Table of Contents
- The Roster
- Character Page Information
- Roster Selection Process
- Porting Process
- Extra Roster Commentary
NOTICE: The Character Guide is incomplete. Please wait for me to finish it. Thanks. -freem
The Roster
Roster Legend
| Returning VPW2 Character |
| Ported from other AKI game |
| New Character |
Actual Roster
The roster groupings are not considered finalized, but this is the setup that ships with the 2019/02/22 preview release.
| Group 00 |
|---|
| Mitsuharu Misawa |
| Toshiaki Kawada |
| Akira Taue |
| Kenta Kobashi |
| Jun Akiyama |
| Yoshihiro Takayama |
| Group 01 |
|---|
| Shinya Hashimoto |
| Masahiro Chono |
| Riki Choshu |
| Kensuke Sasaki |
| Yuji Nagata |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan |
| Satoshi Kojima |
| Group 02 |
|---|
| Jyushin Liger |
| Great Sasuke |
| TAKA Michinoku |
| Chris Benoit |
| Dean Malenko |
| Eddie Guerrero |
| Group 03 |
|---|
| Atsushi Onita |
| Terry Funk |
| Cactus Jack |
| Hayabusa |
| Sabu |
| Masato Tanaka |
| Mike Awesome |
| Group 04 |
|---|
| Steve Austin |
| The Rock |
| HHH |
| Shawn Michaels |
| Bret Hart |
| Hulk Hogan |
| Randy Savage |
| Group 05 |
|---|
| Ric Flair |
| Sting |
| Goldberg |
| DDP |
| Booker T |
| Curt Hennig |
| Rick Rude |
| Group 06 |
|---|
| Undertaker |
| Kane |
| X-Pac |
| Steven Regal |
| Tazz |
| Perry Saturn |
| Raven |
| Group 07 |
|---|
| John Cena |
| Brock Lesnar |
| AJ Styles |
| Samoa Joe |
| Daniel Bryan |
| Kurt Angle |
| Big Show |
| Group 08 |
|---|
| Scott Norton |
| Rick Steiner |
| Scott Steiner |
| Kevin Nash |
| Scott Hall |
| Chris Jericho |
| Rey Mysterio Jr. |
| Group 09 |
|---|
| Tiger Mask |
| Dynamite Kid |
| Great Muta |
| Katsuyori Shibata |
| Jinsei Shinzaki |
| Tajiri |
| L.A. Park |
| Group 0A |
|---|
| Akira Maeda |
| Naoya Ogawa |
| Masakatsu Funaki |
| Minoru Suzuki |
| Bas Rutten |
| Nobuhiko Takada |
| Kazushi Sakuraba |
| Group 0B |
|---|
| Karl Gotch |
| Rickson Gracie |
| Volk Han |
| Aleksandr Karelin |
| Ken Shamrock |
| Don Frye |
| Dan Severn |
| Group 0C |
|---|
| Rikidozan |
| Giant Baba |
| Antonio Inoki |
| Jumbo Tsuruta |
| Yoshiaki Fujiwara |
| Genichiro Tenryu |
| Ultimo Dragon |
| Group 0D |
|---|
| Andre the Giant |
| The Destroyer |
| Road Warriors |
| Stan Hansen |
| Vader |
| Bruiser Brody |
| Dr. Death |
| Group 0E |
|---|
| Spider-Man |
| AKI man |
Character Page Information
On each character's page, you will find a small introduction for that wrestler, along with the profile, costumes, moves, parameters, and logic settings. Additional content includes strategy, commentary, and questions.
Introduction
The introduction is typically short, and sometimes may just be an image. If applicable, a list of appearances in AKI wrestling games is given, along with any changes that needed to be made to the character in VPW2 freem Edition.
Profile
General profile settings like name, height, weight, theme music... See the main Manual for more information.
Costumes
The costumes section shows pictures of the wrestler's costumes, along with a short description of each costume. These descriptions may help you figure out what the hell I was thinking with some of the third costume slots...
Moves
The wrestler's available moves are listed in a long table. This table also includes Favorite move designations, if the move can KO or make someone bleed, as well as if a move is a Pin or Submission. Unfortunately, that's pretty much all you get, as making a separate move database would make this guide take even LONGER to create than it already has.
Currently, the move table does not include slots that can not be edited in-game. This includes, but is not limited to: outside replacement move (when performing moves such as the Snake Eyes outside) and the "cut" strikes (used when breaking up a pin/submission).
Parameters
This section lays out the wrestler's parameters, which control various characteristics. The parameters section also includes the Offensive and Defensive parameters, as well as the Rival and Second (manager) settings.
Some settings in this section are not able to be changed in-game, but are provided for knowledge's sake.
CPU Logic
Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2 is the only game in the series that allows you to edit the way the CPU plays with that character. The feature was available in WWF WrestleMania 2000, but only by using a GameShark code. (Also, some of the labels and values were messed up.)
However, VPW2 is not without its problems, as the "Fighting Style" value can not be set (or even viewed) in-game. This is despite the fact that help text exists for that option...
Strategy
In the Strategy section, I attempt to give strategies for playing as and against the wrestler in question. Note the word "attempt"; I can't claim to be an expert on every character.
Commentary and Questions
The character page closes out with some personal commentary, and any questions that may have been asked related to that character.
Roster Selection Process
The roster of Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2 freem Edition contains a few familiar faces, as well as some people who haven't been in an AKI-developed wrestling game before. Assembling the roster for this hack was not an easy task. Multiple factors are taken into account, both positive and negative.
Positive 1 – "I want to play as them."
Obviously, I want to have people in the game that I'm excited to play as. A number of wrestlers already on VPW2's roster fill this criteria. (Examples: Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Jumbo Tsuruta) There are also some wrestlers I'd love to play as, but they aren't in VPW2. (Examples: Chris Jericho, Ken Shamrock)
(Trivia: This point is part of the reason a number of people originally planned for the hack were removed.)
Positive 2 – "They were in most of the games."
Characters who fall under this category were in at least four out of the eight total VPW games released on the PS1 (two games) and N64 (six games). If the wrestler in question was introduced in the N64 games, they typically only need to be in three out of the six games for consideration.
Positive 3 – "They were in a limited amount of games."
Characters who appeared in a limited number of games should also be represented. The upper bound for this is generally two, but can be three if the games involved allow for it. (Examples: Karl Gotch, Sabu, L.A. Park (La Parka), Raven, AKI man...)
Positive 4 – "Not having them wouldn't make sense."
This is one point where I'm expecting disagreement on... A lot of wrestlers ported/added to this game have "name" popularity, and people would be asking me questions if I didn't include them. This is essentially most of the "big names" from the 1980s and 1990s USA pro-wrestling scene.
Examples: Stone Cold, The Rock, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Sting, Road Warriors/Legion of Doom...
Positive 5 – "Having them in an AKI game is a novelty."
Positive point 5 generally applies to the new characters added to the hack. Some of these wrestlers were active during the contemporary release of the AKI wrestling games, but were never featured in them, due to timing or other reasons. Examples (sorted by year) include:
- (Yoshihiro) Tajiri (debuted 1994, had appearances in WWF (1996/1997), ECW (1999-2001), and WWE (2001-2005))
- AJ Styles (debuted 1998, was in WCW in 2001)
- Daniel Bryan (debuted 1999, had early WWF stint in 2002/2003)
- John Cena (debuted 1999, called up to WWF main roster in 2002)
- Samoa Joe (debuted 1999, had a run in Zero-One (2001/2002))
- Brock Lesnar (debuted 2000, called up to WWF main roster in 2002)
Negative 1 – "I don't want wrestlers that require move hacks to get right."
The first negative point exists solely to cut down my workload. I didn't want to have wrestlers who require newly animated moves. This is the main reason why Kazuchika Okada (Rainmaker), Tetsuya Naito (Destino), and Hiroshi Tanahashi (Slingblade) are not on the roster, among others.
Unfortunately, I do break this rule with some people... (Katsuyori Shibata comes to mind, since the PK (running kick to downed sitting opponent) isn't in the AKI games. Kurt Angle (Angle/Olympic Slam) and Tazz (Tazzmission) don't count as breaking the rule, since the moves and animations exist in WWF No Mercy, and can be ported.)
Another problem with "required" new moves is that you'd need to find multiple unused animation entries, plus some unused move entries... Not to mention the number of animations required (at least two, more if pinning/submitting is involved).
This point is the entire reason the Dudleyz are not in the hack, by the way. There's no point in having them without the 3D (Dudley Death Drop). Another casualty of this point is Joe Bruiser, who requires the Boxing style that may not even be in VPW2.
Negative 2 – "I don't want wrestlers that are only there for the popularity factor."
Also known as the "Please stop chanting 'C.M. Punk'" negative point. Listing names here (other than Punk, who also falls under Negative 1 for the go 2 sleep (and ideally the Pepsi Plunge as well)) is generally a bad idea, so I won't.
Negative 3 – "I don't want wrestlers who would take up a slot that could be used 'better'."
This is the complement to Positive point 4, and also one where I expect disagreements. It's a largely subjective process, and trying to explain it is futile when it's all opinion anyways.
Porting Process
A large portion of the roster can be found in other AKI Corporation wrestling games. For this hack, I decided to look at the first eight games in the Virtual Pro-Wrestling series, as opposed to later games (Def Jam series, Ultimate Muscle). Porting a wrestler from most games foward to VPW2 can be challenging, while porting a wrestler from No Mercy to VPW2 is mostly easy.
Playstation 1 (Virtual Pro-Wrestling, WCW vs. the World)
These two games are pretty similar, but they're also the earliest of the bunch. These are the only games in the series with a concept of "Medium" grapples, which weren't carried over to the N64 games. Getting the offensive and defensive parameters for each wrestler is currently not possible, so they're made up based on other sources.
First-Generation N64 Games (WCW vs. nWo World Tour, Virtual Pro-Wrestling 64)
World Tour and VPW64 are interesting... Development on VPW64 started first, and the game was released after World Tour (which can be seen as a cut-down VPW64). One of the things you may notice is that certain moves only appear in these games. The canonical example is the Chris Benoit Front Special German Suplexes, which only appear in VPW64. The parameters for these games have not been fully figured out, but the offense and defense parameters are known.
WCW/nWo Revenge
Porting wrestlers from Revenge is a little easier than the previous games, but not everything is known with regards to wrestler parameters and logic. There's also a problem with more removed moves and animations... Some good examples: neckbreaker with kick/knee to stomach, top rope Razor's Edge.
WWF WrestleMania 2000
Arguably the easiest game to port from, as you're able to access the Logic settings with a GameShark code. This means the only things missing from WM2K ports are parameters and moves that can't normally be changed. (Cut/break up strikes, outside replacement move, etc.)
WWF No Mercy
No Mercy was used as a reference for running grapples, among other move slots. Since you can't access the logic in-game, any No Mercy port will have inaccurate logic for the time being. When porting a wrestler with ground Special moves, the ground Special is prioritized over the non-ground Special, due to these slots not existing in VPW2.
Move Substitutions
In addition to moves that don't exist anymore, wrestler's moves or taunts can be replaced. A lot of the time, this is meant to give the wrestler a bit more variety. One example is Kevin Nash having his old World Tour/VPW64 taunt in addition to his long Revenge taunt. Another example is switching up the Back Grapple moves (which typically consists of duplicates in the non-Japanese games).
Extra Roster Commentary
Some comments about the past and future of the roster...
Planned Characters that were Removed
A number of wrestlers were planned for the hack, but removed after trying to determine who should fill the last remaining slots (at the time). Even the process of finding replacement wrestlers finished up with some people being dropped out of the list...
- Kazuchika Okada – Okada's inclusion was completely predicated on the Rainmaker. Since I didn't want to hack the move for the preview, out he went. Okada's inclusion was planned before Gedo had turned on him, so Gedo was removed from the game as well.
- Hiroshi Tanahashi – Slingblade aside, it's not hard to make a Tanahashi edit, it's just that I didn't feel like playing as him.
- Tetsuya Naito – Naito would have required multiple move hacks to get correct.
- Kenny Omega – Kenny Omega would have also required at least one move hack (One Winged Angel), but much like Tanahashi, I wouldn't have wanted to play as him.
- Kota Ibushi – One of the original planned characters I would've wanted to play as. I could've ignored the Kamigoye and made a decent moveset, but decided against it.
- Shinsuke Nakamura – The main issue here was the hair. As I had already run out of slots to implement Minoru Suzuki's hair, Nakamura would have ended up using the mullet design, which would be awkward...
- Joe Bruiser – If I could figure out how to get the Boxing fighting style to work, Joe Bruiser would certainly be in this hack. Alas, it was determined to be too much work for the preview release.
- Josh Barnett – Originally planned for one of the last two slots, but lost to Rick Rude in a poll.
Some wrestlers were only discussed as alternates:
- Mr. Pogo
- Survival Tobita
Future??
I honestly don't know where the roster for this hack will go after the first preview release. In a perfect world, a few things would be possible:
- More Wrestlers – Ideally, there'd be up to 223 available wrestlers, and nobody would need to be removed. (255 from maximum possible ID2 value, minus 16 for on-cart edits, minus ANOTHER 16 for Controller Pak edits.)
- Alternate Versions – In VPW64, you were able to access different wrestlers by holding the Z button on certain characters. I'd like to bring this back, especially with characters like Ken Shamrock, Minoru Suzuki, and Dan Severn.
- More Fighting Styles – Boxing and Kickboxing characters would require this to be implemented before they can be ported.
These plans would require the game to be disassembled into a re-assemble-able form... Unless there's a miracle, I don't see it happening any time soon.