There once was a time when WWE-licensed games were some of the highest-rated in the entire industry, earning widespread critical acclaim and selling millions of copies. Interest in the titles has waned in the last decade, especially after WWE 2K20, but the early SmackDown and SmackDown vs. Raw games were all critical darlings. And then there’s WWF No Mercy, which stands out as one of the most popular wrestling video games to this day.
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WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64 is often held up as the perfect example of how to make a professional wrestling game. Part of the reason why it was so popular at the time of launch was due to how it would surprise the player, either through its twisting storylines for each championship pursuit or through surprises on its roster. Whereas most modern wrestling games either have all the wrestlers unlocked from the start or require players to purchase them as DLC, WWF No Mercy had secret, unlockable wrestlers that players had to earn in-game, and this lent itself particularly well to the Royal Rumble game mode.
WWF No Mercy Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble match, for those who may be unfamiliar, is traditionally a 30-man battle royal where entrants enter one at a time. Eliminations occur when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope and both feet touch the floor. The Royal Rumble has been a cornerstone in the WWE for decades, serving as one of the company’s “big four” pay-per-view events and standing out as one of its most popular match types.
One of the reasons why the Royal Rumble is so popular with wrestling fans is its unpredictability. While WWE fans may know the majority of the wrestlers that will be featured in the Rumble, there are usually surprise entrants that they don’t see coming. This hasn’t been replicated well in recent WWE game, likely due to licensing issues, but it’s something that WWF No Mercy handled perfectly.
As some may recall, WWF No Mercy’s secret characters could appear in the Royal Rumble. So someone could be playing a Royal Rumble in WWF No Mercy, expecting only to see members of the actual roster, and then all of a sudden have a surprise wrestler like Andre the Giant run down to the ring, complete with an up-close camera shot. This made the WWF No Mercy Royal Rumble matches feel as unpredictable as the real deal.
WWE 2K22 could learn from this, using secret characters in the Royal Rumble to make it so fans don’t know exactly what to expect whenever they play the mode. There will be a number of legends in WWE 2K22 that would be perfect for something like this, but it seems like they will simply be part of the main roster with players not having to do anything to unlock them as playable characters. It’s likely far too late to change anything about that at this point, but if WWE 2K22 doesn’t lift this idea from WWF No Mercy for its Royal Rumble mode, perhaps next year’s game will.
WWE 2K22 launches March 11 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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