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''WWF SmackDown!'', known in Japan as , is a
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
developed by Yuke's and released for the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
by THQ. It is based on the World Wrestling Federation (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 and rebranded as '' WWE 2K''. The game was also re-released under the Greatest Hits 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. 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. 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 who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley Brothers, Dudley family members, notably ...
.


Development

Yuke's, the developer of ''SmackDown!'' had previously created the '' Toukon Retsuden'' series of wrestling games in Japan for
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...
. Despite this, the
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
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 video game publisher, publisher founded on February 5, 1992. The company is known for the ''Simple (video game series), Simple'' series of budget-priced video games. Their games have been released for the G ...
's ''
Simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by John ...
'' series and released several months in Japan beforehand.


Reception

''WWF SmackDown!'' received favorable reviews according to video game
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GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
. Daniel Erickson of '' NextGen'' was positive to the controls, graphics, and game modes such as Season and Referee mode, but criticized its "shallow" arcade-like quality and create-a-wrestler mode. In Japan, however, ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' gave it a score of 27 out of 40. Lamchop of ''
GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...
'' called ''SmackDown'' better than Acclaim's '' WWF Attitude'' in terms of graphics and "speedier" gameplay, but thought that ''Attitude'' has its full commentary and character voices than the former. In another review, The D-Pad Destroyer praised the Season mode and called the title "one of the best wrestling games in the history". The game was a bestseller in the UK upon release, and again three months later. It also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 units in the UK.


Notes


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