No Mercy or Slam Masters?

[No Count Pup]

Over the past few years a narrative has built on numerous gaming and wrestling sites that No Mercy is the greatest wrestling game of all time. It's not hard to see why. On the N64 console No Mercy had awesome graphics (that oft used word) and player-friendly features. It was a fitting successor to WrestleMania 2000 and WCW vs. NWO Revenge. However, I think there is stiff competition for top billing.

What do you get when you combine Street Fighter, Final Fight, and professional wrestling? The Capcom button-smasher hit Saturday Night Slam Masters. Who can forget the magic of the tornado tag matches? Who can forget the frustration of losing to Scorpio in singles mode? The music was catchy and the ambiance was reminiscent of old territory shows from my pre-cable days.

If pressed, I would rank Slam Masters over No Mercy. But it's close.

What are your thoughts? Which do you prefer?

Legends collide


Mid 90s staple

 

[Logisticalbooker86]

Wow, this is one of the better threads I have come across on these forums. Props to you.

I owned both of these games, played them both longer than I have any present day wrestling title. Slam Masters was so far ahead of its time in terms of move set that I was in awe immediately.

No Mercy continued the N64 tradition of badass wrestling games, something THQ has not come close to replicating on consoles in 2015.

The only knock I have on Slam Masters is the sequel was terrible, they took the pinning element out of the game and it ultimately became a poor man's Street Fighter. Shame on you, CAPCOM.

After careful consideration, I have to agree with you in giving Slam Masters a teeny weeny edge in this one. The game was just so far ahead of its time, especially in terms of wrestling games released in the USA in the early 90's. Slam Masters most reminds me of a more complete version of WWF WrestleFest, without WWF licensing of course.

For those of you that care, Slam Masters featured a roster of made up wrestlers, with a couple of characters from CAPCOM thrown in, (Haggar and references to Zangief).

Both are amazing, and I hope that one day some version of each title will be downloadable in a digital marketplace. I won't hold my breath on that one.

 

[No Count Pup]

Wow, this is one of the better threads I have come across on these forums. Props to you.

I owned both of these games, played them both longer than I have any present day wrestling title. Slam Masters was so far ahead of its time in terms of move set that I was in awe immediately.

No Mercy continued the N64 tradition of badass wrestling games, something THQ has not come close to replicating on consoles in 2015.

The only knock I have on Slam Masters is the sequel was terrible, they took the pinning element out of the game and it ultimately became a poor man's Street Fighter. Shame on you, CAPCOM.

After careful consideration, I have to agree with you in giving Slam Masters a teeny weeny edge in this one. The game was just so far ahead of its time, especially in terms of wrestling games released in the USA in the early 90's. Slam Masters most reminds me of a more complete version of WWF WrestleFest, without WWF licensing of course.

For those of you that care, Slam Masters featured a roster of made up wrestlers, with a couple of characters from CAPCOM thrown in, (Haggar and references to Zangief).

Both are amazing, and I hope that one day some version of each title will be downloadable in a digital marketplace. I won't hold my breath on that one.

I totally forgot about Wrestlefest! Thank you for bringing it up.

In the early 90s the most advanced wrestling game for home consoles was Royal Rumble. It was cool but it didn't capture my imagination. There were a lot of punches, kicks, and headbutts. No much else. Wrestlefest was a masterpiece. It had variety, a faster pace, and promos! Wrestlefest was everything an arcade game should be.

The first game to challenge Wrestlefest's greatness was Slam Masters (in my humble opinion). Slam Masters had the feel of an arcade game without the need to pump quarters. I imagined their characters as analogous to WWF wrestlers. Haggar was Hulk Hogan, Stingray was Rey Mysterio, Gunlock was Lex Luger, and Titan was Andre the Giant.

No Mercy deserves all the credit it gets. But Slam Masters was part of my weekend routine. As a kid my whole Saturday revolved around wrestling. I watched Spotlight, Mania, Livewire, Superstars, Challenge, Worldwide, WCW Saturday Night, and Shotgun. In the course of the day I had to rent a few titles at the video store. But Saturday wasn't complete without winning the CWA Tag Team Championship. Good times.

 

[Lowdown]

I might've played No Mercy once or twice, but I played the Smackdown series and War Zone. Now it probably won't go down as the all time greatest wrestling game, but Slam Masters was fun all around. I remember it took me a few tries to finally take down the Scorpion. And Grater have me some fits as well. But comparing the two is like night and day in two different eras.

 

[nightmare]

SNSM was certainly fun, but you cannot really compare them based on anything besides being based on wrestling. The match types & controls from No Mercy plus the CAW feature put that N64 gem far above what Capcom did in their game.


For what it was, Slam Masters was an enjoyable game with slight replay value. No Mercy, on the other hand, is still one of those you can dust off year after year & have a blast doing so.

 

[lowandmighty]

I know I'm killing the buzz here but No Mercy had terrible, blocky as fuck graphics. Other wrestling games of the time had better looking wrestlers in it than no mercy. Like WWF Warzone for example. If you had 4 players who knew the complicated move combinations WWF warzone was actually awesome too. WWF Attitude could've been the best game ever if they just kept it looking more like Warzone and didn't fuck up the moves so much. It's graphics were smoother but the wrestlers were all too similar in shape and size. Kane looked the same height as xpac for example.

But neither of those games were better than No Mercy at the end of the day.

However, No Mercy is by no means the best in my opinion. When Smackdown Shut your mouth came out, the career mode shat on anything no mercy had to offer and it's graphics were many times over better than No Mercy. It's ladder matches and backstage fighting were completely over the top too. No game other than maybe here comes the pain could match up to the six man time limit matches where you could fight throughout the entire arena and backstage areas, including out on the street, at a train station and in the WWE restaurant.
You could even create your own moves and taunts.
Smackdown Shut your mouth was better than No Mercy. It's roster was better than here comes the pain's too.

The most fun I've had with a wrestling game though is WWE 2k14. This is the best wrestling game so far. Roster is the best ever, great array of game modes, great nostalgia, unbelievable customization of arena's, logos, wrestlers etc. More moves than No Mercy. Obviously better graphics too.

Saturday night slam masters? no, way too dated and no real wrestlers. I'd rather play wrestlefest than that.