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Rumor: WWE SmackDown Here Comes The Pain Remaster May Be In Development

Fans of the PS2 WWE games should have fond memories of the 2002 SmackDown title, SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain. Widely considered one of the best wrestling titles of that generation, it was the first SmackDown title to feature playable WWE Legends and contained a highly regarded Season Mode and grappling system. In fact, for a lot of people, it's regarded as the best WWE video game of all time (though not WWF - considering WWF No Mercy exists).

When people talk about the best professional wrestling video games, they often bring up the likes of WWF No Mercy and Fire Pro Wrestling. Another wrestling game that's often part of the conversation is WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, a PS2-era pro wrestling game that earned near-universal acclaim at the time of its release and was even awarded Best Fighting Game at the 2003 Video Game Awards ceremony. Needless to say, a Here Comes the Pain remaster would definitely excite fans of pro wrestling video games, and as it so happens, such a project is rumored to already be in the works.

And, a recent tweet from a developer over at Yuke's - the team behind both Here Comes The Pain as well as the current WWE 2K series - is leading some to believe that a remake may just be in the works. (h/t to Comicbook.com)

This rumor stems from a tweet by Bryan Williams, Game Design Supervisor at Yuke's who works on WWE games like last year's WWE 2K19. Williams sent out a tweet that said he had a six hour meeting with his coworkers discussing plans for an unannounced project. He ended the tweet.

Now, now. Hold your horses. Let's unpack what's going on here.

First, here's the Tweet:

"Had a great day at the office today. I basically had a 6 hour meeting with my co-workers discussing plans for a project that I hope becomes a reality. We played a lot of Smackdown Here Comes The Pain today."

Needless to say, this got a lot of people excited. Not just because it's such a beloved wrestling title, but because it would be the first WWE game outside of the main 2K series since WWE All Stars back in 2011.

While Williams didn't go into any more detail following that, it didn't stop the rest of Twitter from going ape.

Now, this could mean a number of things. It could be that Yuke's is using HCTP as inspiration for the next WWE 2K game they're working on - which, considering how far along WWE 2K20 has to be in development, would have to be next year's edition. It could legitimately be a remaster of the original game or a graphically remastered game with a current roster.

Or, it could be someone from Yuke's messing with people on Twitter.

Either way, it has plenty of us excited about a potential new game, whether it happens or not.

What do you think? Is a HCTP  remake in the works? Share your thoughts in the comments further down the page!

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