WWF WrestleMania 2000

Developer: AKI Corporation Publisher: THQ

Released: October 12, 1999 8/10 Rated: T

The tide turns in the Monday Night War, and the video games follow suit. In spite of positive reviews and sales at the time – clearly the byproduct of the unprecedented success of the era – the superior reputation of WCW’s releases inspired a change wherein AKI Corp. and their revolutionary game engine would jump brands like so many popular acts of the time. Released hot on the heels of that summer’s WWF Attitude, WrestleMania 2000 really represents the evolutionary vibes of the company at the time, marked first and foremost with its branding. The 2000 designation and graphic design being put in place ahead of the upcoming 16th ‘Mania the following April represents a lot of the forward direction the WWF was barreling towards, whereas the still content-rich Attitude comes off as even more of a last gasp for many aspects of those first few years of the era’s car-crash TV style.

Building once again on an incredibly strong foundation – several successive iterations of the best wrestling games in history to that point – AKI’s main focus would naturally be on hitting the right notes of the rebrand. With over 50 wrestlers on the roster, the most important part of the equation is already filled in successfully. Add in an even more robust editing system that marked such an advancement from WCW/nWo Revenge the year before, and there is a lot for fans to work with, especially considering the number of assets left in from that game to easily pad the roster out with rival stars. The variety of accurate TV and Pay-Per-View sets that marked a massive improvement in making Revenge feel like a true WCW product return boasting many WWF equivalents such as Survivor Series, based on its 1998 iteration, and Monday Night Raw.

If you think of an area wherein a wrestling game needs to deliver to appease fans of its product, odds are that WWF WrestleMania 2000 brings it for an excellent representation of the company at the time. With that same addicting, easy to understand yet incredibly deep gameplay engine that had already redefined the genre for the better, there’s only so much of note in terms of gameplay evolution. A better system for countering moves is a needed improvement for more experienced players, but by and large, it’s not going to affect a large portion of the audience. Some game modes are altered or changed around. For example, handicap matches are left out, while three-way/triple threat matches and cage matches make their debut for AKI Corp. Although cage matches, for example, were previously featured in the Acclaim-developed titles, it’s their debut in such a tremendously fun gameplay experience and the AKI approach to them that makes all the difference.

Really, the only thing holding WrestleMania 2000 out of all-time classic status is that it gets followed up on so quickly with even greater, further reaching success in every aspect. Just like the WWF the success of that late-’99/early-2000 period, things would only get hotter and hotter for the WWF as AKI continued firing on all cylinders leading up to both WWF No Mercy and its Japanese counterpart, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2. For example, the main single-player mode, Road to WrestleMania, is capable of capturing your attention for hours at a time. It’s an improvement from Revenge in the sense that it’s a bit more varied than a simple fighting game style gauntlet, instead following a yearly calendar akin to what was on offer in WWF Attitude. But it still doesn’t offer much variety or intrigue unto itself, whereas No Mercy would essentially revolutionize this concept again a year later with writing and variety that adds further intrigue and variety to the single player experience. On that same note, it’s interesting to see slightly undercooked or not completely realized versions of the roster, such as Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher just before their Too Cool repackaging, or Shawn “Meat” Stasiak in his first attempt to get into the business of professional wrestling, but likewise keeps the roster from being as inscrutable as future installments.

There’s no denying that AKI Corporation can essentially do no wrong, but at the same time, there’s still time for both their company and the Federation to peak. WrestleMania 2000 can be a fun distraction and change of pace from the two releases adjacent to it, but in the end, you’ll get a slightly better and fuller WWF experience from 2000’s No Mercy, and a more complete change of scenery by revisiting WCW/nWo Revenge. You could very easily say that WrestleMania 2000 was the greatest wrestling game ever made at the time of its release, and can provide hours of fun even today, but in hindsight, you have to admit that when it came to that accolade, this game was merely a transitional champion.