WWF Smackdown! PSOne Love

[The Clonus Horror]

So, I just popped in the original WWF Smackdown for PSOne, having not played it since about 2000. All I can say is FUN! Holy $%^* has the series become PONDEROUS to play since Smackdown vs. Raw 2006. I've always been a fan of arcade style wrestlers. I would have to say my favorites in this series are the first two and Here Comes the Pain for PS2. Anyone else have any thoughts? I'm just pleasantly re-surprised by how much fun this (now) simple game still is and wanted to share my joy in the one place where I will not be pummeled (I put my 360 in the closet and just kept the PS2 hooked up...I may be tempted when Left 4 Dead 2 comes out, otherwise I'm just holding out for Bioshock 2).

[DreadIsReal]

I completely agree, I love the old style Smackdown game play. It was much better back then. I also love Royal Rumble for the Dreamcast, almost identical game play and having eight or how ever many people in the ring at the same time was awesome, I really miss that style of wrestling games.

[Cloud121]

Indeed. Smackdown 5 (Here Comes The Pain) is the best game in the series, and is STILL my all-time favorite wrestling game. Hell, I was so hyped for that game, I cut class the day it came out to play it. First time I've ever done that.

My first Smackdown game was Smackdown 2. I bought for my PSX back in September 2001, and my buddy bought a PSX plus SD2 a month or so later. We had a ton of fun making up our own storylines for our created wrestlers.

I still have my save data from 2001. Unfortunately, my friend sold his PSX stuff late 2003 when he got an Xbox.

Good times.

[Arcade_Ness]

Oh hell yeah I love the old school Smackdown! games. I still dig the first one I played(either Smackdown 1 or 2) where you can play an endless season with your CAWs. I remember spending hours making CAWs and testing them out. Man that brings back some fond memories.

[CelticJobber]

Having been spoiled by WWF No Mercy on N64, I never really liked the Smackdown series until it became less arcadey with the SVR games.

I love the dual analog controls of the more recent games in the Smackdown Vs. Raw series though.

[8-bitNesMan]

I remember having a lot of fun with the Royal Rumble mode on the original Smackdown. Makes me long for the glory days of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock :)

[alec006]

Ah yes the Smackdown! games one of the reason I actually got a PS2 to play them. I do miss the "catch phraise" games where it was actually fun to create CAW's and see them walk down that long ramp to the ring. Seriously now days,i mean Smackdown Vs Raw then add the year to the title,I mean how uncreative is that?! And the classic arenas,sadly only the original Smackdown! games have the classic Raw Is War arena in its pixeled glory,and anything after Just Bring It has the fist area,which I seriously miss now days, I also miss the Ovaltron arena,I wish they would include it in the newer games let alone let you create your own arena! Its sad the way wrestling is going now days,I mean the whole PG policy,guess that means no more hardcore matches,not like there were hardly any since the attitude era ended. Bring back the fist,the ovaltron and the WWF Raw Is War towers,seriously bring back the fun!!

[The 1 2 P]

The reason why the PS1 Smackdown games were so fun was because their engine was the same as the Japanese import wrestling series Touken Retsuden. Now those(1-3 on PS1) were some fun wrestling games. And so was the Smackdown series. The only thing missing from the first two Smackdown games was wrestler audio and commentator dialogue but the Touken Retsuden games had both(TR1 was missing wrestler dialogue if I remember correctly).

[kupomogli]

Smackdown 1 and 2 owned. The only games that could stand a chance against WCW/NWO, Revenge, WWF 2000, and WWF No Mercy.

I've played one of the WWE Smackdown vs Raw games. I think 2006 with Vince Mcmahon on the front cover? I hated the game in comparison. Never using the instruction manual to find out how the buttons have changed etc, didn't know how to get into anything but weak grapples and didn't know how to counter anything.

With the return of a one button counter system on Smackdown vs Raw, I hope it's close to the Smackdown counter system. I loved having a special up fighting, then end up countering, kicking, then your special owns the hell out of them.

[SamuraiSmurfette]

OMG I spent probably a whole summer re-creating Street Fighter Characters in Smackdown 2.
I'm sure I still have it on a memory card somewhere...
I had Ken, Ryu, Akuma, Cammy, Vega and Blanka. Maybe some others. I forget them all now.
Even programmed all the moves and everything.
It was glorious.
One and only wrestling game that's ever captivated me.
I'm a not a wrestling fan at all.

[nickerous]

I still play Here Comes the Pain. Played it last night, matter of fact.

[Az]

The reason why the PS1 Smackdown games were so fun was because their engine was the same as the Japanese import wrestling series Touken Retsuden. Now those(1-3 on PS1)

My apologies for being a complete dick, but weren't these based on the Japanese Simple 1500 Series wrestlers rather than TR?

I know Yukes did them both, but the Simple 1500 Series is virtually the same game with different textures and altered character models.

[Nirvana]

Oh my. I have such a history with the Smackdown games.

I played the first Smackdown at a friend's house after his birthday party; this was like back when I was 9 years old (Damn...the series has been going on for a decade o_O) and I absolutely loved the game. My brother worked at Best Buy at the time so I would always use the free rental for Smackdown. Played the hell out of it, I went through season with Jericho because his moveset was amazing.

Smackdown 2 took up a lot of gameplay in my life. It was just so damn amazing with it's 60+ roster and it's revolutionary at the time create a wrestler system. Even though you were only able to make 10 characters, I always managed to make unique creations, originals or even real wrestlers. Not to mention, since I didn't get a PS2 when it came out, I spent even more time with this game, as I wasn't able to buy Just Bring It. I just played it a lot at a friend's house.

Shut Your Mouth was incredible, I thought the series was really heading into the right direction. I absolutely loved the game, but then Here Comes the Pain came out...my God, my friends and I still have epic Triple Threat Tornado Tag Ladder matches. That's the most fun match ever. Incredible game, as you were able to have 32 created characters, I believe. Wrestling enthusiasts always complain about how unrealistic the game is, but I didn't give a damn. It was fast, just the way I like it. Great game.

Smackdown vs Raw is when the game really started to branch off. I actually consider it a different series o_O I really think they took a turn for the worse when I played it. I enjoyed it, but the game was just slower and not as fun. It was the last Smackdown game I bought, until...

...this year! I figured I'd buy this year's Smackdown, just because I felt like I needed a wrestling fix. I absolutely love the game. There are some things that need to be tweaked, such as the manual targetting system. However, the gameplay is faster and I do like the one button reversal system, because unlike the original one button reversal system from the first three Smackdowns, you actually can't just mash the button to reverse. It takes precision to reverse things.

I know this isn't what you asked for, but the hours the Smackdown games took away from my life is incredible.