WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, known in Japan as Exciting Pro Wrestle 2 (エキサイティングプロレス2, Ekisaitingu Puro Resu 2), is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's released in November 2000 on the PlayStation by THQ. It is the sequel to WWF SmackDown!, and the second game in the SmackDown series, itself based on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) professional wrestling promotion.
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WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role | |
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![]() North American cover art featuring Chris Jericho, The Rock, Triple H, and The Undertaker[lower-alpha 1] | |
Developer(s) | Yuke's |
Publisher(s) |
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Director(s) | Toshihiko Kitazawa |
Producer(s) | Norifumi Hara |
Designer(s) | Toshihiko Kitazawa |
Artist(s) | Taku Chihaya |
Series | SmackDown! |
Platform(s) | PlayStation |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Sports |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Know Your Role achieved commercial success, becoming the best-selling combat sports game on a single format (PlayStation) with 3.2 million units sold.[3] The game would be succeeded by WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It in November 2001.
The Season Mode was heavily modified in this game. Along with removing the pre-season mode from the original, Know Your Role gave more storylines and more matches per show. These changes were given a mixed reaction by fans and critics alike. Wrestlers, wrestling moves, and arenas are unlocked as the player progresses through a season. The Season Mode has multiplayer support, with up to four players playing at once in a Season. Wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Billy Gunn, Mick Foley (including Cactus Jack) and Debra Marshall are unlockable superstars.
This is Michael Cole's second appearance as an unlockable superstar, the first game being WWF No Mercy, and WWF No Mercy being his last game appearance in the series until WWE '12 as a DLC superstar.
Big Show and Ken Shamrock were removed from the game before release; Big Show had been removed from the promotion's programming and sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling while Shamrock left WWF to return to mixed martial arts competition, but both may randomly appear during a Royal Rumble match (which the player can take control of) and can be used in other modes via as an unlockable, although their names were removed.
WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role was the first game in the SmackDown series which introduced advanced Create-A-Superstar, allowing the player to create a character in greater detail as opposed to just choosing preset mix-and-match templates like the previous game. A unique feature, Create-A-Manager was included which allows the player to assign managers such as Paul Bearer and Tori to different superstars. In addition, more features were added such as Create-A-Moveset, Create-A-Taunt, and Create-A-Stable which allowed up to 4 members.
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | 90/100[4] |
Publication | Score |
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CNET Gamecenter | 8/10[5] |
EGM | 8.83/10[6][lower-alpha 2] |
Famitsu | 30/40[7] |
Game Informer | 9/10[8] |
GamePro | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
GameRevolution | B+[10] |
GameSpot | 8.8/10[11] |
IGN | 8.9/10[12] |
Next Generation | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
OPM (US) | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
X-Play | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Cincinnati Enquirer | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The game received "universal acclaim" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. [4] At a score of 90 out of 100, Metacritic has never awarded a higher score to any other WWE video game. Daniel Erickson of NextGen said, "There are tons of options and great multiplayer matches, but Smackdown's [sic] Story mode falls on its candy ass."[13] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 30 out of 40.[7]
The game received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[17] indicating sales of at least 300,000 units in the UK.[18]
The game was nominated for the "Best Sports Game (Alternative)" award at GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2000 Awards, which went to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.[19] It was also a runner-up for the "Best Extreme Sports Game" and "Best Multiplayer Game" awards at the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 2000 Editors' Awards, both of which went to SSX and TimeSplitters.[20][21] The game won the award for Action in Readers' Choice at IGN's Best of 2000 Awards.[22]
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