''WWF SmackDown!'' (Known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling'' in Japan) is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

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'' video game series, based on the professional wrestling promo ...

and released for the PlayStation 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 ...

. It is based on the

World Wrestling Federation 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 var ...

(WWF) and is named after the company's weekly '' SmackDown!'' television program. Originally released on March 2, 2000, the game received a direct sequel released several months later, entitled '' WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role''. The first WWF game on the PlayStation to be published by THQ, ''SmackDown!'' marked the start of a long running series of WWE video games from THQ, then continued by

2K Sports 2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same ...

and rebranded as ''

WWE 2K ''WWE 2K'', formerly released as ''WWF/E SmackDown!'' and ''SmackDown vs. Raw'', is a series of professional wrestling sports video games that launched in 2000. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of professional wrestling, and mo ...

''. The game was also re-released under the

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

budget range.

Gameplay

The game's main story mode contains three main parts, first with the Pre-Season (for created wrestlers), but after ten in-game years of playing the Pre-Season, players are allowed to skip it. However, the season mode is nearly impossible to complete. By playing and advancing in the season modes players gain rewards such as unlockables or attires, but instead of unlocking new characters, players unlock new body parts to put on new creations, to play as that "unlocked" character. Once players build a creation, they must fight in a Pre-Season year to build their skills and make their alliances. Once players finish the Pre-Season, they can never replay it without deleting the custom wrestler, and friends and foes for a creation are set in stone. The story mode contains no voice-overs, instead the characters meet each other backstage with mouths that move to no voice and on-screen cutscene text. The game also lacks play-by-play color commentary. ''WWF SmackDown!'' has many match types including Single, Tag Team, Hardcore, Steel Cage and many more. The game features the late 1999 WWF roster following ''SmackDown!s premiere, including the then-newcomers

The Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team that consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley (Mark LoMonaco) and D-Von Dudley (Devon Hughes). The team was also joined by various Dudley family me ...

Development

Yuke's, the developer of ''SmackDown!'' had previously created the ''

Toukon Retsuden ''Power Move Pro Wrestling'' (NJPW 闘魂列伝 Toukon Retsuden or Furious Legend in Japan) is a video game developed by Yuke's Co., Ltd. and published by Tomy for the PlayStation. Gameplay ''Power Move Pro Wrestling'' is a pro wrestling game ...

'' series of wrestling games in Japan for

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

. Despite this, the game engine used in ''SmackDown!'' is not based on contemporary ''Toukon Retsuden'' titles, but rather ''The Pro Wrestling'', a title developed by Yuke's as part of

D3 Publisher is a Japanese video game developer and publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Ni ...

Simple series The series is a line of budget-priced video games published by Japanese company D3 Publisher, a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Entertainment. Games in the series have been developed by several different companies, including Sandlot, Success, Irem, ...

and released several months in Japan beforehand.

Reception

''WWF SmackDown!'' received "favorable" reviews according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

GameRankings. The game was a bestseller in the UK upon release, and again three months later.UK PlayStation sales chart, November 2000, published in ''Official UK PlayStation Magazine'' issue 64 The PlayStation version of ''WWF SmackDown!'' 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. Daniel Erickson reviewed the PlayStation version of the game for '' Next Generation'', rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "While not quite in the same realm as ''WrestleMania 2000'', this is the best PSX wrestler to date."

References

External links

* {{WWE video games 2000 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Professional wrestling games THQ games Video games developed in Japan WWE SmackDown video games WWE video games Yuke's games