WCW/nWo Live (lost build of cancelled PlayStation professional wrestling game; 1998)
Poster for WCW/nWo Live when it was the original title for the Nintendo 64 game WCW/nWo Revenge.
Status: Lost
WCW/nWo Live was a cancelled professional wrestling game based on professional wrestling organisation World Championship Wrestling. Developed by Yuke's, it was set to be published by THQ as a PlayStation exclusive in late-1998.
Background
Initially, this PlayStation professional game was not originally given the name WCW/nWo Live. Instead, it was titled WCW/nWo Revenge, which is the name attached to a Nintendo 64 game released in late-1998. This confusion can be explained by the fact that the N64 game and the PlayStation title swapped names during development. Indeed, one poster promoted the former under WCW/nWo Live. During development, it was decided that the N64 game would be renamed WCW/nWo Revenge, whereas the PlayStation title would get the WCW/nWo moniker. It is unknown why THQ, who was set to publish both games, decided to swap the names around.[1]
Development
According to a GameSpot article, the development of WCW/nWo Live was based around New Japan Pro Wrestling's Toukon Retsuden 3, which was a Japanese-exclusive PlayStation title released in March 1998.[2] This connection is strengthened further by the provision of screenshots which actually came from Toukon Retsuden 3. The game would include over 30 wrestlers, half of which represented WCW or nWo, while the remainder consisted of Japanese wrestlers. The game included detailed customisation options, allowing the player to create a wrestler with the ability of changing their height, weight, clothes, hair, and tattoos, as well as specifying their moves and rants.
GameSpot also mentioned that signature finishing moves and licenced entrance music would be incorporated in the ambition towards making the game realistic. It also noted that the game ran at 60 frames per second, even when in four-player mode.[3]
Cancellation
During the game's development, it was announced THQ had decided not to renew its licence to publish WCW games.[4] Therefore, Electronic Arts signed a five-year deal with WCW to release wrestling titles from 1999 onwards.[5] Thus, there was limited time for THQ to publish WCW games, and had attempted to prepare WCW/nWo Live for a late-1998 release. Ultimately, THQ could not meet its deadline, causing the cancellation of the game. Nevertheless, after THQ signed a contract to publish games from the World Wrestling Federation, it began to rework its cancelled game that would maximise the usage of the WWF brand. Thus, THQ would release WWF SmackDown! in March 2000, which harnessed the Toukon Retsuden 3 engine.[6]
Availability
It is unknown how far into development WCW/nWo Live reached prior to cancellation, but based on the information provided by GameSpot, significant progress seemed to have been made. However, no build of the game has ever publicly resurfaced, and because the screenshots all came from Toukon Retsuden 3, no images nor footage of the game are currently accessible either.
See Also
- AJ Styles vs Kenny Omega (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2006)
- Alberto Del Rio vs CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs John Cena (partially found master tape footage of untelevised Hell in a Cell match; 2011)
- Awesome Kong vs Melissa Anderson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2009)
- Bill Longson vs Whipper Billy Watson (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1947)
- Blood Circus (partially found Santo Gold film; 1985)
- Braden Walker's "Knock Knock" promo (lost original pre-tapes of WWE backstage segment; 2008)
- Bradshaw vs Christian (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 2001)
- Bret Hart-Hulk Hogan photoshoot (lost professional wrestling promotional photos; 1993)
- Bret Hart vs Tom Magee (found untelevised professional wrestling match; 1986)
- Catch-As-Catch-Can Wrestling (lost early BBC televised professional wrestling matches; 1938-1939; 1946-1947)
- Celebrity Wrestling (partially found ITV professional wrestling reality show; 2005)
- Chowdaheads (partially found unaired professional wrestling cartoon show; 1999)
- Collision in Korea (found professional wrestling event in North Korea; 1995)
- Collision in Korea wrestler sketches (lost North Korean pencil sketch portraits of professional wrestlers; 1995)
- Cultaholic (found debut video of professional wrestling YouTube channel; 2017)
- ECW Anarchy Rulz (lost build of cancelled Nintendo 64 port of professional wrestling game; existence unconfirmed; 2000)
- ECW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- ECW Hardcore TV final episodes (lost episodes of Professional Wrestling Show; 2001)
- FMW at E3 2000 (partially found footage of professional wrestling at gaming trade event; 2000)
- The Game (partially found Disturbed cover of professional wrestling theme song; mid 2000s)
- GFW Amped (partially found unaired professional wrestling show; 2015)
- The Giant's moonsault (lost footage of professional wrestling move; existence unconfirmed; 1990s)
- Girls Gone Wild: Live from Spring Break (found WWE/Girls Gone Wild crossover special; 2003)
- GLOW (lost unfinished final season of Netflix comedy-drama series; 2019-2020)
- Goldberg's pre-television debut matches (lost footage of professional wrestling dark matches; 1997)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1908)
- Gotch-Hackenschmidt Match Film (lost world championship match; 1911)
- Jake "The Snake" Roberts DDTs Hulk Hogan (lost Snake Pit segment; 1986)
- Johnny Gargano vs Velveteen Dream (lost footage of alternate finish to professional wrestling match; 2019)
- Kurt Angle vs Owen Hart (lost footage of professional wrestling match; 1999)
- The Last Battle of Atlanta (found untelevised professional wrestling steel cage match; 1983)
- Lita's training matches (partially found training videos of professional wrestler; late 1990s-2000)
- Low Ki & Mercury vs Ric Blade & TCK (partially lost footage of hardcore wrestling tag team match; 2000)
- Mark Jindrak in Evolution (partially found unaired vignettes of professional wrestling stable; 2003)
- Pat Tanaka vs Rocco Rock (lost footage of "Body Count" professional wrestling match; 1993)
- "Plane Ride From Hell" (lost photographs of drunk wrestler incidents; 2002)
- Radio WWF (lost professional wrestling radio show; 1993-1994; late 1990s-2000)
- Screwed: The Bret Hart Story (lost unfinished wrestling documentary film; 2005)
- Sex University (lost WWE webshow; 2006)
- Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling Gekitou Densetsu (lost build of unreleased Virtual Boy wrestling game; 1995)
- Strange Kentucky People (lost recording of Chris Jericho "tribute"; 1994)
- TNA Impact! 2 (lost build of unfinished professional wrestling game; 2009)
- TNA International and TNA Wrestling Collection (completely lost pro-wrestling TV shows; 2006)
- TNA Xplosion (partially found TV series; 2002-2016)
- WCW 2000 (lost work on unfinished PlayStation 2 game; 2000)
- WCW All Nighter (partially lost professional wrestling compilation show; 1994-1995)
- WCW Classics (partially found professional wrestling compilation show; 2000-2001)
- WCW Internet-only Special Events and PPVs (lost audio streams; 1997-1998)
- WWE 24x7 (lost professional wrestling compilation show; 2007)
- WWE Brawl (lost build of cancelled fighting game based on professional wrestling; 2012)
- WWE Crush Hour (lost build of cancelled Xbox port of vehicular combat game; 2002)
- WWE SmackDown vs Raw Online (lost build of cancelled online professional wrestling PC game; 2010-2011)
- WWE Wrestlemania 36 (lost footage of alternate finishes to professional wrestling matches; 2020)
- WWF Attitude (lost professional wrestling recap show; 2001-2002)
- WWF Backlash (non-existent unfinished Nintendo 64 professional wrestling game; 2001)
- WWF Excess (partially found professional wrestling talk show; 2001-2002)
- WWF In Your House 8: Beware Of Dog (partially found untelevised professional wrestling matches; 1996)
- WWF Livewire (partially found professional wrestling recap and talk show; 1996-2001)
- WWF No Mercy (lost Game Boy Color games based on Nintendo 64 wrestling game; 2000)
- WWF Shotgun (partially found July to December season of syndicated wrestling show; 1997)
- WWF Xperience (found pay-per-view event footage; 1996)
References
- ↑ Silicon Investor post discussing THQ swapping the names around for its upcoming Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games. Retrieved 4 Nov '21
- ↑ PSX Data Center page for Toukon Retsuden 3. Retrieved 4 Nov '21
- ↑ GameSpot's article on WCW/nWo Live, discussing its features and mentioning how THQ harnessed the Toukon Retsuden 3 to create WWF SmackDown!. Retrieved 4 Nov '21
- ↑ GameSpot reporting on THQ deciding not to renew its licence to publish WCW games. Retrieved 4 Nov '21
- ↑ IGN article reporting on Electronic Arts' deal to publish WCW games from 1999 onwards. Retrieved 4 Nov '21
- ↑ IGN article reporting on the release of WWF SmackDown!, which utilised the Toukon Retsuden 3 engine. Retrieved 4 Nov '21