Gamecube Day of Reckoning 1 & 2

[Doomsday519]

Weirdly enough these two games are my comfort games. Well, at least the Forbidden DOR and Expanded Roster Update versions of those games, respectively. The WWE Day of Reckoning games for the Gamecube I consider my personal favorites. Most will say No Mercy, HCTP, or if you're a super freak, Fire Pro as their all-time favorites/what they consider the best. I gravitate to those games cuz of the mix of gameplay, aesthetics, and level of chaos. Biggest flaw of those game is that they were made for the Gamecube so they weren't as packed with features like Smackdown vs. Raw and it's sequel 2006. But the superstar creation in the game allowed for a lot including floating parts making way for the freakiest created superstars. Even down to the moves in the game with the different types, strength of moves, moves you'd only see from Puroresu at the time, and even finishers where a given Superstar could have like EIGHT different ones hitting different ones from anywhere. Some of my fondest memories was playing the game with my brothers whether it be a multi-man match that would rage on forever with us constantly hitting killshots or teaming up and performing sick double team moves.

But man, I wish that series would have continued. Definitely could have squeezed out a few more years of annual releases before it was over. The AEW Fight Forever game that came out tho I enjoyed the game even with it being bare bones, one thing I wish it did differently was take pages out of the Day of Reckoning playbook instead(I wasn't the only one who thought this back then) which is mind boggling to me because that same developer made those games. They paid the Day of Reckoning/Smackdown! developer to make a AKI/Syn Sophia game. Only other games that took from the structure of the Day of Reckoning games was Yuke's Wrestle Kingdom games which I love but wish had full English translation.

Those two games were a breath of fresh air and represented an air of freedom in gameplay compared to the SVR series at the time and to me they still hold up and will forever hold up. Still holding out hope for a WORTHY spiritual successor.

 

[bjork]

I liked the N64 Revenge game, but on Gamecube I think the one I like best is the one where you're murdering a bunch of construction workers. Not sure which one that is. It's so random.

 

[Doomsday519]

I liked the N64 Revenge game, but on Gamecube I think the one I like best is the one where you're murdering a bunch of construction workers. Not sure which one that is. It's so random.

Wrestlemania XIX is the one on GC. That was actually the precursor to the Day of Reckoning series.

 

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

I had a Gamecube growing up, but I never had the DOR games. I remember renting Wrestlemania XIX, but not DOR? Weird, because I was obsessed with pretty much any and every other wrestling game at one point or another

 

[Doomsday519]

I had a Gamecube growing up, but I never had the DOR games. I remember renting Wrestlemania XIX, but not DOR? Weird, because I was obsessed with pretty much any and every other wrestling game at one point or another

Wild cuz I never played any of the GameCube wrestling games until Day of Reckoning. First time I actually played and owned Wrestlemania XIX was last year when I bought it from a local place. Only other "wrestling" game I played for that console was the Ultimate Muscle game but back then I only played the demo at Gamestop

 

[iamthemilkman]

As much as I loved the DoR games, I still think WM XIX feels the most like an AKI game out of the 3. The single player campaign is bizarre, though. You either love it or hate it.

 

[bjork]

Wild cuz I never played any of the GameCube wrestling games until Day of Reckoning. First time I actually played and owned Wrestlemania XIX was last year when I bought it from a local place. Only other "wrestling" game I played for that console was the Ultimate Muscle game but back then I only played the demo at Gamestop

I remember Ultimate Muscle feeling really... loose? Like the guys moved too fast or something. But I bet if I had any knowledge of Muscle beyond having those little figures back in the 80s, I would've loved that game. Felt like it really dove into the license and tried to flesh it out well.

 

[cutthroatcody]

If you enjoyed the DoR engine I would recommended checking out the Wrestle Kingdom games. It's a spiritual successor. The first in the series started as a 360 exclusive, but the sequel went straight to the PS2. The 1st was re-released for the PS2. Both are worth a peak.

 

[DjQuick2008]

Gonna give wrestle kingdom a bash now shortly its on the repo

 

[Doomsday519]

I remember Ultimate Muscle feeling really... loose? Like the guys moved too fast or something. But I bet if I had any knowledge of Muscle beyond having those little figures back in the 80s, I would've loved that game. Felt like it really dove into the license and tried to flesh it out well.

Yeah, the Ultimate Muscle game is 100% arcadey. I wanna say the guys moved the same or similar speed to the Def jam games as they were made by the same people. But yeah, the American adaptation of Ultimate Muscle was a gem.

Post automatically merged: Oct 31, 2025

If you enjoyed the DoR engine I would recommended checking out the Wrestle Kingdom games. It's a spiritual successor. The first in the series started as a 360 exclusive, but the sequel went straight to the PS2. The 1st was re-released for the PS2. Both are worth a peak.

I actually do play the second Wrestle Kingdom game all the time(via the Repo of course lol). Its actually something on my checklist, the opportunity to play the first game on the 360. But yeah, I love Wrestle Kingdom II. Easily top 5 for me.