“Don’t run away, pansy!”
Sega Genesis
Released in 1993 by Sega
Grade: B+
My first go-round with this game felt like a button-mashing contest that I was losing helplessly. It’s actually not bad once you put in some effort. It dumbs down boxing to make for a fun game, but also gives you some strategies to work with.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the follow-up to Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing. Everyone seems to agree this is the superior game, with improved speed and animation.
Praises and gripes
Forget about bobbing and weaving. Fighters face up and go toe to toe from bell to bell like maniacs.
The control is straightforward. A and C are left punch and right punch, B is block, and you press up or down to punch/block high or low. Essentially, if your opponent is up straight, you punch him in the gut. If he’s crouched down, you punch him in the head. Jabs have a long range and do the least damage, hooks have less range and do more damage, and uppercuts (two buttons simultaneously) have the shortest range but can be devastating.
Sounds simple enough, and against a low-tier fighter, it definitely is. There are 30 made-up fighters with names like Stinky Cooper (hey, that’s what my mom called my childhood best friend) and Swifty Gish (that’s what we called the neighborhood pot dealer).
If you play career mode with your own made-up rookie fighter, it’s easy to plow through the initial batch of opponents with first-round knockouts. Between bouts, you improve your attributes by selecting forms of training from a menu.
You can start to learn some boxing strategy, watching the opponent’s stance and using combos like low-high or low-low-low-high. I like how the game shows full punching stats after every round. You’d think you want to diligently block whenever you’re not punching, but you should probably just keep punching. The CPU doesn’t back down.
Things get dicier as you move up the ranks. My first few close victories were quite satisfying. As you progress to the eight famous fighters — Ali, Louis, Frasier, Holyfield, Holmes, Dempsey, Marciano, and Patterson — the CPU opponent becomes ruthless and on-point, punishing every mistake like it’s a chemical reaction. Those basic strategies seem at lot less simple when they’re happening at light speed.
For me, that’s where the game suddenly got less fun, and only fast-twitching masters will have any success. But that’s okay. I had a lot more fun with this game than I expected.
There are really nice graphics and plenty of boxing elements, like a classic ring announcer, a darkened crowd of well-to-do spectators, flying sweat, bikini-clad women showing up between rounds, and machismo-driven trash talk. The famous boxers have distinctive faces, although their bodies are all the same.
Determined gamers will embrace the challenge of become world champ. Lazy reviewers will get as far as they can. And a couple friends can have some fun beating each other up too. Considering that you can find this game easily and cheap, it’s a worthwhile addition to your Genesis collection.