There are initially 16 playable characters (each featuring a video introduction), with 48 others that can be unlocked, either by playing through the tournament mode with various wrestlers or by using a cheat code.

Versions for the Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows were released in 1999 and 2000 featuring the updated roster from the game's sequel Thunder.

The guys at Shiny Entertainment say they just invented this a few months ago,[note 1] but we've had this technology for over a year and now have the game to prove it.

[11][14][15] Some reviewers, though, complained of drops in frame rate when more than two wrestlers are on screen at once,[11][12] and opinions on the controls and gameplay were varied and sometimes contradicting.

For example, GamePro complained that "Some of Nitro's moves require too much patience and practice to perform,"[15] but Next Generation instead complained that "the moves are so easy to pull that gameplay is reduced to a contest of button-mashing rather than anything requiring a modicum of strategy, tactics, or skill.

[12] Next Generation likewise assessed it as a strong example of a genre with traditionally modest aspirations, concluding that "Ultimately, WCW Nitro, not unlike actual wrestling, delivers fun, if not terribly sophisticated entertainment.

"[14] GamePro argued that the gameplay lacks the depth of WCW vs. the World, but still recommended the game to wrestling fans.