Way Back Whensday

I'm joining the WBW wagon as started by my loving GF, The Ashes. Click the banner to go check out her site. Or rather, since my only reader is her, HI ASHES!

Well here's what happens next, I join in on the party! I'm a little late to the party seeing as she (you) have quit the whole blogging thing. I've been neglecting this whole blog for quite a while. I'll be honest I never got into it. I'm not going to be leaving it alone though. Probably just going to post more short and themed posts.

I'm going to be doing this WBW thing a bit differently. It's classic gaming time foooooools!

WAY BACK WHENSDAY
WWF No Mercy - N64

It was 2000. The year that changed everything... like the numbers 19 to 20... and not much else I guess. Anyway, my friends and I had loved the game Wrestlemania 2000 which had come out the previous year. Compared to the WWF games on the PS1 at the time it was a giant golden goose egg. Let us not forget that wrestling was basically at it's peak and it was the obsession of all my friends. The "F" was still there, it was the 'Attitude Era', and the focus was still firmly on The Rock, Steve Austin, and Mick Foley. Combining the juvenile action of wrestling with the flashy, twitchy excitement of video games was the pinnacle of excitement at the time. Sorta.

The game featured an up-to-date roster and revolutionary gameplay. In fact the game is still considered one of the most revered combat systems in wrestling games to this day. Modern games simply lack the FUN that No Mercy had in bucket loads. Four player gameplay made for exciting CHAOS! Royal Rumble matches between four friends quickly became shouting contests as we continuously threw each other over the rope. I could never forget the contests we had for the in game championships, hotly contested, which became bragging rights at school.

No Mercy was based on a Japanese game, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, so it included all the moves that belonged to the wrestlers in that game. These moves were WAY beyond the tame crap they were putting on in America at the time. From crazy high-flying stunts to head dropping death bombs, it was jaw dropping stuff that helped introduce all of us to the Puroresu scene. The Burning Hammer was my CAWs finishing move, and the Emerald Fusion was the legendary CAW Andoras Nirdu's finisher.

The in depth Create-a-Wrestler, or CAW, system added to the overall experience. Creating a character and pitting him, and his extensive moves, against your friends CAW led to epic feuds. Just ask my friend Joe, who had a long standing feud with "The House" Andoras Nirdu. The game allowed for individual parts of the clothing to be colored, rather than the entire thing being on a palette slider. It was by far the best wrestling game in the last 10 years, with only King of Colosseum II coming anywhere close to having as strong a package.

Fame is like a drug, and drugs are like a drug.
- Homer Simpson