Joe King
Title: WCW .vs. The World
Platform: Playstation
Developer: Asmic Ace/AKI Corporation
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: February 28th, 1997
The predecessor to the best-selling N64 title, WCW .vs. nWo World Tour, was the Playstation only release of WCW .vs. The World. This was the first WCW video game developed by the AKI Corporation and published by THQ.
WCW .vs. the World features various modes including League Challenge, Best of Seven, Exhibition, Elimination Match, Tournament, League Match, and Double Title Match. Such modes are predominantly characteristic of Japanese pro wrestling as opposed to American customs being that the game engine was first released in Japan several months earlier as Virtual Pro Wrestling. It was also the first wrestling game to feature a “Create A Championship Belt” option that you can name and then defend against other players. The game featured a grappling system to perform basic moves and a special “Spirit” meter in which a player would build up in order to be able to execute each wrestler’s signature & finishing maneuvers. Each featured wrestler performed 30-40 moves including signatures, finishers, and taunts.
In League Challenge Mode, you have to compete against wrestlers from different organizations from all over the world. A special character is unlocked after defeating each boss. Each organization or “League” featured their own roster of wrestlers along with their own unique ring/arenas to compete in. The Leagues featured in the game are:
• WCW
• Empire Wrestling Federation
• Samurai Wrestling Federation
• Dead or Alive
• Independent Union
• Neo Strong Wrestling
It was the first video game with the WCW license and featured some of your favorite and top superstars of the time including: Ric Flair, Hollywood Hogan, Sting, Lex Luger, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Jeff Jarrett, & The Steiner Brothers. It also featured over 50 playable wrestlers from across the world that were given different names due to licensing restrictions. These names included both current wrestlers and legends of the past such as: Road Warrior Hawk, Tiger Mask, Great Muta, Akira Maeda, Antonio Inoki, Atsushi Onita, TAKA Michinoku, Bruiser Brody, Stan Hansen, Gary Albright, Hayabusa, Scott Norton, Masahiro Chono, Sabu, Terry Funk, and many more. It also included popular MMA fighters from Japan at the time as it featured: Bas Rutten, Akira Maeda, Yoji Anjo, Masakatsu Funaki, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki, & Ken Shamrock. The following is the complete roster of playable wrestlers.
World Championship Wrestling
• Chris Benoit
• Dean Malenko
• Eddy Guerrero
• The Giant
• Jeff Jarrett
• Hulk Hogan
• Lex Luger
• Ric Flair
• Rick Steiner
• Scott Steiner
• “Lord” Steven Regal
• Sting
• Ultimo Dragon
Unlicensed Roster
• 200 Wins (Yoji Anjo)
• Abispa (Jushin “Thunder” Liger)
• Akira (Akira Maeda)
• Bad Blood (The Great Muta)
• Bear Breath (Gary Albright)
• Billy Gaijin (Scott Norton)
• Black Belt (TAKA Michinoku)
• Black Ninja (The Great Sasuke)
• Blackheart (Tarzan Goto)
• Bolt Jamison (Kensuke Sasaki as Power Warrior)
• Chono (Masahiro Chono)
• The Count (Stan Hansen)
• Dakota (Hiroshi Hase)
• David Harley (Sabu)
• Dojo (Shinya Hashimoto)
• El Borador (Hiroyoshi Tenzan)
• Fujigami (Tatsumi Fujinami)
• Grizz Lee (Bruiser Brody)
• Habanero (Hayabusa)
• Jaguar (Tiger Mask)
• Kaiji (Yoshiaki Fujiwara)
• Kapuna (Toshiaki Kawada)
• Kim Chee (Koji Kitao)
• Konaka (Shiro Koshinaka)
• Le Masquerade (Mil Mascaras)
• Mad Oahu (Riki Chōshū)
• Major Tom (Terry Funk)
• Moma (Nobuhiko Takada)
• Mongol (Keiji Muto)
• Mongrel (Jumbo Tsuruta)
• Mukluk (Kensuke Sasaki)
• Overdose (Road Warrior Hawk)
• Puchteca (Atsushi Onita)
• Saladin (Genichiro Tenryu)
• Sam Song (Kenta Kobashi)
• Samoa (Giant Baba)
• Shanghai (Karl Gotch)
• Shaolin (Jinsei Shinzaki)
• Sherlock (Ken Shamrock)
• Siberia (Steve Williams)
• Steel Talon (Antonio Inoki)
• Thunder Dome (Bas Rutten)
• The Turk (Dynamite Kid’s body with Vader’s moves)
• The Unknown (Super Delfin)
• Uraki (Masakatsu Funaki)
• Wu Fang (Mitsuharu Misawa)
• Yamagiwa (Kazuo Yamazaki)