SmackDown! confidential - part 1

The developers at Yuke's come clean about their creative process, the early years and the secret of Rey Mysterio's costumes

Words: Mikel Reparaz, GamesRadar US

TC: The other [big feature] is interactive grapples. And this is a big one, because the way the game has traditionally been, once you get to put your move on the guy, you just sit there and watch your attack. And this is something we've always been wanting to improve, because that can go on for like ten seconds where you don't have anything to do. So we wanted to make it a more interactive thing, where you're involved the whole way through, and we were able to do that. And just to mention, one of the ideas that's been sitting in our head for a long time - remember in Mario 64? The [fight with the] big turtle guy [King Bowser]. And if you remember, you grab him by the tail and you spin him around. Since way back then, we knew it'd be really great to do something like that with wrestling, where you're really doing it yourself. So there's a lot of that this year, with the interactive grapple, where you're really doing it, and you're seeing your guy shake the other guy, or slam him, or throw him, right when you want him to do it. So that's the big four things for this year.

Are there any wrestling legends you've wanted to include but haven't been able to?

CM: Usually, it all comes down to if we can work out the legal issues or not, with the people we want. So that's the situation, like Ultimate Warrior and people we couldn't get a contract with for whatever reason. Usually, we get who we want to, because there aren't any other problems usually.

To be continued...

Interactive grapples and gameplay inspired by God of War? Sounds like a recipe for kickass wrestling. In part two, Hiromi, Taku and Colin tell us about their hopes and plans for next-gen consoles, and reveal what the revelations of E3 2006 mean for the future of wrestling. Check it out now.

 
Related Games
TalkRadar 22 – quiz show!
360 Feature
Oct 10, 2008
Why games fail at storytelling
360 Feature
Oct 10, 2008
Guess the game from the sound effect
PS3 Feature
Oct 9, 2008
PSP Fanboy hands-on: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by... N4G
PSP News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008
(Kingdom Hearts) TGS Day Two Roundup N4G
PSP News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008
TGS 2008: Firmware 5.00 N4G
PSP News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008
Game Junkie at TGS N4G
PSP News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008
LocoRoco 2 confirmed for November in Europe N4G
PSP News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008