Whatever Happened To AKI? / The Downfall Of WWF No Mercy's Creator
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- čas přidán 12. 04. 2020
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- AKI Corporation was one of the best wrestling game developers in the world - and, frankly, AKI still is the best wrestling game developer in the world. Yuke’s couldn’t compete, and 2K has ruined the WWE 2K series with WWE 2K20 - and I have no hope for WWE 2K21. But hey.
Here I take a look at AKI’s last wrestling game it ever made - based on the Kinnikuman manga/anime - as well as the dev’s previous titles like Virtual Pro Wrestling, WCW vs NWO Revenge, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, and WWF No Mercy, as well as the others. Yes, including WWF Wrestlemania 2000.
I’m sad AKI has turned into Syn Sophia and moved on, but there’s always the chance it’ll be hard at work on the as-yet unconfirmed AEW wrestling game. AEW and AKI? Makes sense to me, and it’d make AJ Styles happy along with Cody, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks, who are all delightful nerds like me. Just with bigger muscles. And more charisma. And talent. And money. Hmm.
Check out the rest of the channel: / @bransfiiiield
Sanders Keel tells a lot about the AKI situation on this podcast, right here: • Talk Shit! Episode #1 ...
WWE 2K18 glitches footage from here: • WWE 2K18 Funny Moments...
WWF Attitude footage from here: • WWF Attitude Sega Drea...
Kinnikuman Generations PSP footage from here: • Video
Kinnikuman Generations PS2 footage from here: • kinnikuman generations...
Def Jam Fight For NY The Takeover footage from here: • Def Jam® Fight For NY™...
WWE Wrestlemania X8 footage from here: • WWE Wrestlemania X8 Fi...
Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō footage from here: / @neogamer
Please do like, share and subscribe if you enjoy. Don’t if you don’t, it’s all good.
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Music: WCW vs the World, WCW vs NWO Revenge, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2/WWF Wrestlemania 2000, Galactic Wrestling Feat. Ultimate Muscle, WWF No Mercy dig dig, dig diggity dog - Hry
Shuji Yoshida worked on Super Fire Pro Wrestling 1, 2, and 3 for the SNES while at Human, it seems. Potentially Iron Slam 96 too, though I haven't been able to confirm that.
The perils of not being able to read Japanese are real. Sorry for the mistake.
Thank you for clarifying!
Were they doing the aew game or is it just yukes?
@@Ninjaswithipods Yuke's is developing the AEW game with Hideyuki Iwashita aka Geta-san as a development advisor. Geta was the director of Revenge, Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, No Mercy, Def Jam Vendetta and a producer for Def Jam Fight for New York and the Ultimate Muscle games. Bryan Williams (Former THQ, now with Yuke's) is putting together thousands clips to use as reference. Kenny Omega stated that they plans to add more people. I have high hopes for this project because Yuke's made great AKI-style games in the past on the GameCube, including Day of Reckoning, with Shunsuke Katsumata on lead design, who was one of four assistant directors on No Mercy under Geta. Katsumata was also credited with 3D animations on the AKI N64 games. syn Sophia (used to be AKI) makes Style Savvy Japanese girl idol dress up and rhythm games. A 2015 Style Savvy only had about 5 people from No Mercy credited according to Moby Games and Kenny Omega mentioned during AEW Games 2.Show with Kip Sabian that he toured the syn Sophia studio and spoke to the only person left from their wrestling game days.
Fight for NY was awesome btw. Clearly not a pure wrestling game, but God damn to me it's still one of the most fun games ever made.
Yea it was meant to be a street fighting game.
@jabroni destroyer Exact-fucking-ly. There's a reason it's going for up to $200USD on ebay
@jabroni destroyer I started recollecting PS2 games back in 2012 after my consoles and games were sold for PS3 games and Gamestop had a copy CIB for $20. Someone would have to offer at least $100k for it. That game came out when I was 5 years old and it's one of my earliest gaming experiences along with Socom.
Def Jam Vendetta was awesome, soon as I started playing I felt the AKI control scheme through the ps2 controller and already knew what to do. Wish it had create a fighter though
My guy didn't seem too excited about the Def Jam games. I still think Vendetta and FFNY are top tier 3D wrestling/brawler games. Still play FFNY on an emulator. Story modes were great too. Cheesy, but great.
Those games were both amazing. Fight for NY improved on every way imaginable.. both games also had a great story mode
Nah, I'm 40 and a huge Aki fan but there was always something missing from the def jam games.
I freaking loved the Def Jam games! So many hours put into that game. How I miss the old days of good wrestling games.
Sorely missed a CAW and with some non-baggy clothes and some wrestling gear ;_; EA only gave them 8 months tho. Even the most bear Smackdown Mall No Mercy CAW replica would have extended this game's life for me. I literally just can't play well with other people's characters. Has to me my own CAW from sratch.
Def Jam was watered down compared to No Mercy or VPW2
This was a great video. Interesting how AKI changed to Syn Sophia, and the history of its game releases. Would have loved to see AKI release another wrestling game done the right way.
Hell yea they can call themselves AKI, syn, Man Breeze, or use a new name like when the former Rare employees did Banjo-Kazooie 64 games did when they made Yooka-Laylee under Playtonic Games. Just give me the game, make sure it's finished and polished. Hell if AEW don't do it, someone outta do a Kickstarter.
Invasion & Feel The Bang with No Mercy Customisation and AI story control.
I HOPE TO GOD that Syn Sophia is working with AEW to create something.i want quality wrestling games to return to the mainstream. Im tired of the teases. i'll believe it when i see it.
Nobody will buy the AEW game. They should try to make quality wrestling first before they take a stab at a quality wrestling game.
@@Digressor666 this didn’t age well
@@Trevo3000 it's aging like milk LOL
@@Digressor666 bruh what ???
@@Trevo3000 it aged like wine. The AEW game is a DUD.
Great stuff, this. Enjoyed playing Kinnikuman with mates back in 2008, but would have loved to see AKI carry on doing what they done best.
Amen,
Pretty amazing what happened with AEW. They entrusted Kenny Omega to make a No Mercy-esque game, so he overlooked syn Sophia in favor of Yukes and they're now several million dollars deep in production hell with Yukes trying to remake the AKI engine. Those first AKI WCW games were a huge reason for the wrestling boom of the late-90's.
They made it! It's a great game imo
Well done video. You honored AKI and all their games right and proper. Thank You Mate.
In my opinion WWF no mercy is the bar of excellence for WWE game. I played a ton of it when it released and i still play it on emulator. The little details and features they thought of while making the game is amazing. The game perfectly captured the essence of attitude Era.
One of the EVPs of AEW said a few months back that they're talking to the company that makes the kind of wrestling game all of their fans want, which is AKI. If they're still interested, there will be another game.
All of the EVPs lol. Kenny and the Bucks at C2E2 2019. Cody and the Bucks at C2E2 2020. Kenny at other conventions. Cody mentioned it an interview and replied with a MGS-like "!!" to the TNT Drama twitter mocking up an AEW version of the No Mercy cover.
@@EasyE3939 Yeah, I specifically meant Cody's comment. They've all hinted at it, but Cody said everything other than the letters AKI.
I'm honestly proud that i played in local tournaments with Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2. The game's still breathing to this day... But on life support
What hurt Aki and Asmik and THQ was the scatter brain actions of the 90s Sega of America staff who put pressure and got their way with forcing Sega headquarters Japan to make a premature next gen hardware in Dreamcast and abandon their Japanese secure Sega Saturn install base...
THAT prompted Sony and Nintendo to make next gen hardware and drop their last gen hardware while Sega just went to bankruptcy and Microsoft revealed their plans which later hurt Sony's PS3.
Just because Aki were excellent wrestling game devs doesn't mean that they were gonna have it easy unless Sega didn't force new hardware in which turn PS1, SS and N64 would have gone for a couple more years postponing their next gen and probably leaving Microsoft to reveal their plans in 2000... thus Sega, Sony and Nintendo would in turn make hardware for 2002 instead.
Aki and Asmik needed, and I mean really needed a couple more years of no next gen hardware and N64 sequels even if WWE would end up getting WCW anyway...
At least new Aki N64 wrestling games for 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 would have given Aki more of a chance to stay relevant as the N64 dev because their N64 wrestling games were only possible on the N64 and rom cartridges...
Iirc Yukes on PS1 to PS2 was fine for that platform but Sega made their own and just didn't have any stability...
Just cause next gen hardware launched didn't mean the wrestling games were gonna get better cause devs need to learn the new hardware and be profitable... that said EA got lucky with the Def Jam Fight for NYC games... on PS2 and NGC but according to them they probably didn't have a plan to transition into the PS3/X360 gen where forced platform parity really started killing off the diversity of hardware exclusives thanks to Microsoft (cause that's their goal)
Also that transition to Xbox 360 and PS3 really made a lot of things vanish cause the PS2 itself needed a couple more years too as did NGC and first xbox.
Also just to expect the old dev to come back is probably not realistic... it would be nice but licenses and the way the wrestling games have been handled is very different now.
Having played KMGP 1 & 2 competitively, I'm just gonna say that the games are woefully underrated
The def jam games deserve more love, they were fantastic!
Great vid. WCW Vs NWO was a belter, really fond memories of that game.
Great vid, I think it's such a shame Yukes has been making terrible wrestling games for 2 decades while AKI has mostly just been sat on the sidelines. I really wish AKI had have been able to develop just one direct follow up to No Mercy on the GameCube. If it was just No Mercy with Def Jam graphics and animation it would have amazing. Throw Hell in a Cell and whatever else and it's mind-blowing to think how good it could have been.
With the AEW game, my biggest concern is we are going to get shafted by Yukes again. I get the feeling we'll be getting Yukes making a AKI-like game, like their awful GameCube wrestling games. The longer AEW put off talking about the game, the less confident I am syn sophia is actually involved.
Yuke's did well with DOR, considering they were starting from scratch with only a couple people from No Mercy. The SD series still has some highlights like HCTP, SVR '06, 10, etc. None can compare to the *feel* of No Mercy however.
The GBA Fire Pro Wrestling titles and the AKI WCW and WWF Wrestling games on the N64 were the best wrestling games of all time, it's a shame what has happened to wrestling games since those times
Oh my gosh, I am so glad you covered this. Wcw Vs nwo is quite possibly my favourite game. Thanks B
From my understanding either a rep for Syn Sophia or maybe Kenny Omega comfirmed they Syn and AEW were working together on a video game. No more details were revealed. But it has been confirmed.
As a massive Kinnikuman fan let me say this:
The AKI Games (all of them) were perfection for fans of the IP.
Man it's really crazy that they went from making WWE games to Idol pop games
Great video! I was wondering if you have seen the new AEW game in the works called Fight Forever? A lot of similarity with No Mercy Aki wrestling games.
Yeah, I'm keeping an eye on it. Mainly on the front cover, to see who features.
There's nothing wrong with a wrestling game being over the top and arcady.
There is if you want the simulation feel of No Mercy.
great video and explanation, well done mate
Virtual pro wrestling 2 was great! Best game of all time!
I printed out an English translated manual, ordered a Japan to US N64 adapter, and ordered that game from Japan bc it was so far ahead of any other wrestling game at the time
Good stuff mate
There is yet another Kinnikuman game that AKI made. *Galactic Wrestling: Feat: Ultimate Muscle* known in Japan as simply *Kinnikuman Generations* on the PS2. It's at least partially based on the NGC game as it shares a lot of the cinematic Special Attack animations, but it featured more characters (most of which NEVER appeared in the US airing of the show) and Tag Team Specials, and get this, a PIN and SUBMISSION system, making it the only Kinnikuman game to actually follow the rules of wrestling.
Also Fun Fact: One Piece creator, Eichiro Oda's original Kinnikuman character, *Pandaman* appears as a playable character in the NGC Ultimate Muscle game as well as One Piece.
"Yoshida himself never worked on a Fire Pro title at Human." That's not accurate. He was one of the programmers for Super Fire Pro Wrestling, the director of Super Fire Pro Wrestling 2, the producer of Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3, and his team MUSCLE made Fire Pro Wrestling Iron Slam '96 before they left Human and formed The Man Breeze in 1996.
Thing is, I can't find any mention of Yoshida working on a Fire Pro game aside from a) the odd mention in passing with nothing backing it up, and b) this comment and one very similar to it on Reddit.
I checked the credits of Iron Slam 96. Skip to 31.55 ish, Yoshida isn't mentioned at all, not even in special thanks: czcams.com/video/gtSGidDinsE/video.html
I haven't been able to find credits for the other games, though I'm laying in bed on a Sunday morning so am not exactly at my best when it comes to investigation. Happy to look over any first-hand sources and correct myself should I be proven wrong.
@@Bransfiiiield He's listed in the credits of the Super Fire Pro games on their respective Japanese Wikipedia pages. As for Iron Slam '96, "Akabo" is probably a fake name Yoshida used in the credits, much like how he was credited as "The MAN" in World Tour's credits. The departure of MUSCLE from Human is covered in the "Wrestling with Pixels" book by Audun Sorlie.
Akabo is credited alongside Yoshida on Super Match Final Tennis, so I don't think that's a fake name.
On SFPW's Japanese wiki there's a Yoshida, 吉田秀司, which translates to Hideji (Hideki?) Yoshida. But on looking into that, it seems mistranslated and that is indeed Shuji (秀司). I don't speak Japanese, so that's from Google translate and might still be wrong. But it looks like you're right on that one.
Bit too late to change the video now, mind. Ah well.
i love the fact i got all these games running on my xbox series s using retroarch
THE GREATEST KICK IN THE BALLS WOULD BE WHEN AKI MAKES A GAME FOR AEW AND WWE REMEMBER WHEN THEY LET AKI GO. Watch this space.
Great informative video. Now you have an excuse to make an AEW fight forever video :)
I've played this one on the PS2 back in a days I remember you can wrestle inside a hart which is weird but as far as AKI there's one came for the GameCube different than this one actually it's plays more like the N64 AKI wrestling games than the one from the Arcade port.
Luckily the main lead guy who worked on no mercy from Aki is now working with aew
I've been patient and brokenhearted, too. With all these AEW teases I am about through! 😭😭😭😭😭😅🤣
@Aaron Ethan Thank you! I saw it I am hyped!!!!!
@@EasyE3939 Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega Confirmed that their gonna be using the AKI Engine. The game's going to be similar to No Mercy!!!#
@@melaninking199 Def. good news! From what I gathered It's gonna be a new engine built from the ground up with Yuke's and Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita, the director of the great AKI games as an advisor on the project. Kenny says it plays like No Mercy, but he says a lot that makes me unsure, like referring to No Mercy as arcade or saying that the engine wouldn't work today because wrestlers (like Fenix and Jungle Boy) have more moves (?!)... he put together a good team, I hope he leaves the game business up to them.
@@melaninking199 Kenny to TalksSports about Yuke's/Geta: “Luckily we haven’t had any huge setbacks anytime we’ve come up with a new idea or something that we could perhaps implement. It’s sort of like ‘yeah, we can do that’ and try it out, it’s not ‘no, we’re reaching too hard’.
“So it’s cool how there hasn’t been one great or innovative idea where it’s like I know it probably hasn’t been done, but what if we did this and my biggest fear when I feel like I have a good idea and I know it hasn’t been in a wrestling game before and I say it is if they say ‘no, that’s going to be difficult.’
“But every time I say it, every time I’ve suggested something or maybe Geta has suggested something, it’s always ‘you know what, I think we can do it and we’ll try it.’ And sometimes it doesn’t work out. I see it in the game and I’m like ‘meh, maybe not’.
“But the cool part is we’ve got a team at Yuke's that’s prepared to challenge themselves and make something representative of the good SmackDown-y stuff that they can do and then Geta is there to add his flavour to it as to how he would have made a newer style game and we’re all sort of just bouncing back and forth.
“We were always working on all types of thing for the game, but the main core focus right now still is, let’s get the wrestling down.
“Let’s make sure we’re able to make it feel like this is wrestling in 2021, but it still feels like No Mercy, but it still can be fun for not only the wrestling fan, but the casual gamer who picks up a controller and drops his friend on his head.”
talksport.com/sport/wrestling/837386/kenny-omega-aew-game-release-date-update/
I personally loved the Def Jam games. I played the crap out of the old N64 wresting games as a kid but even now as a much older person, the rapper characters just appeal to me more than the WWE characters. (Plus, how many games feature music off Ghostface Killah's seminal Supreme Clientele album?)
There was also the fact that the original PlayStation vastly outsold the N64. Naturally, SmackDown! 1 and 2 outsold WrestleMania 2000 and No Mercy. THQ were obviously gonna go with the devs who made the more successful WWF games.
If AKI developed SmackDown! 1 and 2 on the PS1 while Yuke's developed WM2000 and No Mercy on the N64, that might've been a different story.
when u said that about no mercy.... I felt that 😭
Muscle grand prix 2 is still played to this day in tournaments
I always wondered , Why Vpw 1 and 2 was NEVER released in the U.S. ? 🤔
Japanese wrestling wasn't as big as it is now
Licensing issues. Too many wrestlers to pay royalty fees to. Same reason why most of the Fire Pro Wrestling games never made it outside of Japan.
@@owenkorando9595😂😂😂😂😂
Japanese wrestling is WAAAY down in the last 15-20 years.
Anything else you'd like to give your opinion on? Maybe you have an opinion on where Jimmy Hoffa is buried?
Kinnikuman is an awesome manga and anime, grand prix was a wicked game as well
Is that the PS2 or the Gamecube one?
@@EasyE3939 ps2, Japanese though
Ultimate muscle is one of my favorite gamecube games.
Def Jam fight for NY was such a smooth experience. I really loved it. Controls were awesome, hardest difficulty was actually hard, but manageable. Loved it completely.
Def Jam fight for NY was the better def jam game.
Not for wrestling-style game play...
the downfall of WWF No mercy....what downfall this game is considered one of the the best if not the best wrestling game ever with all the mods etc
Read the title again bubba
So what do you think about AEW Fight Forever?
Not had a chance to play it yet, but I do have it. We shall see...
Also, Very good video.
syn Sophia made some mobile Wrestling themed CARD GAME a couple years ago BOOOOOOOOO
At least it shows they have some interest in wrestling still
I got a free replacement No Mercy from THQ ♥️
Edit: Called them up in late 2000 or Early 2001 sent my bad copy in.
When
@@jjthapyro4130
Way back when I got it for Christmas 2000. I called the number on the back of the box because it stopped saving, THQ (rip) told me to mail it in for a replacement and they sent out copy that's been working since *knock on wood* with a letter on their stationary with a red stripe along the top. Not exactly how 2K handled WWE2K20...
@@EasyE3939 I had a good copy when it first came out. I'm mad that I sold it some years ago and now I'm stuck with a bugged copy I bought off of Craigslist. 😭😭😭
@@jjthapyro4130 I sold my AKI Def Jam games but luckily I bought them before they went up to between 60-80 bucks and they were still in Gamestop
Do a review on AEW Fight Forever!
THQ should have just gotten rid of yukes and let AKI make the damn games on playstation. I'll never understand it.
Dope ass video dude
World Tour and Revenge were my favorites.
Cool my favorite wrestling games are WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and WWF No Mercy
If only Style Savy had Wrestling in it as a mode or activity 🥲😢
AEW game is More Yuke's Wrestlemania X8 than AKI Wresler
🦨 😫🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮
Did Mr Icarus take too much of his medication?
Man that Eurogamer review is the sh*ts. the Def Jam Vendetta-AKI engine a rip of off Smackdown SYM? IF ANYTHING, the then still-to-come HCTP was Yuke's attempt at adding *some* of the AKI elements to the SD series while still maintaining their fun, arcadey nature. The reviewer's "WWE having character vs. "real wrestling" argument(not sure if they meant folk style, college, indy, etc,) is probably valid from their view and explains a lot of about their lack of knowledge of anything outside of the WWE Universe bubble i.e. "The world according to a McMahon." Though, yes, WWF No Mercy and Wrestlemania 2000 do fall within the WWE bubble, I'm not surprised that reviewer missed out on those games. Hell, even if they played 'em, the AKI logo wasn't anywhere on the N64 game boxes and was hidden on the back of Def Jam Vendetta. All a publisher (THQ, EA) does is write the checks. Jakks Pacific did nothing, yet there logo is on the No Mercy box lol czcams.com/video/BSU4bUH444M/video.html
Fight For NY was a fuckin’ blast.
Hey at least we have the awesome Style Savvy series from Syn Sophia now
For the Nintendo switch now that there getting N64 retro style makeover aki should team with WWE and drop a new N64 title as the company is falling off WWE I mean and aew new game will be excellent so if I was WWE and aki I would team with Nintendo switch and make a N64 style wrestling game
virtual pro wrestling 2 was the greatest WRESTLING game ever made
From 1996-2003 best
WCW/NWO Revenge, and WWF Wrestlemania 2000 is the best ones I like. No Mercy not so much but I wonder if they rushed it.
Consdering they just released VPW2 in January 2000 with a whole shoot fighting system and completely different intros. It gave us some great bonus content like all the new Puro move animations and faces. That might have hurt NM in the long run with the yearly schedule. They probably wanted it out before Christmas season, too. A little more polish would have been a better send off for the 64, but they off course thought there was going to be Backlash the next year.
I REALLY enjoy all your videos - well researched and a pleasure to watch. Although - your obsessive compulsion to ALWAYS be sarcastic and ironic really feels tired and out of date. Everything from you sarcastic intros - to every attempt at humor. It`s just tired, old irony - that might have worked in 2005... and i feel you just got stuck in that discourse of humour. I advise you, drop that dry irony - it just muddles the true quality of your videos
No, because it's not an affectation, it's my personality. Good to know I was cool at some point though, even if it was back in 2005.
@@Bransfiiiield Yes - i guess that´s something.
Hating on rap then talking about old gray faced men is kinda ironic >_>
Where's the hating on Rap? Highlight it's unexpected and weird to go that route, not bad.
@@Bransfiiiield ok
I never understood the "personality" intro stuff. It kind of annoyed me because it's just wasting my time when I came for the content in the video title, and I dealt with it... but watching a dog pee as an intro is where I draw the line. I wish your channel the best of luck, it's just not for me.
bruh, this is funny bro.
I wonder how many people like you?
I didn't really like the intro either but the rest of the video is really well made and worth a watch.
Yukes is a joke, Aki all the way.
Since AEW Fight Forever was such a fiasco/scam with the customers, our hopes now are on UPW
I think your mistaken. Those magazine scans clearly indicate that the game being showcases for the PlayStation 2. Backstage assault was only ever made for the PlayStation 1.
The magazine scans show Backstage Assault 2 for PS2, which was in development but ultimately cancelled.