Ready to Rumble Boxing (Dreamcast) 1999
This game was fun for a number of reasons. There were the over the top characters that you could actually use compared to wishing you could use from the Punch Out days, from Afro Thunder to the Mia St John look alike.
What Ready to Rumble did best was making sure that the characters would fight and feel like the way they were presented. Afro was flashy and fast and talked a lot of trash while Jet Chin used his martial arts boxing to land a bunch of blows. Ready to Rumble was pure entertainment with minimal realism to show for it and it was all right because it delivered how it was meant to deliver: an arcade boxing experience.
Stamina Bars were present along with the health meter, but the main point of the game was to land enough significant blows to spell “RUMBLE” almost like a game of “HORSE”. Once the letters are spelled you then trigger your character’s “special combo” move which would lead to a knockdown most times when played right.
What was overlooked by a lot of people was the analog ability with the controller to sway and move the boxer around for defense and counters. For as much as the game was an arcade fighter, that bit of magic with the ability to move and sway would make a huge impact on later boxing titles that would help push a more simulated style into play.
Greatest Heavyweights: (Sega Genesis) 1993
This game could have been called Evander Holyfield “Real Deal” Boxing 2, but Greatest Heavyweights (even though many of the greatest heavyweights were actually missing in this installment) was still a very good boxing game, especially when it came to the career mode.
The presentation was of a side-view, two-dimensional fighter cut off at the thigh area. Boxers were able to toss punches to the head and body and inflict damage to the face with eye cuts if the facial diagram was in the gray. Uppercuts were present and caused a significant amount of damage if landed right during exchanges.
A big part of the game was the inclusion of past champions in boxing history. Boxers such as Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali and a few others were part of the game and looked very similar to their real-life counterparts. Their fighting styles were close in presentation as well as Marciano used power shots and Ali was more of a full range boxer when reached.
If you became the Champion, you were able to keep boxing in a series of “Challenge Matches” until you retired or got retired. Like Real Deal the player could progress thru the ranks and earn money which they were able to use to help build up the boxer’s attributes. You were also able to customize your boxer with a variety of different heights, weights and skins types (The Beast anyone?). The 2 v 2 component of the game provided challenges in regard to who could time the combos better as defense was at a minimum in this game.
Knockout Kings (Playstation, N64) 2000
This series brought boxing Legends from all different weight divisions into the game, which in my opinion was a huge victory for casual and hardcore boxing fans alike from all eras.
The list included many boxers from different weight divisions and boxing eras with 48 boxers total including Muhammad Ali, Alexis Arguello, Aaron Pryor, Marvin Hagler, Rocky Marciano, Roberto Duran, Erik Morales, even Floyd Mayweather (Mayweather was in the game and one of his attributes was 100 I believe).
Players were able to compete in a career mode thanks to a more enhanced Create-A-Boxer suite and try to win titles in Light, Middle and Heavyweight divisions. The game’s controls were able to be worked on in a training mode which also gave players the chance to try and learn the controllers and perfect their craft before heading into the ring. The game also introduced — for the first time — the “Slugfest Mode” which was just what it sounded like: No Refs, No Rounds and just pounding each other out until one person dropped. A sim heads nightmare, but right up the alley for most causal fans who just wanted to swing for the fences and see damage.
Fight Night (PS2, Xbox) 2004
With a new name after EA dropped the Knockout Kings title, Fight Night added a new dynamic that would be one of the greatest innovations in boxing controls as well as fighting controls for other genres in the future: the TPC (Total Punch Control) System.
Not only was the TPC a welcomed addition, but now users had the ability to hold the Triggers and activate certain actions regarding defensive moves (Body control and blocking control), which really opened the defensive abilities of many players to create more opportunities on offense.
This control scheme really made the user feel like you were doing something to create opportunity for offense and adjust when your needed to on defense. Unfortunately, the roster was not as robust as Knockout Kings 2000 as there were many repeats in different weight divisions (Roy Jones as Heavyweight and Middle Weight, Evander Holyfield as Middle Weight and Light Heavyweight and a few other repeats).
Fight Night Round 2 (PS2, Xbox, GCN) 2005
With all the momentum from Fight Night 2004, EA needed to try and build up from the foundation they set for themselves. The roster features 36 fighters, including Gatti, Corrales, Duran, and Mosley as well as the 1st appearances of Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao. Floyd Mayweather shows up again in addition to double-duty appearances by Roy Jones and Evander Holyfield in Light HW and HW.
The add-on to the TPC was the addition of the EA Haymaker punch, which was the go to move for a bunch of the headhunters who played the game. The Create-A-Boxer system was robust with options this time around as you were able to change weight classes for your boxer during Career Mode where you could fight as long as you wanted and weren’t forced to retire as in previous installments.
Also, the addition of the EA Sports cut man was a great mini game to have for players to help decrease damage the boxers took in the rounds and keep them in the fight. This was a big addition to the series given the player control as if they are making a difference for their virtual fighters.