SmackDown! confidential - part 1

Features
By published

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

Looking back at these games, which years do you think really pushed the gameplay forward?

Taku Chihaya: For me [WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role] and [WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth], were the biggest ones. When we did the first SmackDown! game, we weren't really sure what we were doing. We just looked at all these WWE tapes, we looked at what we thought was cool, and we put it in the game. We just made a game that we thought would be fun for ourselves.

See more Playstation Features
Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.
More about fighting
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS key art.

Super Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai has a friend in Undertale developer Toby Fox - all because of how deeply their posts are read into
An Inkling looking shocked as she stares at the Smash Bros. logo in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate reveal trailer.

Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai is surprised the Switch 2 Direct is an hour long, and no, he doesn't know what's coming, even if "people are going to suspect no matter what"
WWE 2K25

WWE 2K25 MyRise walkthrough and chapter rewards guide
See more latest
Most Popular
Los Santos at night in Grand Theft Auto 5
It's been nearly 12 years since GTA 5 launched, but Los Santos still feels livelier than most modern RPG sandboxes
Mario Kart World screenshot Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2's kickflipping cow, 50-ft woman, and steampunk t-rex showed there's still great power in absurdity
Spiced Orange Nintendo GameCube on woodgrain desk next to plant with Kirby figure sitting on top.
I'm getting a Switch 2 day one, but I still still be using my original GameCube over Nintendo's handheld
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker screenshot of Link conducting
I played The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2, but it's a bittersweet reminder that we're not getting the game at its best
Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen, and Jason Momoa in A Minecraft Movie
Watching A Minecraft Movie as an adult made me feel like my 13-year-old self playing the game for the first time
Monkey D. Luffy looking confused on an island in One Piece Egghead Island
How to watch One Piece in order (TV shows and movies)
Metroid Prime 4 Switch 2 screenshot showing Samus with a new purple visor
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond sold me on the Switch 2 mouse controls in a way that Civilization 7 and Mario Party Jamboree couldn't
Assassin's Creed Shadows protagonist Yasuke riding through an autumnal forest on horseback, with an overlay for GamesRadar+'s On The Radar initiative
"The toughest thing is pacing": Assassin's Creed Shadows head weighs in on why the game ends like that, the "difficult" nature of its story, and what's next for the series
A giant humanoid figure with an axe holding a much smaller human with one hand, as fire burns all around them in The Duskbloods
Mario Kart World might be the Switch 2's big launch game, but The Duskbloods is Nintendo's real system-seller
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
32 movies that will inspire you to hit the gym