ECW Anarchy Rulz (video game)

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ECW Anarchy Rulz is a professional wrestling video game released by Acclaim Entertainment in 2000 based on Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It was released for the PlayStation and Dreamcast. The last ECW game released, Anarchy Rulz is the sequel to ECW Hardcore Revolution, which was released earlier in the year. Acclaim would later start another wrestling game series with the release of Legends of Wrestling in December 2001.

After ECW Hardcore Revolution was disappointingly received due to, among other reasons, the lack of an ECW feel (the game was criticized for being too similar to the earlier WWF Attitude release), Acclaim tried to compensate for this by adding many new match types. Among these are the Table Match, Inferno Match, Dumpster Match, Rage In A Cage, Hate Match, and the Backlot Brawl. The game featured new control mechanics as well, however these felt very similar to the controls that had been with the series since WWF War Zone. Rounding out the additions is the revamped career mode. There was going to be a Nintendo 64 version of this game but it was cancelled as the console was approaching the end of its life. This was the last game that was made for ECW before it filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Acclaim went on to produce the Legends of Wrestling series. The more recent incarnation of ECW would appear in three games in the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw series (2008–2010).

Like in ECW Hardcore Revolution, the game featured wrestlers who featured in ECW events, as well as a separate cast of "jobber" characters. By pressing 'Right' on the selection screen, the player can see the jobber list. They are a mixture of staff members in ECW and Acclaim, as well as some completely fictional personalities. They all appear randomly as opponents in the earlier stages of Career Mode. At first, Trainer is the only one available as a playable character. The remainder need to be unlocked through game play, and had moves sets borrowed from characters that previously featured in ECW Hardcore Revolution and WWF Attitude.

The career mode returned with two major differences. The fictional Acclaim Title was removed, leaving only two championships in the single player singles career. This made the mode considerably shorter to play through. The other difference was the addition of a stable career mode. In each career mode, the player(s) begin at the bottom of the rankings for a championship title. They begin their careers in matches at House show events against weaker opponents. As the player progressed, they began facing an increased caliber and number of opponents at bigger events. While each show was advertised as being in a different city, the difference only depended on the type of show that was scheduled. Each victory moved the player up one ranking place, and a loss moved them down one place. A victory at a pay per view event would move them up three ranking places. If the player is at the #1 spot at the time of a pay per view event, they would compete for the championship. Players can save their progress on separate memory card files. However, this will not save any hidden content that has been unlocked by winning pay per view or championship matches. These items can only be retained if they save the game in Utilities mode. In the single player singles career, the player begins at the lowest rank (#15) for the ECW World Television Championship. If the player manages to win the title, they must defend it in five consecutive matches. Losing any title defense will cost the player the title and move them down to #5 in the rankings. If the player succeeds in all five title defenses, he then moves on to the ECW World Heavyweight Championship division. While competing in this division, the player may compete in a "Battle Royal*" at a pay per view. If the player wins this match, they will automatically move to the #1 ranking, but will not get a championship match until the next pay per view. The aim of the tag team career is for the player to have their tag team win the ECW World Tag Team Championship. Each match will either be a tag or tornado rules match. The mode is completed once the player wins the titles, but they can still defend the championship up to 15 times if they wish. The stable career lets the player control a team of four different characters. They must pick which character(s) will represent them before each match. At the beginning of the mode, the matches are mainly singles and tag matches. As the player progresses, they often become handicap and gauntlet matches. The final match is a Team Rumble. This is the only career mode not to have an associated championship. It ends once the player wins the final Team Rumble. Each of the three career modes can also be played in multi player mode. In the tag team and stable careers, players can choose to be allies and work together. If they chose to be rivals, they will often face each other, and will have to take turns when they are not in the same match. The mode ends when a player (or alliance) wins the title. For a multiplayer singles career, the characters skip the ECW World Television Championship and go straight into the ECW World Heavyweight Championship rankings.

One of the few features that made the game unique was the un lockable 'Belt Tour' mode. This consisted of four 'King of the Ring' style tournaments, but could only be played in single player mode. There was no save function between rounds, so one loss automatically lost the entire tournament. Each mode could have between 0 and 3 added stipulations, depending on game difficulty, tournament selected and progress. TV Belt Tour unlocked when a player won the ECW World Television Championship in 'Career Mode'. The first match would be a normal match, however the semi finals and finals would also have an added stipulation. Most of the opponents in this mode would be individuals that had never won the ECW World Heavyweight Title in real life. Heavyweight Belt Tour unlocked when a player won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in 'Career Mode'. The first match would have a special stipulation, with the remaining two matches having as many as three stipulations. A combined 'Iron Man' and Last Man Standing' match is very common. All opponents would be people that had won the ECW World Title in real life, Rob Van Dam or Dusty Rhodes. Completing this mode with different characters on the Hard difficulty setting unlocked new options or characters. Tag Team Belt Tour unlocked when a player won the ECW World Tag Team Championship in 'Career Mode'. There would only be two matches. Both were tag team or tornado matches with at least one added stipulation. Toughman Belt Tour unlocked when a player won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship in a multi player 'Career Mode'. All three matches would be handicap matches with up to three added stipulations. The first match would be a '1 vs 2' match, with the others being '1 vs 3' matches.

In this mode, the player can view each of the 4 alternative costumes of each unlocked character and their attributes. Any titles that the player had earned using that character in 'Career Mode' or 'Belt Tour Mode' are also listed. When viewing a character, the character's theme song plays. The characters are listed in four categories; 'A M', 'N Z', 'Jobber' and 'Created'. The last one only becomes available if the player has a created character saved to the same memory card as their main game save.

The game also featured stables. These are teams of four characters that can be used in the 'Stable' portion of Career Mode. The 'Impact Players' and 'The Network' were based on actual factions that appeared in ECW. The rest of the default stables were either tag teams with additional members, or just a mixture of stars. Players could also create their own stables, although their options were limited. They could pick four members, a logo, theme music and a team name (maximum of 10 letters including spaces).

Due to copyright constraints, Acclaim were not allowed to use many of the theme songs used by ECW wrestlers. Instead, they composed similar sounding themes for the characters, but they were able to secure the rights to four songs which do feature in the game:
"This is Extreme" by Harry Slash & The Slashtones this is the main ECW theme, used as the theme song for Paul Heyman, Joey Styles, Joel Gertner, Cyrus, the 'Pure ECW' stable and the 'Commentary' stable. "Holy Man" by One Minute Silence this features as the theme for Dusty Rhodes, Tajiri and Mikey Whipwreck. It is also played at the 'Press Start' screen. "Debonnaire" by Dope this is used as the theme tune for Rhino and the overall game. This was Rhino's actual theme song in ECW. "New Jack" this was a unique track which featured New Jack performing. It was commissioned by New Jack himself to be used as a theme song in ECW, but it never happened. It was intended to be exclusive to the PlayStation format of the game.

ECW Hardcore Revolution was heavily criticized for being too similar to WWF Attitude. Many of the moves and taunts appeared in both games, with the former having only a few additional moves. Some moves has simply been renamed (for example, the "Seated Powerbomb" was renamed "Awesome Bomb"). It also featured many duplicate moves that were stored under two different names. In Anarchy Rulz, there are many unique moves added to the game, with none being removed. Some moves are not assigned to any in game character or moves set, but can still be applied to user created characters. Selected moves may only be used in certain match types. For example, every corner move with the word "springboard" in the name requires access to regular ring ropes. The damage system has also been simplified. Each move can only produce one of three different levels of damage intentsity. Low damage moves can be performed at any time. Higher damage moves require the player to have earned enough momentum. Performing certain moves on harder surfaces will raise the damage they inflict by one level. If the move causes a table to break in a tables match, it is automatically raised to 'Extreme' (maximum) damage. Finishers and Signature moves cause 'Extreme' damage too, but requires the opponent to have taken a certain amount of damage first. If two players try to execute a move at the same time, the move with the larger "Move Size" gets priority. However, Low damage moves can be used to block some High and Extreme damage move attempts.

The game received "generally unfavorable reviews" on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. However, despite the good graphics, the Dreamcast version was reviewed more negatively than the PlayStation version.