites in the WWF: Just Bring It main menu screen.
Overall, WWF WrestleMania X8 was passable, but a far cry from what wrestling videogame fans had been accustomed to from Nintendo on the N64. Gone is the sense of character, the story mode, and the personality that a wrestling game should always try to strive for, and in its place is a dull trudge through uninspired single-player modes and shoddy A.I, although the match types, move animations, and the challenges could keep players entertained. Nobody expected the Nintendo GameCube's first WWF game to be so mediocre and vanilla, but unfortunately that was the case and it left fans questioning and wondering what would come next.
WWE Wrestlemania XIX: The Next Big Thing?
Next up was WWE WrestleMania XIX, a shiny and golden sequel to WrestleMania X8 (ok not that shiny and golden, but it was definitely better than WrestleMania X8), which featured new modes, superstars and match types. On the cover this time were three posing superstars including Kurt Angle, The Rock, and returning from WrestleMania X8's cover (with a look that wonders whether you're going to steal his beer), Stone Cold Steve Austin. The cover as mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, is lovely and golden, indicative of the grandeur of WrestleMania. This entry unlike its predecessor, is very ambitious and the risks it took and ideas it had made it a better game than X8, so let's delve into it!
Revenge Mode is the brand new mode for WrestleMania XIX, and it's bonkers but admirably so. In this mode you can pick any superstar on the roster except Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon, and take revenge on the latter for firing your ass.
Now, when someone gets fired (or released from the WWE, as you can't get fired if you're an independent contractor), you usually go and find somewhere else to work and peacefully get on with your life.
Not so in WrestleMania XIX, you want to stick it to V-Mac, but the help you are rewarded with comes from a very unlikely place-Vince's daughter! Yes you read correctly, Stephanie McMahon wants revenge on her daddy too, so you and her concoct a plan to sabotage Vince's mega creation WrestleMania. The assumption is Stephanie is jealous that Vince sees WrestleMania as his greatest creation instead of her, so she works with you to enact revenge on him.
So what does revenge in Revenge Mode entail? If you said wrestling in a bunch of matches with a storyline heading towards a blow off WrestleMania extravaganza against Vince himself-you'd be very wrong! Well, actually the latter part is true, but for the most part, you'll do all you can to dismantle Vince's WrestleMania operations by beating up security guards, created wrestlers, and wrestlers hired by Vince inside of varied environments such as a construction site, a shipment barge, and a mall. Crazy is one word to describe Revenge Mode, but at the time and in hindsight, Revenge Mode was completely refreshing because it was an unexpected and audacious change to situate a mode almost-entirely outside of the wrestling ring. Some may find the mode to be too much like a fighting game and less-like a wrestling game, and all those security guards you need to beat up on will wear thin very thin by the time you finish, but the risks and the story inherent within Revenge Mode are worth applauding.
Game modes on WrestleMania XIX are for the most part, exactly the same as they were in WrestleMania X8. The only significant new match type is King of the Ring mode, which can pit up to 32 superstars into a tournament with or without a championship at stake. Although you might be disappointed with the absence of glowing new matches, there's a crisper experience underneath the surface.
Sound effects are crunchier, the visuals while perhaps leaning too heavily on the cartoon-like look sharp, and the overall presentation is more alluring than its predecessor. The pop of WrestleMania XIX gives it a distinct flavour, and out of all 4 of the WWF/E games on the GameCube, it's the most pleasingly and unashamedly unique.
Roster-wise, WrestleMania XIX is good solid all-rounder, with many of the top superstars represented at the time. Not only do you have the expected inclusions of The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Triple H, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho and others, but you've got debuting juggernauts from WCW like Scott Steiner and Goldberg added into the fray. Some surprising mid-card talent turns up too like Chris Nowinski, Lance Storm and Test. There are only 45 WWE superstars included, but 20 created wrestlers from Revenge Mode pump up the final tally to 65.
Gameplay in WrestleMania XIX is arcade-like, which serves its purpose well because of the game's existence on a Nintendo console. There are decent sound effects with a crisp thuds you can hear once you perform a devastating finishing move. Tables and ladder matches can be quite irksome because the A.I can quite easily collapse either of them, even when they're not directly targeting you, i.e, they're grappling another wrestler in a multi-man match. Cage matches can also end way too quickly as you're able to ascend and climb over without any resistance-unless of course your opponent is actively near the cage and attempting to grab and pull you down. Nevertheless, WrestleMania XIX is enjoyable and different in a way that should be admired rather than scoffed at.
Oh, and before we conclude, there's a Shopzone option and a clad Stacy Kiebler plays host, so yes you can ogle at that in-game model all day if you like unless your mum enters the room. It's also worth mentioning the entrance creator features were ahead of their time in WrestleMania XIX because you can set the pyro and lighting, and create a particular mood for your custom superstar.
Given the arcadey flourishes and the risks it takes to abandon a traditional story mode for Revenge Mode, WrestleMania XIX should be looked upon fondly because it tried to do something new. Sure, it's encased inside a troublesome game engine, and there's not enough new in terms of match types to excite, but if you want a wrestling game from the early 00s that strikes out and dares to be different from its contemporaries, then WrestleMania XIX really isn't a bad one to take take for a Spinarooni-though Booker T will have to say something about that....something along the lines of "can you dig it, sucka?" Or "tell me he didn't just say that!"
WWE Day Of Reckoning: Oh You Better Recognize This Reckoning
Now we turn our attention to 2004's WWE: Day of Reckoning, a true and thorough upgrade on what came before, and heck it might actually be the best game of the four (though its sequel can very much argue its case for that distinction). Day of Reckoning overhauled the WrestleMania games, coalescing into something that truly stated that GameCube wrestling games can be really good, and thus Day of Reckoning proves this unequivocally.
One of the newest and most-demanded features that fans had been craving for years beforehand is the story mode. No longer will you need to sift through stale challenge modes, nor the marmite take-it-or-leave-it Revenge Mode from WrestleMania XIX. The story mode in Day of Reckoning has you creating a character and rising through the ranks from house shows to the WWE/ World Heavyweight Championship. The story branches off depending on whether you pick the RAW or the Smackdown story. On the RAW brand you'll be given the distinct honour of joining Evolution, while on Smackdown you'll be accepted as part of The New Ministry.
Although you'll be reading the text boxes throughout both of these stories, their uniqueness and the road to championship supremacy is very well done. Sure, it's smaller and less eventful than the Here Comes The Pain and Smackdown vs. Raw storylines, but the emphasis on creating a superstar and taking him through his path to glory is really enjoyable stuff, and it showed that WWE games on GameCube were evolving and providing the fans what they want.
From a presentation standpoint, Day of Reckoning looked like a significant step up from the cartoon-like superstar models of WrestleMania XIX. They look chunkier and lavished in details that make it look almost PS2-like visually. The impact of wrestling moves sound exacting and thudding, which is a brilliant aesthetic, and the animations for all the moves are awesome. In some ways, Day of Reckoning looked like it had taken cues from Here Comes The Pain due to how refined it looks and feels to play.
The roster is strange and missing key superstars, and the women's roster is woefully undersized. While there are welcome unlikely superstars who made the roster like The Basham Brothers, Val Venis, Garrison Cade, Mark Jindrak, Charlie Haas, Lance Storm and Rhyno. However, the peculiar absences of JBL, Farooq (although he had retired by the time DoR came out), The Dudley Boyz, Paul London, Rico, Tyson Tomko, The Hurricane, Rosey, Jamie Noble, Rene Dupree, Maven and Scotty 2 Hotty. The likes of Scott Steiner, Test, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar are forgivable seeing as they left WWE months before the game's release, but the roster could've been weightier.
What isn't forgivable and is frankly unacceptable, is that Day of Reckoning only included FOUR WOMEN ON ITS ROSTER!!! It's atrocious that only 4 female WWE superstars made the Day of Reckoning roster, especially when the Bra and Panties Match has been debuted in the game. This dinky female roster is a bigger disgrace than when Goldust gave Goldberg a wig and put it on him! Mind you, Victoria's dancing gyrations for her entrance are award-winning compared to the slim Divas roster.
Fortunately there are a few legends among the roster like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Brutus Beefcake and The Rock. Like the roster in general, the list of legends is undersized, but it's good to see their inclusion regardless.
Besides the Bra and Panties Match (which was also in Here Comes The Pain), there are no other new match types added, which does make Day of Reckoning feel more archaic than what the PS2 WWE Smackdown games were offering. However, the matches are still plenty of fun to play because of the physics engine and raft of improvements to the gameplay, allowing it to feel like a league above WrestleMania X8 and WrestleMania XIX.
The creation suite in Day of Reckoning was really impressive for its time as well, as there were many options to tweak your opponents' look to suit your preferences. Outfits and hairstyles were plentiful, and unlike WrestleMania XIX's garish-looking blank slates, in Day of Reckoning they look just as good as everybody else on the DoR roster, so that is a massive improvement.
In general, WWE: Day of Reckoning was a really solid improvement on prior installments, and is the best of the Gamecube wrestling games up to that point at least. THQ et al did a fantastic job implementing a reworked engine and providing an involved and well fleshed-out story mode. Yes, the lack of Divas and only one new match type dampens its otherwise mighty grip, but you cannot deny that Day of Reckoning was a different and better game, leaning further towards the quality of WWF No Mercy rather than settling for mediocrity. For Nintendo WWE fans, Day of Reckoning was an absolute treat, and has withstood the test of time despite containing less content than its competition.
WWE Day Of Reckoning 2: A Reckoning Return
The following year, Day of Reckoning 2 came and was sadly the last Nintendo exclusive WWE game-but they certainly gave us a memorable one to go out on! Featuring a well-rounded roster, the best graphics and physics seen in a Nintendo wrestling game, and continuing the momentum of the original Day of Reckoning, Day of Reckoning 2 is every bit as good of a wrestling game as the previous entry.
Day of Reckoning 2 looks utterly fantastic, let's not deny this. The graphics and the facial and muscular details are really impressive for the Nintendo GameCube's hardware capabilities. Batista in particular, looks as imposing and dominating as he is in reality, and that's quite a feat for sure. Likewise, the arcade pummeling with piston-like strikes is impressively brutal, and watching the A.I tumble and roll due to the ferocity of those lightening punches and thunderous whacks is truly satisfying and will make you feel like a brazen brawler every single time.
Admittedly, Day of Reckoning 2 doesn't feel like a radical departure from Day of Reckoning. There are no new match types to get excited about, with the omission of the Elimination Chamber once again being a particular sour point. At least the roster while still relatively small, features many superstars that didn't turn up in Day of Reckoning like JBL, Rene Dupree, The Hurricane and Paul London. Somehow, Day of Reckoning 2 like the original, still only features 4 divas, which is very baffling, but at least it's no worse than before. At least Stacy Kiebler can perform a move where she flaunts her behind in front of her opponent before blowing her opponent away with a huge fart......seriously, look it up!
Meanwhile, new roster additions like Eugene, Muhammad Hassan, Orlando Jordan, Gene Snitsky and Heidenreich are pleasing and provides DoR2 with an up-to-date roster that satisfies.
The Story Mode of Day of Reckoning 2 continues the same beats as its predecessor, which includes chasing the world title and trying to recover it when some miscreant or miscreants stole it. Your created superstar gets blamed for stealing the belt, is fired, loses his girlfriend Stacy Kiebler, and has to claw his way back to the top from starting at the bottom. Luckily Smackdown GM Theodore Long picks you up and dusts your shame off by giving you an iron clad Smackdown contract. The story does kinda echo the Revenge Mode of WrestleMania XIX, only more epic and without security guards and construction sites.
The new stamina system gives matches in Day of Reckoning 2 a grittier vibe. Ensure you don't over-expend your energy in matches otherwise you'll slow down and your movements will become more sluggish. All-out wars in the ring are more gratifying with this new system, along with the way blood is incorporated-ensuring that there are opportunities to engage in grueling and extreme back-and-forth matches.
Whilst WWE: Day of Reckoning 2 doesn't do a whole lot to evolve what the original Day of Reckoning brought to the table, Day of Reckoning 2's refinements are appreciable, and they truly enhance what came before. The story mode is exciting, the matches are more satisfying than ever, and the graphics and general presentation are the best they've ever been on the Nintendo GameCube. The original still did a lot more to elevate GameCube's reputation when it comes to wrestling games, but Day of Reckoning 2 complements it very well.
And That's The Bottom Line
As you can tell from delving into each Nintendo GameCube WWF/WWE experience, there are gradual improvements made with every new entry, and each of them are very interesting and experimental. Yes, none of these GameCube titles are as big and epic as any of the PS2 Smackdown games, but these titles did their own thing and gave Nintendo fans satisfying arcade-style wrestling nourishment in a way that hit differently.
You may not consider any of these titles bona-fide classics, but they surely made an impact, and they gave us interesting story and challenge modes that helped to distinguish them from their competition. No matter how much time has passed, each of these titles are worth a good look and showed that the GameCube put up a solid fight even though it was ultimately defeated by greater competition.