''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' (subtitled ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 6'' in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game developed by

Yuke's Yuke's Co. Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. It was established on 26 February 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi. The company is best known for developing the ''WWE 2K, WWE'' video game series, based on the professional wrestling ...

and published by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initi ...

for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

on November 2, 2004 in North America. It is the sixth installment of

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWE)'s

video game series This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *''3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *''7 ...

, the sequel to 2003's ''

WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain ''WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain '' (known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 5'' in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for PlayStation 2 in North America on October 27, 2003. It is the sequel to ...

'', and the first game to be released under the ''SmackDown! vs. Raw'' title. The game series was rebranded after the introduction of the

brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this ...

which divided WWE's roster into two brands, the latter brand in the game's title being named after WWE's weekly ''

Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show fe ...

'' program. ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' was succeeded in 2005 by ''

WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006'' (subtitled ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 7'' in Japan), is a professional wrestling video game and developed by Yuke's that was released on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable by THQ in 2005. It is part of the ' ...

''.

Gameplay

The game is largely similar to its predecessor, but adds some key features. Several new gameplay features are introduced, including pre-match and mid-match

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

s. The pre-match mini-games are randomly chosen before every singles match and include a test of strength, a stare down, and a shoving match. Several mid-match mini-games include the chop battle, and a spanking mini-game for female wrestlers in bra and panties matches. The meter mechanic from the chop battles are retained, but the player must perfectly time the button press three consecutive times to win. If the player does so, a cut scene of the two female wrestlers kissing is played. The ability to sustain a submission till the count of 5 once a rope break had been reached was also implemented. The game features several arenas based on pay-per-views held by WWE in 2003 and 2004, as well as arenas based on each weekly WWE television show. Also added to the game was the Clean/Dirty system, which influenced each wrestler's tactics. Players can choose if the wrestler is clean, dirty or neutral. A clean or dirty wrestler has a unique meter that can be filled up by performing special clean/dirty actions or moves. ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' also includes a redone WWE PPV (Pay-Per-View) mode from its past games where the player can play sample PPVs based on real life match cards from 2004, or create a PPV of their own by booking matches and choosing match types with any superstar, legend or created superstar in the game. Created championships could also be waged in the created PPVs. Before playing the PPV, the game would show a generic highlight reel featuring two of the superstars in the main event of the show. Play-by-play commentary was also improved, with the commentary beginning to improve and sync up with the matches more. The game also featured an all-new Create-a-Championship mode, in which the player can create and defend the title in their created PPVs. The game also includes the Create-A-Wrestler mode from previous games where the created superstar's movesets, attributes, entrances, and brand could be customized. The create mode was improved from the previous game. Stables could also be created featuring any wrestler and entrances could also be customized. A new Challenge mode provides gamers with opportunities to challenge themselves at different difficulty levels. In addition, several challenges put gamers in memorable matches from the past and beating these challenges will help unlock alternate attires and arenas. ''SmackDown vs. Raw'' was also the first installment in the series to feature an Online mode; however, only Single or Bra & Panties matches can be played.

Reception

The game received a "Platinum" sales award from the

Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was originally founded as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), and the ...

(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Critical

The game received a score of 80/100 on

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Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links