WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw
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''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' (also known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 6'' in Japan) is a
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
video game developed by
Yuke's Yuke's Co. Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. It was established on February 26, 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi. The company is best known for developing the ''WWE'' video game series, based on the professional wrestling promo ...
and published by
THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...
for the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
on November 2, 2004, in North America. It is the sixth installment of
professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within ...
World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
(WWE)'s
video game series This is a list of video game franchises, organized alphabetically. All entries include multiple video games, not counting ports or altered re-releases. 0–9 *''1080° Snowboarding'' *''1942'' *'' 3D Ultra Minigolf'' *'' 3-D Ultra Pinball'' *'' ...
, the sequel to 2003's ''
WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain ''WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain '' (known as ''Exciting Pro Wrestling 5'' in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for PlayStation 2 in North America on October 27, 2003. It is the sequel to ...
'', and the first game to be released under the ''SmackDown! vs. Raw'' title. The game series was rebranded after the introduction of the
brand extension Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off. Organizations use this ...
which divided WWE's roster into two brands, the latter brand in the game's title being named after WWE's weekly ''
Monday Night Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show features character ...
'' program. ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' was succeeded in 2005 by '' WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006''.


Gameplay

The game is largely similar to its predecessor, but adds some key features. Several new gameplay features are introduced, including pre-match and mid-match
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
s. The pre-match mini-games are randomly chosen before every singles match and include a test of strength, a stare down, and a shoving match. Several mid-match mini-games include the chop battle, and a spanking mini-game for female wrestlers in bra and panties matches. The meter mechanic from the chop battles are retained, but the player must perfectly time the button press three consecutive times to win. The ability to sustain a submission till the count of 5 once a rope break had been reached was also implemented. The game features several arenas based on pay-per-views held by WWE in 2003 and 2004, as well as arenas based on each weekly WWE television show. Also added to the game was the Clean/Dirty system, which influenced each wrestler's tactics. Players can choose if the wrestler is clean, dirty or neutral. A clean or dirty wrestler has a unique meter that can be filled up by performing special clean/dirty actions or moves. ''WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw'' also includes a redone WWE PPV (Pay-Per-View) mode from its past games where the player can play sample PPVs based on real life match cards from 2004, or create a PPV of their own by booking matches and choosing match types with any superstar, legend or created superstar in the game. Created championships could also be waged in the created PPVs. Before playing the PPV, the game would show a generic highlight reel featuring two of the superstars in the main event of the show. Play-by-play commentary was also improved, with the commentary beginning to improve and sync up with the matches more. The game also featured an all-new Create-a-Championship mode, in which the player can create and defend the title in their created PPVs. The game also includes the Create-A-Wrestler mode from previous games where the created superstar's movesets, attributes, entrances, and brand could be customized. The create mode was improved from the previous game. Stables could also be created featuring any wrestler and entrances could also be customized. A new Challenge mode provides gamers with opportunities to challenge themselves at different difficulty levels. In addition, several challenges put gamers in memorable matches from the past and beating these challenges will help unlock alternate attires and arenas. ''SmackDown! vs. Raw'' was also the first installment in the series to feature an online mode, but only Single or Bra & Panties matches can be played.


Reception

The game has a score of 80/100 on review aggregator
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The game received a "Platinum" sales award from the
Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie) is a non-profit trade association for the video game industry in the United Kingdom (UK). Ukie was founded in 1989 as the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), then chang ...
(ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


Accolades


See also

*
List of professional wrestling video games The following is a list of wrestling video games based on professional wrestling, licensed by promotions such as WWF/WWE, WCW, ECW, NJPW, TNA, AAA, and AEW. Promotion-based games All Elite Wrestling Video games by professional wrestling pro ...
*
List of fighting games Fighting games are characterized by close combat between two fighters or groups of fighters of comparable strength, often broken into rounds or stocks. If multiple players are involved, players generally fight against each other. Note: Games are ...
*
List of WWE 2K Games video games The ''WWE 2K, WWE'' series (currently branded as ''WWE 2K''; and formerly known as ''SmackDown!'', ''SmackDown vs. Raw'', or simply ''WWE'') is a series of professional wrestling video games based on the American professional wrestling promotion ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2004 video games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation 2-only games Video games developed in Japan WWE SmackDown video games WWE video games WWE Raw video games THQ games Yuke's games Professional wrestling games ca:WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009