WWE Day of Reckoning Feature
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 — Quintessential Nintendo Sports
THQ’s smooth-playing wrestler was a missed opportunity for Nintendo to revive its Nintendo Sports portfolio. This is part one of two, detailing THQ’s GameCube-era brawler ahead of THQ’s highly anticipated release, AEW: Fight Forever.
Technologies from previous eras hold value, sometimes more than we realize. The genius in forgotten game engines allows them to be adapted to modern consoles.
Nintendo and THQ understand this. It is why THQ and developer Yuke’s are building AEW: Fight Forever with an AKI-inspired game engine. WWE No Mercy Director Hideyuki Iwashita is advising on the project. And THQ’s reimagining of the unmistakable AKI engine is exactly what it set out to achieve with WWE Day of Reckoning 2 in 2005; a game by most accounts, that is the forgotten spiritual successor to WWE No Mercy. Maybe we just never paid enough attention.
This part one of a two-part feature argues that Day of Reckoning 2 is a quintessential Nintendo GameCube sports classic.
The Breakdown
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 was developed by Yuke’s and published by THQ in 2005 for the Nintendo GameCube. I will refer to its core game engine(s) as the Yuke's engine.
Firstly, this essay contends that if Nintendo is synonymous with simple controls and refined gameplay, THQ clearly adopts these same principles. Secondly, Nintendo sports titles from the N64 and GameCube eras deliver mechanics that are used in today’s sports games. This includes No Mercy’s grappling engine, and Day of Reckoning 2’s simulation interpretation of the grappling system thus fits perfectly at the heart of the Nintendo sports portfolio. Thirdly, I contend that THQ and Yuke’s improved the game flow for future iterations of its Yuke's engine. Consequently, AEW: Fight Forever is set to take advantage.
In conclusion, I believe that Day of Reckoning 2 is quintessential Nintendo sports. The game is anchored by a simulation take on an N64-era engine, and I opine that the game was a missed opportunity by Nintendo to revitalize its sports gaming reputation.
The Nintendo Sports Formula
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 is a classic Nintendo GameCube sports title. The spiritual successor to WWE No Mercy offers a smooth-playing sport that competes with modern-day fight games.
Nintendo is the king of gameplay. It is why we love Nintendo. The iconic software company balances simplified controls and deep learning curves. These traits resonate for many gamers, and the blueprint is why I find the classic Nintendo 64 sports titles brilliant.
Similar to Japan’s elegantly engineered bullet trains, Nintendo’s games are engineering feats in computerized form. Nintendo’s games score top marks in gameplay and design in any era or platform. The Kyoto-based developer and publisher prioritizes imagination, depth, and tact over realistic visuals.
These reasons are why Nintendo sports games can thrive as deep, rewarding sports gaming experiences. WWE Day of Reckoning 2, a Nintendo GameCube exclusive by THQ, is the prime example. DOR2 blends NFL Blitz-style hits with simulation sports gaming. It delicately balances easy controls with rewarding depth and strategy. DOR2 was trained by the N64 classics, and it performs above its weight class.
Game Design
The best Nintendo sports games deploy game mechanics that are leveraged cross-generationally. Similarly, THQ and Yuke’s are taking full advantage.
WWE No Mercy and the famous “AKI-engine,” developed 25 years ago by AKI and Asmik Ace under the direction of Hideyuki Iwashita. The unprecedented AKI-engine mastered console wrestling with an N64 controller that featured just one joystick. WWE No Mercy struck the right notes with all demographics. THQ gave gamers what we wanted and let us button-mash and throw down ring-rumbling specials all day. And the taunts. We cannot forget the taunts that amped up player charisma and tied it to the ability to perform morale-shattering moves. It is one of the first games to include emotional-based health meters in a game. Unprecedented.
Classic gameplay engines like No Mercy’s have endured because the way we play games is primarily the same — with a controller. It follows then that developers today must map controls just as they did many years ago. The control design is especially vital now as animations become more realistic. And when Nintendo GameCube launched in 2001, the controls schemes barely slipped outside of the wake of the Nintendo 64’s iconic controller. Hence, AKI’s holy trinity of grappling, striking, and submissions still has some serious juice left today. THQ and Yuke’s took full advantage in 2005 with the Yuke's engine. Moreover, they are poised to redeliver in 2022.
But even with a refreshed take on the grappling engine in WWE Day of Reckoning 2, the GameCube was never seriously considered by sports gamers. The GameCube lacked the processing power of Sony and Microsoft’s consoles. The ports from third parties were and still are afterthoughts, and consequently, Nintendo sports titles are considered lower grade because of the lack of graphical fidelity. To this day, Nintendo is not positioned in the minds of gamers as a sports gaming console. Perhaps we are making a mistake.
To that point, Day of Reckoning 2 does not feature premier lighting and graphical overlays but don’t let it fool you. There are thoughtful game mechanics hidden within. And if you like science, the game has an endless animation library with realistic movements, locomotion, and a body-weight system to simulate Newton’s laws of physics. I especially enjoy the submission system because the holds look dramatic and painful. The sim tools perform well even in 2022.
The Simcade Sweetspot
The best performing Nintendo GameCube sports games, as rated on Metacritic, are action heavy. The list is topped by Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 because all roads lead back to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and SSX 3. DOR2 somehow doesn’t make the cut but I’m including it anyway. Interestingly, all three games possess cross-cultural, international appeal. Wrestling and snowboarding resonate in various territories, particularly in Japan.
Mass appeal is not necessarily a bad thing for sports games when they play as well as these action sports games. Something that EA Sports has been attempting for years. We can categorize these games as “simcade,” as they balance simulation and arcade gameplay in varying degrees.
The one Nintendo exclusive in the group is WWE Day of Reckoning 2. I argue Nintendo’s exclusive partnership with THQ and Yuke’s should have been leveraged harder in the GameCube era. Instead, Nintendo continues today to rely on third-party sports games and lacks Nintendo sport exclusives designed with the Nintendo ethos. Whereas 989 Studios became the home of Sony’s flagship baseball game, Yuke’s DOR2 engine could have similarly been locked up by Nintendo. It was and still is a premier piece of code.
Game sales aside, WWE Day of Reckoning 2 is proof that Nintendo hardware can perform perfectly well with the right partnerships and creative direction to hit on the Nintendo simcade formula. Irrespective of the era. Yuke’s DOR2 engine has aged almost 20 years and hits with the precision of a simulation 2K Sports title, with finishers fit for arcade lovers alike.
In fact, Day of Reckoning 2 embodies everything Nintendo asks from its third-party publishers. And while the Wii Sports titles performed well, Nintendo has never bridged the gap between simulation sports fans and casual, pick-up and play sports gamers quite like WWE No Mercy. WWE Day of Reckoning 2 was a missed opportunity to carry the iconic No Mercy torch.
A Refined Grappling Engine
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 leverages its own Yuke's engine, which embodies the Nintendo formula, and moves the gameplay forward.
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 feels like an attempt to emulate what was done on N64, but on what was a new platform with more horsepower. By most accounts, the GameCube was not a strategic platform to program for, but Day of Reckoning 2 delivers potent combat sport. The game may not possess the polish of its predecessors, but Day of Reckoning 2 is a digital animation achievement. THQ and Yuke’s deliver(ed) a buttery smooth fight system. The fight choreography — the way animations play out and how the space in the ring is utilized — competes with anyone in the genre.
Moreover, THQ’s fighter is an anthology of wrestling moves. Its animation library features over 1000+ moves (unofficially, I did not count each move found in the linked video). DOR2 is more simulation than arcade — more technical than flash. I am so impressed by how it plays and the depth of its offerings, revisiting it in 2022.
Day of Reckoning 2 is a prime example of how to build — foundation up. Just as we have seen Nintendo continue to develop the same line of iconic titles, THQ and Yuke's are pursuing a similar track with Yuke's engine. Day of Reckoning 2, with its simulation-style game engine(s), plays a role in where the genre is today. AEW: Fight Forever is up next this December.
Conclusion
In summary, WWE Day of Reckoning 2 follows the recipe of WWE No Mercy and the Nintendo sports classics from the previous eras. THQ and Yuke's advanced the genre’s gameplay and the game finishes with sweet notes simulation sports gaming. Day of Reckoning 2 is quintessential Nintendo sports, and a Nintendo exclusive that the sports gaming community never truly respected. Myself included.
That’s it for part one! Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed learning about WWE Day Reckoning 2 by THQ and Yuke’s, part two will explore the Yuke’s engine(s) in more detail.
