The Good
WWF No Mercy is by far of the best wrestling titles made. Building off the very nice engine used for the WCW Titles, THQ and AKI have made significant improvements to the already solid game engine they have been using.
The best improvement gameplay wise is the ability to move around the ring while holding your opponent in a grapple hold. This allows for improvising in many different ways. Another improvement is that weapons no longer just disappear after you drop them like in previous N64 wrestling games. Weapons can be dropped, thrown, and picked up again and again for insanely brutal hardcore matches.
WWF No Mercy's greatest strength lies in its Story Mode. Not just one but all of 7 of WWF's (at the time) titles can be competed for and won in their own unique storylines that often times involve choices and new outcomes depending on weather you win or loose matches. These storylines reflect all the drama that took place in the WWF in those days and was a great way to experience WWF in all new ways. The absolute highlight is that after you win the title you can play story mode again, only this time as the reigning champ in a brand new story. These multiple stories expand greatly on No Mercy's already winning formula.
The Bad
The game's largest problem comes from the fact that it will try your patience to no end. Often times in Story Mode players are tasked with winning a Handicapped Match where loosing is not an option, which can lead to multiple bouts of frustration followed by verbal of abuse of the user's television set.
There were also a significant number of cartridges that were shipped with a pretty bad bug: at Random the game will reset all of its stored data. This is very frustrating because all of your titles, characters, and any changes you made in the game are wiped from the memory resulting in a very long and painful quest to get back everything you unlocked.
Add in minor issues such as lag during tag matches, entrances that are cut short, and sometimes tough as nails opponents and you can see where No Mercy shows the draw backs of its age.
The Bottom Line
While No Mercy is arguably one of the best wrestling video games made, it isn't without its draw backs. The story mode can get intense and at times very unfair resulting in hair pulling frustration. But for those looking for a wrestling game that offers hours of replay, tight gameplay, and one of the best wrestling game experiences on the N64 and quiet possibly out of any game system to date.
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