Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 is from a time when patches didn’t break wrestling games

destructoid.com:

The current run of the WWE 2K are extremely frustrating. Each release seems to come with its own compromises and drawbacks. WWE 2K22 has an upgraded engine, but the custom entrances have been taken out, and there’s no Rick Rude. To make matters worse, patches after its release borked major parts of it. It’s bad enough that the 6.5 I awarded to it is too generous for the state it’s been reduced to.

This wasn’t always the state of wrestling games. However, if you want to go back to the genre’s golden age, you need to travel back to the N64. Perhaps it’s because the competing brands of the WWF and the WCW meant that you actually needed to put effort into your wrestling title to shift units. The truth, however, is that AKI just did wrestling right; there was no competition. I mean, technically there were, but they just didn’t measure up.

AKI released six games on the N64. There were two for the WCW, and then they shifted to the WWF for two more. However, they also developed two Japan-only titles. The AKI wrestling games are what introduced me to pro wrestling in its entirety, and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 was the one I sunk the most time into.

If you’ve never enjoyed the Japanese AKI wrestling games, it’s important to note that they’re pretty heavily based on North American counterparts. Virtual Pro Wrestling was mostly an expanded version of WCW vs. nWo: World Tour, while Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 takes the format of WWF Wrestlemania 2000.

It’s not just a clone, however. While the main “story” mode follows the same calendar formula that takes you from the middle of the card to the top, a lot of the game around it has been tweaked. Most importantly, the roster features wrestlers from various Japanese promotions at the time. The