One thing that is very evident is that Wrestlemania X8 was made during the time that the WWF were in conflict with the wildlife charity, as the box art sports the new “World Wrestling Entertainment” name and logo, but the game itself features the old WWF logo. Yuke’s also previously made some Japan-only wrestling games on the N64, which were notable for how alive they made their games feel.
Unfortunately, these factors are no longer around for this game. The ring doesn’t bounce and the character animations are rather stiff. Despite that, the game itself flows at a nice place with a lot of emphasis placed on tactics. While this is a far cry from how No Mercy felt, it’s not bad, and certainly better than Legends of Wrestling.
There are a lot of wrestlers, moves and modes in the game, so there’s plenty to keep wrestling fans busy, there’s just a strange, nagging feeling about going backwards from where the N64 was at. Even the create-a-wrestler (which at least has multiple faces) seems very toned back, with very few costume options.