WWE Day of Reckoning (Gamecube) 2004
After Wrestlemania 19, WWE gaming on the Gamecube needed a shake up. The Wrestlemania name was dropped from the branding and in came a new name that hadn't been used before in "Day of Reckoning." As requested for ages, gameplay returned to the successful strong and weak grappling style from the AKI games, along with timed counter moves. This made the controls and gameplay much better. It also introduced a momentum system that could swing the match favor in an instant. Learning from past mistakes, they also got rid of Revenge Mode and brought in a much more widely accepted "Career Mode" in its place. Taking a star from Sunday Night Heat to the main roster was the mission with Raw and Smackdown each having their own storyline. Joining Raw results in a storyline with Evolution while Smackdown followed the formation of the Undertaker's New Ministry. Eventually, HHH and the Undertaker break up their groups resulting in a title match against either star at Wrestlemania 20. While it was a mostly linear story it was a huge improvement over Wrestlemania 19 and a much more popular way of dealing with things. Most matches gave you a different task, such as targeting a specific body part or performing a certain amount of finishers, though it annoyingly didn't tell you how many you'd done, so losing track and failing the task was a common occurance. Graphics were much better than before, making everything a bit rounder and more realistic compared to the blockiness of the graphics that preceded it. This new franchise was a huge improvement over Wrestlemania and the beginning of a series that garnered a bit of a cult following among wrestling fans. Easily the best wrestling available on Gamecube to that point. Until its sequel that is.