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WCW Mayhem (video game)
Encyclopedia
WCW Mayhem is a professional wrestling
video game by Electronic Arts
, which shares its name with a World Championship Wrestling
pay-per-view event
. The first WCW game produced by EA, it was released for PlayStation and Nintendo 64
in 1999 and for the Game Boy Color
the following year.
The game featured several firsts for a wrestling title. For instance, Mayhem was the first game to feature all twelve WCW pay-per-view
venues as well as all three major WCW TV shows
(Nitro
, Thunder
, and Saturday Night
). Mayhem was also the first wrestling game released in the United States
to include backstage areas, a feature which would be expanded upon in its sequel
, WCW Backstage Assault
. It was also one of the first wrestling games to integrate audio commentary provided by Bobby Heenan
and Tony Schiavone
; although, only Schiavone was included in the N64 version despite some of his lines being addressed directly to Heenan. The game was also originally going to be the first story-based wrestling video game. This idea, however, was later abandoned due to time restraints.
Mayhem also featured a Pay-Per-View mode which was unique from other wrestling games, in that the player could enter a code to unlock real-life pay-per-view match lineups; these codes would be given on Monday Nitro broadcasts the week before a pay-per-view. However, this only lasted for three months (ending with the pay-per-view of the same name), as the games' roster was outdated soon after its release, with several of the featured wrestlers leaving the company. The game was partially sponsored by Surge soft drinks at the time of game release.
, WCW's main competitor, the World Wrestling Federation
(WWF), ended a twelve year relationship with Acclaim Entertainment
by defecting to THQ. Not wishing to share game publishers with its competitor, WCW ended its successful run of THQ titles by partnering with Electronic Arts in 1999.
Mayhem's working title was WCW/nWo Mayhem, as evidenced by early photographs featuring wrestlers wearing shirts with an older Mayhem logo
. The game was promoted for months on WCW TV
, including a counter which appeared on programs such as Monday Nitro and Thunder, counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to Mayhem's release on August 31, 1999. A clip was even shown of Goldberg
's character in a house environment spear
ing someone through a wall but the move and the house area were not seen in the final game.
A sequel to this game, tentatively titled WCW Mayhem 2 was planned for release on the PlayStation 2
in 2001. The game was slated to be developed by Aki Corporation
, the developers of acclaimed WCW and WWF
titles for the Nintendo 64. However, due to WCW being purchased by the WWF, the game's development was canceled. Aki would instead develop Def Jam Vendetta
for the next generation of consoles. Work on WCW Mayhem 2 began mainly in response to the failure of WCW Backstage Assault.
and lack of diverse movesets. Rotten Tomatoes
gives WCW Mayhem a 58%, and Metacritic
gives the game a 60 out of 100 reviews, which are average ratings. In addition, many felt the much-touted create-a-wrestler mode was below average.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
video game by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, which shares its name with a World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
pay-per-view event
WCW Mayhem
Mayhem was a professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by World Championship Wrestling and held in the month of November in 1999 and 2000. It is noted for being the first wrestling pay-per-view named after a video game, rather than the video game named after a pay-per-view.- 1999 :Mayhem 1999...
. The first WCW game produced by EA, it was released for PlayStation and Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
in 1999 and for the Game Boy Color
Game Boy Color
The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than...
the following year.
The game featured several firsts for a wrestling title. For instance, Mayhem was the first game to feature all twelve WCW pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
venues as well as all three major WCW TV shows
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
(Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
, Thunder
WCW Thunder
WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001...
, and Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...
). Mayhem was also the first wrestling game released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to include backstage areas, a feature which would be expanded upon in its sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, WCW Backstage Assault
WCW Backstage Assault
WCW Backstage Assault is a professional wrestling video game by Electronic Arts. It was the final World Championship Wrestling game released before the company was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation . Backstage Assault features commentary by Tony Schiavone and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan...
. It was also one of the first wrestling games to integrate audio commentary provided by Bobby Heenan
Bobby Heenan
Raymond Louis "Ray" Heenan , better known as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , is a former American professional wrestling manager and color commentator, best known for his time with the American Wrestling Association , World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation...
and Tony Schiavone
Tony Schiavone
Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone is an American sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League...
; although, only Schiavone was included in the N64 version despite some of his lines being addressed directly to Heenan. The game was also originally going to be the first story-based wrestling video game. This idea, however, was later abandoned due to time restraints.
Mayhem also featured a Pay-Per-View mode which was unique from other wrestling games, in that the player could enter a code to unlock real-life pay-per-view match lineups; these codes would be given on Monday Nitro broadcasts the week before a pay-per-view. However, this only lasted for three months (ending with the pay-per-view of the same name), as the games' roster was outdated soon after its release, with several of the featured wrestlers leaving the company. The game was partially sponsored by Surge soft drinks at the time of game release.
Background
After failing to match the success of WCW's video games amidst the Monday Night WarsMonday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in a...
, WCW's main competitor, the World Wrestling Federation
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(WWF), ended a twelve year relationship with Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
by defecting to THQ. Not wishing to share game publishers with its competitor, WCW ended its successful run of THQ titles by partnering with Electronic Arts in 1999.
Mayhem's working title was WCW/nWo Mayhem, as evidenced by early photographs featuring wrestlers wearing shirts with an older Mayhem logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
. The game was promoted for months on WCW TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, including a counter which appeared on programs such as Monday Nitro and Thunder, counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds to Mayhem's release on August 31, 1999. A clip was even shown of Goldberg
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL Draft....
's character in a house environment spear
Spear tackle
A spear tackle is a dangerous tackle in rugby union, rugby league and Australian rules football whereby a player lifts another player into the air and dumps or drops them upside down...
ing someone through a wall but the move and the house area were not seen in the final game.
A sequel to this game, tentatively titled WCW Mayhem 2 was planned for release on the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in 2001. The game was slated to be developed by Aki Corporation
Aki Corporation
syn Sophia, Inc., formerly AKI Corporation, is an independent video game development studio located in Kichijōji, Tokyo, Japan. The company is most well known for its popular wrestling games in the late 1990s and early-mid 2000s, such as WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF No Mercy, and Def Jam: Fight for NY....
, the developers of acclaimed WCW and WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
titles for the Nintendo 64. However, due to WCW being purchased by the WWF, the game's development was canceled. Aki would instead develop Def Jam Vendetta
Def Jam Vendetta
Def Jam Vendetta is a professional wrestling video game that combined hip hop with pro wrestling. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It was Electronic Arts' first attempt at a wrestling game since the widely-panned WCW Backstage Assault...
for the next generation of consoles. Work on WCW Mayhem 2 began mainly in response to the failure of WCW Backstage Assault.
Reception
Upon its release the game got above average reviews. However, critics did cite the game for its poor collision detectionCollision detection
Collision detection typically refers to the computational problem of detecting the intersection of two or more objects. While the topic is most often associated with its use in video games and other physical simulations, it also has applications in robotics...
and lack of diverse movesets. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives WCW Mayhem a 58%, and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gives the game a 60 out of 100 reviews, which are average ratings. In addition, many felt the much-touted create-a-wrestler mode was below average.