WWF No Mercy vs WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain-AKI Comparisons

[@MR.__G]

Love both these games. They are my childhood / teen years. I will always give the nod to here comes the pain. The game just offers more which it should since it was on a better hardware. The ability of having 6 players alone surpasses it for me. Nothing more fun than having 6 players play backstage brawl, tlc, hell in a cell, elimination chamber, survival elimination, triple threat tag tornado, royal rumble.. I can’t even put into words how much fun that was. The grappler system was perfect, the reversal system was perfect, the move animations felt devastating, full entrances were great, story mode was incredible, the limb meter was great, CAW was amazing.. the one nod I’ll give to no mercy was having 4 presets for each wrestlers.

[@beanomac3126]

It was tough to put down Here Comes the Pain after capturing footage. Tough to fit everything in as well. So I totally understand!

[@EliteEasyE]

Man would love that 16 grapple gimmick in the next AEW Game. Love the RPG elements in the HCTP story mode, too. They could do all lf Daily's place the way they did MSG in HCTP along with the subway station underneath as well as a couple of the surrounding blocks. I know it was due to hardware limitation, but I love the intros using in-game models. Figjt Forever sorely missed modes like Survival and Slobberknocker. They even have a built in name considering Taz's version is a Rocketbuster. The 2K games CAW suite is overwhelming. And exactly copy of the No Mercy's Smackdown Mall CAW with a catchy song on loop would be perfect. Got to be able to change and add finishers freely like Day of Reckoning.

[@Sam_XNE997]

If there's one thing I wished HCTP took from No Mercy, it's the weight detection system. In No Mercy, if a light heavyweight tries to lift a super heavyweight, it'll fail unless you button mash, which will lead to a more dramatic bump. In HCTP, it'll invariably fail, forcing you to resort to non-lifting moves. It didn't bother me much that it was cut in SVR 2008, and wasn't brought back until WWE '13 where it was made optional.

[@beanomac3126]

I think they did it best around the WWE 13 games. I liked that instead of having to memorize move sets it just gave you alternative moves. Although you'd still have the option for lifting moves that worked so I fell they didn't quite get it right with the move options.

[@jonbourgoin182]

You should make a deep dive video into the cancelled Backlash game that AKI was working on as a sequel to No Mercy. I think they cancelled it because the N64 was too close to the end of its run and the GameCube was about to release. If you think about how revered No Mercy is, who knows how much better Backlash could have been.

[@beanomac3126]

It could've been great, unless they removed a bunch of stuff to add in more things. That said though, sadly Backlash was just a myth. A former THQ Producer named Sanders Keel debunked it on a few podcasts. The best we can hope for is RetroRandyPrice someday.

[@rdpruett88]

In choosing between these two, I'm most likely gonna go with No Mercy cause I'm more familiar with it and nostalgia reason. I wish when I had a PS2 I could've given HCTP a try. Didn't start playing the PS2 WWE games until SD vs Raw 06

[@beanomac3126]

Here comes the pain I think was actually my first wrestling game. I remember getting it for Christmas but I was way too young to even try and play it. Had to wait a year until Smackdown vs Raw and the handed down N64 games.

[@MR.__G]

Dude you missed out. There was nothing like having 2 multi taps and playing 6 players. The backstage brawls were the best here, elimination chamber was always a must play, 6 man tlc, 6 man hell in a cell. The chaos and fun I had with my friends with this game is something I haven’t replicated since

[@rdpruett88]

@MR.__G or Get the diamond aka Hardcore invitational

[@beanomac3126]

@@MR.__G there's a lot of great and sadly forgotten 6 man matches from this era of games. Captain Falls, 2 on 2 on 2 hardcore/table/ladders, time limit title, 3 on 3 tables, and more. It's sad how small the options got over time.

[@MR.__G]

@@beanomac3126 I believe the latest 2k has those matches besides the fun backstage brawl and 3 stages of hell. I think it would be fun to make a tag team 3 stages of hell. Just makes for more fun and chaos lol

[@nobleone89]

I always thought it was A.K.I. Not “Ah-Key”

[@BlueCat98]

Great comparison man!! Everything said here is absolutely true! I love both games, and I played these games to death, and I still enjoy them to this day! Man, you think you could throw in the WWE GameCube games into this mix (if you haven't already)? I am also a huge fan of the WWE GameCube games (barring WM X8, I don't talk about that one lol) 🔥

[@beanomac3126]

@@BlueCat98 I definitely am gonna compare the Day of Reckoning series to AKI titles in the future. I haven't played WrestleMania 18 yet though.

[@MidnightPodcastGaming]

Alexa Bliss swallows.

[@beanomac3126]

Nice? 😂

[@mattcaporuscio6956]

Of course everyone swallows water

[@MidnightPodcastGaming]

@@mattcaporuscio6956 Not water.

[@SupercatTheBazingalinga]

How was Rob Van Dam a rising star considering what he had done in ECW?

[@beanomac3126]

Even though he could've been a main eventer at the time in WWE, he was still an upper mid carder at the time I feel.

[@tylerking9831]

To me it depends on what era of wrestling you prefer i think HCTP is the better game cause im a fan of the ruthless aggression era obviously i do like no mercy & a good amount of the attitude era in general tho

[@beanomac3126]

That makes a lot of sense. If you watched both though like me, it's still a tough decision. But I love Smackdown v Raw 2006 and 2007 more because that's when I started watching the WWE for the first time on weekly television.

[@Ant2423]

No Mercy had better gameplay but HCTP had more match types and no mode today is better then the old season modes where we had the option to play as a establish wrestler or create a wrestler and losing a match or decision you make can change your path which gives HCTP more replay value. If No Mercy had the season the like HCTP it would be the best game hands down, I can’t believe the new games don’t add season back and get rid of my career smh

[@beanomac3126]

@@Ant2423 games are just too big nowadays. Not enough development time anymore and no time for new ideas that doesn't involve micro transactions.

[@Ant2423]

@ AEW was the closest thing we got but that fell short as well I even got it for the switch to try to get a nostalgia feel but it didn’t work lol, I at least still have a ps2 to play the smackdown games

[@beanomac3126]

@Ant2423 just goes to show that even with series veterans, and a large team with lots of time, it's not easy to make a modern wrestling game in today's market. Kenny Omega as the head was likely messed it up. It sounds like he wanted to keep adding little things that would take a lot of development time. For as much as people, myself included, complain about modern titles, there is a lot of modes, arenas, characters, creation options in modern WWE games. So it's a tall task to stand up to it. They say though that Fight Forever was just the first in their series. Hopefully they can be bigger and more focused for a sequel.

[@J4ckiiiiedits]

HCTP is better imo

[@beanomac3126]

What do you enjoy most about Here Comes the Pain?

[@daniellewolf3697]

HMM

[@Mike-t5r9q]

For me personally No Mercy is better but Here Comes The Pain is amazing too its a close second for me

[@beanomac3126]

@@Mike-t5r9q yeah its definitely a close call. There's good reason these are the standards for wrestling gaming legend!