| WWF Royal Rumble | |
|---|---|
 Arcade flyer art featuringStone Cold Steve Austin andThe Rock. | |
| Developers | Sega Software R&D Dept. 1 Yuke's (Dreamcast) |
| Publishers | Sega (Arcade) THQ (North America/Europe) Yuke's (Japan) |
| Platforms | Arcade,Dreamcast |
| Release | DreamcastArcade |
| Genres | Fighting,sports |
| Modes | Single player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Sega NAOMI |
WWF Royal Rumble is aprofessional wrestlingvideo game released in 2000 forarcades and theDreamcast.THQ published the title for the Dreamcast whileSega released it for arcades. It is based on theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF)professional wrestling promotion and its yearlyRoyal Rumble event. This game took its influence from the event's2000 edition.[3]Yuke's, creators of theWWF SmackDown! series, developedRoyal Rumble, which had several unique features including support for up to nine wrestlers on the screen simultaneously.[4]
The Dreamcast version was released to mixed reviews that faulted its small roster and lack of gameplay modes.
The game has two modes, Exhibition and Royal Rumble. In Exhibition mode, the player chooses a wrestler along with a partner and wrestles a series of singles matches. The player's partner can interfere on the player's behalf on command. These partner moves can be used any number of times during the match, but must be recharged before they can be used again. The object of each match is to wear down the opponent using various attacks and grappling maneuvers, decreasing theirlife bar before ending the match bypinfall or knockout.[5]
Royal Rumble mode involves a multi-wrestler match in which the player must eliminate a certain number of opponents from the match within a time limit by sending them over the top rope and onto the floor. Eliminating opponents adds more time to the player's clock; eliminating larger wrestlers offers a higher time bonus. Due to size of the game's roster, wrestlers appear multiple times in the same Royal Rumble match.[5]
Each player has a super meter that fills up during the course of the match. When it fills up, the player receives an "S" icon, which can be used to instantly recover from pin attempts in Exhibition mode or re-enter the ring during a Royal Rumble match.[5]
This wasBig Show's only video game appearance with the 2000 roster, as he was removed fromWWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role andWWF No Mercy due to his demotion toOhio Valley Wrestling. Coincidentally, he returned at the following year'sRoyal Rumble.Kurt Angle andTazz (who debuted in a match against Angle on the 2000 edition of the titular pay-per-view) made their first WWF video game debuts in this game, beforeNo Mercy andSmackDown! 2.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 66/100[6] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   [7] |
| CNET Gamecenter | 7/10[8] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 5/10[9][a] |
| Famitsu | 30/40[10] |
| GameFan | (E.M.) 87%[11] 78%[12][b] |
| GamePro |  [13] |
| GameSpot | 6.5/10[5] |
| GameSpy | 4/10[14] |
| IGN | 5.2/10[4] |
| Next Generation | [15] |
| Maxim | 8/10[16] |
The Dreamcast version received "average" reviews according to video gamereview aggregatorMetacritic.[6]
One of the biggest criticisms was of the small number of playable characters, whichIGN called "paper thin" andGameSpot'sJeff Gerstmann called confining. The game's lack of modes was also criticized.IGN recommended other Japanese Dreamcast wrestling titles such asToukon Retsuden andGiant Gram overRoyal Rumble.[4][5] The earliest review came fromPlanetDreamcast, which gave it a low score of four out of ten over a month before the game was released.[14] Daniel Erickson ofNextGen said that the game is neither deep nor revolutionary but overall fun.[15] In Japan,Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40.[10]
