WCW Saturday Night
released 8/15/2023
by G.M.Spectre (gm.spect@gmail.com)

- Intro

So here it is, my total comversion of Wrestlemania 2000 N64 to "What if there was a WCW AKI game released in the early 90's"!

After modding No Mercy, I decided to take a look at WM2K and see what I could do with it.  Turns out, some stuff was easier (like porting VPW2 graphics) and some stuff was more difficult (finding the stage graphics).  All in all, I'm very happy with the result.

Any graphics or codes I make are pretty much open for anyone to use if they want.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

- To run this patch

The patch is provided in xdelta format, and is meant to be patched to an unmodified WWF No Mercy NTSC-U ROM in Z64 format.  If your ROM is in a different format (e.g. V64 or N64), you will need a tool to convert it.  I find these work well and are pretty easy to use.

http://ucon64.sourceforge.net/
https://www.zophar.net/utilities/n64aud/tool-n64.html

When you have WWF Wrestlemania 2000 NTSC-U v1.0 (NWXE) in Z64 format, and just plug that and the patch using the 
xdelta program (which I conviently placed in the zip file)

BTW for the previous section I used an altered version of Freem's instructions here at...

https://vpw.ajworld.net/vpw2freem/Manual/#patching
(hey while you're there, check out the patches for VPW2 Freem Edition, WCW/NWO Revenji and Summit: VPW Gamma, they're pretty damn good!)

For this game, the no file is required!  So you can play it on emulator or on real hardware!

- List of changes

- All characters moves, stats, appearances changed
- All music changed
- All Arenas changed
- Intro animation changed
- All Tag Team entries changed
- Spotlights, Fireworks, Fire on all entrances taken out
- Menu graphics changed
- Entrance music plays on title and in match instead of midi music
- Moves imported
- Story mode text changed
- Introduction cutscene edited.
- Title belt graphics and info changed
- Hints added to title screen
- Select backgrounds for wrestlers match
- Power bar graphics changed to VPW2 style
- Font changed to VPW2 font

For more details, I put them in "updatelist.txt"


- The Roster

I decided to make a roster based on the rosters for WCW NES, Superbrawl SNES, and Main event GB, as well as the UWC prototype for NES releases a few years back.  In the case of managers, because of the limited character slots, I decided to go for ones that had careers as wrestlers.  So for example, I didn't add characters like Paul E Dangerously or Jim Cornette, but I did add characters like Harley Race and Madusa.  For a cutoff date, I used Slamboree '94, the last pre-Hogan WCW PPV.

Abdullah the Butcher
Animal
Arn Anderson
Barry Windham
Big Van Vader
Bobby Eaton
Booker T
Brad Armstrong
Brian Pillman
Buddy Landel
Bunkhouse Buck
Butch Reed
Cactus Jack
Dallas Page
Danny Spivey
Dustin Rhodes
Eddie Gilbert
Great Muta
Hawk
Jimmy Garvin
Johnny B. Badd
Kevin Sullivan
Lex Luger
Marcus Bagwell
Mike Rotunda
Michael Hayes
Nikita Koloff
Ole Anderson
Paul Orndorff
Ric Flair
Rick Rude
Ricky Morton
Ricky Steamboat
Rick Steiner
Robert Gibson
Ron Simmons
Scott Steiner
Sid Vicious
Stan Hansen
Stan Lane
Steve Austin
Steve Williams
Steven Regal
Stevie Ray
Sting
Terry Funk
Terry Gordy
Tom Zenk
Tommy Rich
Tully Blanchard

As for the unlockables.  If you press Start on the title screen, you will see several hints to unlock them.  These are based on the ones from WM2K if that helps.  Just fight the correct way, or use the correct characters, and you'll have 7 more characters...

...or you could use a Game Shark code, I won't judge ya.


- Stuff I still need to fix...

...although it's pretty minor

- Default names are set in the rom, and have limited space so I had to abbreviate some names (P'Man for Pillman)
- Entrance stages were a bit difficult to edit graphcs for, so some may look off.
- May update Titantrons if I choose to add them at a later date


- Thanks to

Most of all, Freem for his very hard work on VPW Studio, I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to beta test this program, and appreciate all he has done.  Also, go to Freem's VPW2 stuff and play VPW2 Freem edition (which I also used as a base for several movesets) at...
https://vpw.ajworld.net/vpw2freem

S.K.Styles made some great spreadsheets that I used to convert various moves and taunts from the other games with their properties intact.

The gang on the "AKI Wrestling Game Hacking" and "AKI Rom Hack Room" discords helped a lot with their patience with all my questions.

Thanks to Retro Randy, MelonBread, KWG, Ragdas, Barskio, AKIFan, PablosCorner, DaveSavedTheDay, ChuckiePK, TylerBlack, Krayzie2k99, DylanRulez69, NamiyoVT and anyone I forgot to mention here.

Sir Antonic, Rag Das, and Orson helped out big time with some of the imported moves.  I especially appreciate Sir Antonic for making an awesome "Divorce Court" for me.

Sean O Connor, AmitDaybeen and Krangledangle have been showcasing my last project, "Project Outsider", and that played a huge part in inspiring me to continue with this.
https://www.youtube.com/@Seanomaniacwrestlingreviews
https://www.youtube.com/@AmitDabydeen
https://www.twitch.tv/krangledangle

DJKM's old Firepro saves on FPR and FPWW gave me a good idea for character movesets.

There were also various moveset and CAW info references from CAW movelists, DNewgrounds, Gazwefc

The No Mercy Library - A great archive for codes and movelists.  Most of the codes I use in this mod come from here.
http://w11.zetaboards.com/No_Mercy_Library/index/

CAWPlace - A great archive for movelists and outfit ideas.
http://cawplace.yuku.com/directory

WildFB's archive - Creator of the Moveset Editor, the utility that made the hardest part of No Mercy Editing very simple.
http://z3.invisionfree.com/WldFb_Archive_Forum/index.php

- Other inspirations

WCW Worldwide - An amazing site dedicated to all eras of WCW, with a ton of info and magazine scans.  Always fun to look through.  Gave me a lot of help when brainstorming.
https://wcwworldwide.com/

Wrestling Bios - He does very detailed videos on the monday night war, and individual bios.  How did I discover him?  His bio for Glacier popped up when I was searching for it while researching for Project Outsider!  The channel is great for learning missing details about wrestling with a little humor mixed in.
https://www.youtube.com/@WrestlingBios