WWF Attitude

WWF Attitude
Cover art of WWF Attitude featuring (clockwise from top left) Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, The Rock, and Mankind
Developer(s)	Iguana West
Publisher(s)	Acclaim Sports
Platform(s)	Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Dreamcast
Release date(s)	Game Boy Color ^NA June 1999 ^EU 1999 Nintendo 64 ^NA July 31, 1999 ^EU August 9, 1999 PlayStation ^NA July 31, 1999 ^EU 1999 Dreamcast ^NA November 10, 1999 ^EU 1999
Genre(s)	Professional wrestling, Fighting, Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

WWF Attitude is a professional wrestling video game based on the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) released by Acclaim Entertainment in 1999 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. A slightly enhanced port of the game was later released for the Dreamcast, as well as a handheld version for the Game Boy Color. The game is named after the WWF's then-current "Attitude" marketing campaign, with the tagline "Get it!" also being used on company programming during that period.

The game is the sequel to WWF War Zone and is the last WWF game to be published by Acclaim. The WWF signed a deal with THQ later in 1999, ending a long relationship with Acclaim that began with WWF WrestleMania. Acclaim then signed a deal with Extreme Championship Wrestling, producing two games using the same game engine, ECW Hardcore Revolution and ECW Anarchy Rulz.^[1]

Gameplay

D'Lo Brown, Kane, and Mankind face off in a Triple Threat match.

Gameplay from WWF War Zone was for the most part retained. Players execute wrestling maneuvers by grappling with an opponent then entering a sequence of motions and buttons presses. On-screen life meters indicate how close a wrestler is to defeat, with the meter turning red when a small amount of health is left. The previous edition's "Challenge Mode" was replaced by a Career Mode which allowed a player to wrestle as a WWF superstar. The player first starts wrestling on house shows winning matches to work their way up to RAW, then Pay-Per-View events and eventually getting opportunities to challenge for the European, Intercontinental and WWF championship titles. New match types were also added, including the First Blood and the I Quit Match.^[2]

Features added since WWF War Zone include a Create-A-Stable mode and a Pay-Per-View mode, which allows players to set up their own wrestling event - a series of matches, the name of the event, and an arena. The game includes a customizable arena option, including the ability to edit the color of lights, ring ropes, turnbuckles, and logo on the side of the ring.^[3] WWF Attitude also features the audio commentary, provided by Shane McMahon and Jerry Lawler.

Create-A-Wrestler mode was expanded with original entrance music, as well as superstar nicknames with unique commentary and crowd chants for each name.^[4] Vocals for the original entrance themes were provided by Road Dogg of The New Age Outlaws, a popular wrestler at the time of the game's release who would frequently show off his mic skills during events.

The Game Boy Color version of the game is slightly different from its home console counterparts, using passwords as a way to save a player's progress.^[5]

New Match Types

The game featured a lot of new match types which were unique at the time of release. Many of them featured as extra options, allowing up to 2 extra stipulations on matches.

• Triple Threat - A regular match with 3 participants. The first one to meet the win conditions won the match.
• Triangle - Similar to a Triple Threat, but meeting the win conditions only eliminates one participant. The match ends when all other participants are eliminated.
• Fatal Four Way - A regular match with 4 participants. The first one to meet the win conditions won the match.
• Fatal Four Way Elimination - Like Fatal Four Way, but all opponents must be eliminated to win.
• Handicap - A match with 3 or 4 participants. Most of the participants are aligned to battle 1 singular opponent. This can be '1 vs 2', '1 vs 3' or '1 vs Tag' (where the advantaged team works within tag team match rules.
• Toughman - Adds an Elimination rule to the handicap match, requiring the disadvantaged player to eliminate all of his opponents.
• Gauntlet - A match with up to 6 participants. Player 1 must beat 4 other opponents, one after another. Alternatively, Player 1 must use his tag team to beat 2 other tag teams, one after the other. The match ends when Player 1 is defeated, or has beaten all challengers.
• Stable - A match for 4 teams. One member of each team begins the match. When someone is pinned or is submitted, they are eliminated from the match, and then the next member of their team continues the match. Once all four members of one team has been defeated, the entire team is eliminated. The final team remaining wins the match.
• Battle Royal - A Fatal Four Way Elimination match in which the only win condition is to throw all other opponents out of the ring. This is done by performing an Atomic Whip or a Body Slam when the opponent is stunned.
• Falls Count Anywhere - The match can be won by pin attempt outside of the ring. Ring out counts are disabled.
• "I Quit" - Similar to Falls Count Anywhere, the match can only be won with a submission attempt.
• TKO - A player is automatically defeated if his health bar is completely depleted.
• Last Man Standing - A hardcore match. The only way to win is to knock out your opponent. This can only be achieved if the opponent is lying stunned on the ground, and is left untouched. If the count reaches 10 before they recover, they are defeated.
• 2 out of 3 Falls - Once the win conditions are met, the winner is awarded 1 point and the match continues, with the loser gaining a health boost. The first person to win 2 points wins the match.
• Iron Man Match - When someone meets the win conditions, they score 1 point. The match continues with the fallen receiving a health boost. The person with the most points when the time limit expires win the match.
• Finishers Only - This match is won when a player performs the Finisher move.
• First Blood - Opponents are defeated by causing them to bleed from their head or midsection.
• Royal Rumble - A battle royal for 30 participants. The match begins with just 2 participants, as more are added at regular intervals. This continues until 4 men are in the match at one time, and no new participants will enter until someone else has been eliminated. The match ends when 29 of the 30 participants are eliminated. The last person remaining wins the match.
• King of the Ring - A tournament made up of 7 matches in all, for 8 participants. Each match winner advances in the tournament while losers are removed. The overall winner must win 3 matches to win the tournament. In single player mode, this allows no rests in between matches.
• Survivor Series - A tag team match with 4 participants on each team. It starts like a regular tag team match. Once someone is defeated, they leave the area and are replaced with another team member. All 4 members of the opposing team must be defeated to win.

This game sees the return of Tag Team, Tornado, Cage and Hardcore matches.

Development

Acclaim added full superstar entrances to the game, improving over the short entrances from War Zone. Match commentary was recorded by Jerry "The King" Lawler and Shane McMahon. Instead of the commentators talking about each of the wrestlers before the match like on War Zone, each wrestler now has a set of pre-match taunts.^[6]

Originally, the game was to include fictional jobbers that players would face early on in the Career Mode. For unknown reasons, the fictional jobbers were removed from the game; however, their voices, ring attires, and entrance theme songs remain accessible in the Create-A-Wrestler mode.^[7]

Though not playable in the game, The Hardy Boyz provided the motion capture for the moves. The intro included a dedication to Owen Hart, who died shortly before the game's release and was featured in the game as a playable character. Although Owen was a "heel" prior to his death, his playable character is a "face" in honor of him. His death delayed the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions from its initial release of June 1999, likely to remove his Blue Blazer outfits as seen in early screenshots. The dedication is absent in the Dreamcast version.^[2] As of 2015, Attitude is the last WWF game to feature Owen as a playable character (several games since have featured deceased characters).

The Dreamcast version was released several months after the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games, around the same time as THQ's first WWF game WWF WrestleMania 2000^[8] and features improved graphics compared to its PlayStation and Nintendo 64 counterparts, with higher-resolution texture maps and a better animated, less pixelated crowd.^[9]

Reception

Reception

Review scores Publication Score Dreamcast GBC N64 PS AllGame [10] N/A [11] [12] EGM 7/10[13] N/A 8.25/10[14] 8/10[15] GameFan 40%[16] N/A N/A N/A Game Informer 8.5/10[17] N/A 9.25/10[18] 9/10[19] GamePro [20] N/A [21] [22] Game Revolution B[23] N/A N/A A−[24] GameSpot 6.8/10[9] 6.1/10[5] 8/10[6] 8.1/10[7] GameSpy 4.5/10[25] N/A N/A N/A IGN 8/10[2] N/A 8.7/10[3] 8.3/10[26] Nintendo Power N/A 6.3/10[27] 7.4/10[28] N/A OPM (US) N/A N/A N/A [29] Aggregate score GameRankings 59%[30] 62%[31] 74%[32] 79%[33]

The PlayStation version received "favorable" reviews, while the rest of the console versions received "mixed or average" reviews according to video game review aggregator GameRankings.^{[33][32][31][30]} The PS version was also a bestseller in the UK.^[34]

As part of the promotion for the game, some stores offered a free 'WWF Attitude' edition memory card to people who pre-ordered and then bought. The device would already have a save file for the game on it. The only content in the save file was two pre-made custom characters based on Turok the Dinosaur Hunter and Shadowman. The Shadowman character was very heavily based on the Undertaker character already in the game, and Turok was based on Edge.

See also

• WWE '13 – a later Attitude Era-themed game

References

1. McLaughlin, Rus (November 12, 2008). "IGN Presents the History of Wrestling Games (Page 4)". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
2. Dunham, Jeremy (November 9, 1999). "WWF Attitude Review (DC)". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
3. Boulding, Aaron (September 1, 1999). "WWF Attitude (N64)". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
4. IGN staff (August 6, 1999). "Personalized Attitude". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
5. Gerstmann, Jeff (January 28, 2000). "WWF Attitude Review (GBC)". GameSpot. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
6. Gerstmann, Jeff (August 13, 1999). "WWF Attitude Review (N64)". GameSpot. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
7. Gerstmann, Jeff (August 4, 1999). "WWF Attitude Review (PS)". GameSpot. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
8. "WWF Wrestlemania 2000 - Nintendo 64". IGN.
9. Gerstmann, Jeff (November 2, 1999). "WWF Attitude Review (DC)". GameSpot. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
10. Licata, Jonathan. "WWF Attitude (DC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
11. Baize, Anthony. "WWF Attitude (N64) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
12. Williamson, Colin. "WWF Attitude (PS) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
13. "WWF Attitude (DC)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 2000.
14. "WWF Attitude (N64)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
15. "WWF Attitude (PS)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
16. Mosquera, Fernando "Lagi" (November 9, 1999). "REVIEW for WWF Attitude (DC)". GameFan. Archived from the original on March 4, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
17. Fitzloff, Jay (January 31, 2000). "WWF Attitude (DC)". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 9, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
18. McNamara, Andy; Fitzloff, Jay; Reiner, Andrew (September 1999). "WWF Attitude (N64)". Game Informer (77). Archived from the original on March 1, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
19. McNamara, Andy; Fitzloff, Jay; Reiner, Andrew (September 1999). "WWF Attitude (PS)". Game Informer (77). Archived from the original on May 20, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
20. Scary Larry (November 25, 1999). "WWF Attitude Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 12, 2005. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
21. The Freshman (September 25, 1999). "WWF Attitude for N64 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on November 6, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
22. The D-Pad Destroyer (1999). "WWF Attitude Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
23. G-Wok (February 2000). "WWF Attitude Review (DC)". Game Revolution. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
24. Bodzilla (August 1999). "WWF Attitude (PS)". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
25. Fragmaster (November 17, 1999). "WWF Attitude". PlanetDreamcast. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
26. Perry, Douglass C. (August 5, 1999). "WWF Attitude (PS)". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
27. "WWF Attitude (GBC)". Nintendo Power 121: 113. June 1999.
28. "WWF Attitude (N64)". Nintendo Power 124. September 1999.
29. "WWF Attitude". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 1999.
30. "WWF Attitude for Dreamcast". GameRankings. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
31. "WWF Attitude for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
32. "WWF Attitude for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
33. "WWF Attitude for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
34. "UK Playstation sales chart". Official UK PlayStation Magazine (51). November 1999.

External links

• WWF Attitude at MobyGames
• WWF Attitude (Game Boy Color) at MobyGames