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Legends of Wrestling II is the sequel to the professional wrestling video game Legends of Wrestling. It was published by Acclaim Entertainment and released on November 26, 2002 for both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was then released later for the Xbox on December 5, 2002. Legends II contains 24 wrestlers that were not in the first game, though also excludes Rob Van Dam, presumably because he had recently been signed to a WWF contract. The game did contain Eddie Guerrero, however, who, although unemployed at the time he signed a likeness deal, re-signed with WWF when the game was released.
The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions included video interviews with many of the legends featured in the game while the European version of the game exclusively included four legends from the United Kingdom: Kendo Nagasaki, Big Daddy, Mick McManus and Giant Haystacks.
Roster
Fictional territorial promoters
Within Career Mode, your wrestler will be working for a specific promoter in each area. By winning the belt for that division and successfully defending it, said promoter will become available for purchase in Shop Mode. Note that the World Region is only available after completion of all the American territories. Each territory has between 8-12 storylines chosen at random with a push of a button. Certain storylines may not be available based on the wrestler used by the player. For example, if the player uses Jerry Lawler, the only storyline he can play in the Southeast Region is based on the famous feud Lawler had with comedian Andy Kaufman. Each of the promoters in the game were based on famous real life wrestling promoters.
- Belle Jackson (Southeast Region)
- Hiro Natsume (World) (Based on Hiro Matsuda, former president of New Japan Pro Wrestling)
- Randell Scmandell (Pacific Region) (Based on Paul Heyman, the owner of the original incarnation of Extreme Championship Wrestling.)
- Scotty MacDougal (Midwest Region) (Based on Jim Crockett, former owner of Jim Crockett Promotions)
- Tex McGraw (Southwest Region) (Based on Ted Turner, former financial backer of World Championship Wrestling)
- Tony "The Boss" Pavorati (Northeast Region) (Based on Vince McMahon, Chairman of World Wrestling Entertainment)
The game also features a Create A Legend Mode (CAL). Players can create their own custom made characters which can be used for storyline mode as well as exhibition play.
Critical response
The critical response to Legends of Wrestling II was slightly better than that of the original, but still not spectacular; at Game Rankings, the PlayStation 2 version received 59.9%, only a .6% increase from the previous game. The Xbox version was rated highest, garnering a 66.8% (.8% higher than the original), while the GameCube version was the most improved, jumping 5.9% to 60.6%. The Game Boy Advance version was the worst rated, receiving only a 2 on IGN and a 2.4 on GameSpot, generally because the poor graphics and bad a.i. Many critics though did praise the great create-a-wrestler mode and outstanding variety of match types. Many legends who played the game also praised it.
Soundtrack
- Superstar by Saliva
- Headstrong by Trapt
- Headstrong by Earshot
- Get Away by Earshot
- We Fall, We Stand by Earshot
- Cosmopolitan Bloodloss by Glassjaw
- A Box Full of Sharp Objects by The Used
- Questions? by Home Town Hero
- Colorblind by Alien Breed