What do you get when combining two elements that frankly, don’t have a whole lot to do with each other? Sometimes you get something tasty, like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Sometimes you get something explosive, combining fire and gasoline. Once in a while, however, you get something strange, yet so cool, you have to give props even while wondering what the heck the developers were smoking. Anime and boxing? What?
Victorious Boxers: Ippo’s Road to Glory is based on the best-selling Japanese manga “Hajime no Ippo”. Telling the tale of a young Japanese boy who wants to become the greatest fighter ever, he trains from the ground floor up looking to achieve his dream. Victorious Boxers tells this story, with cut-scenes and wonderful manga fruitiness in abundance. There is a serious “Punch-Out” feel to Victorious Boxers, with the different opponents and cartoony look.
First off, this isn’t Knockout Kings. You have Story Mode and Versus Mode. That’s it. No create-a-boxer. No fantasy matchups with the sport’s greatest fighters. No real-life boxers. The lack of a create-a-boxer really hurts, because it would fit this style of game perfectly. There is a heavy anime aspect to the game’s graphics, as you would expect. What you wouldn’t expect is how well it fits the genre. The graphics are colourful, with clean textures that really bring out the personality of the fighters. The crowd backgrounds aren’t stellar, but do get the job done. The game moves at a rapid pace, with a butter-smooth frame rate and excellent control. The sound is VERY manga. Sweeping choruses, meaty SFX, cheering crowds – Victorious Boxers brings a smile to my face whenever I hear it. At first, the music seems more attuned to a RPG than a boxing game, but the style completely fits the game.
Victorious Boxers’ gameplay is deceptively simple. The game moves at a rapid pace, with a butter-smooth frame rate and excellent control. It’s the control that sets Victorious Boxers apart from Knockout Kings and Ready to Rumble – it’s nearly perfect. Push the left analog stick to move around the ring, forward always moves towards the opponent and back moves away, while pushing hard in any direction makes young Ippo duck, weave and bob. It’s so simple to learn, but difficult to master. The only letdown of the control is that as you circle your opponent, the fighters move so quickly that they won’t always re-orient themselves face-to-face as fast as one would like. Of course, one might argue that this occurs in real boxing as well, but it’s an annoyance nevertheless trying to punch a guy who has just shifted to the side.
As you continue through story mode, your trainer gives you pointers on each opponent, pointing out their weaknesses and strengths. He’ll encourage you between rounds, or chastise you for not getting the job done. One interesting note: there are no energy bars during gameplay. If you throw a lot of punches, you’ll see Ippo get tired. If you get rocked, Ippo will become unsteady on his feet. This really forces you to pay attention to what is going on at all times with Ippo, instead of just watching energy and stamina bars to gauge how you should fight. It’s different to deal with, and makes your investment in Ippo’s success that much more solid.
Full credit goes to Empire Interactive for taking a chance on bringing Victorious Boxers: Ippo’s Road to Glory to North America. It’s a worthwhile alternative to Knockout Kings and Ready to Rumble, and only the lack of options prevents it from scoring a higher grade. Despite that caveat, I recommend that fans of boxing check out Victorious Boxers as soon as possible – you’ll be glad you did.
