Three versions of Ready 2 Rumble have been in development, and the Dreamcast one has been the first to be completed. It even launched along with the machine on September 9th. Obviously, this is the most visually impressive of the bunch, but does the gameplay live up the outstanding graphics? Unfortunately, not really.

Like said before, the Dreamcast's version of Ready 2 Rumble really shows off the jaw dropping power that can come out of the tiny, white box. Midway has spent a lot of time to make sure that the models in this game make players go 'wow', and indeed they did do that to me (and a couple of friends) when first popping in the disc. Probably the most incredible part of the character models are their facial expressions. Watch them during the fight and you'll see teeth being knocked out, black eyes, bruises, and morer. When you see them get hit in the face, the animation makes it seem so real that it's like you're really there. Even cooler is that during the introduction scenes or when a character is giving a taunt the mouth movements follow the words being spoken almost perfectly.

There's no doubt about it, Ready 2 Rumble's character selection is quite a bunch. There is the disco looking, afro wearing Afro Thunder, the heavily overweight, but powerful punching Salua, the speedy Joe Chin, and much, much more. Some are fast, some are slow, some are powerful, some are weak, but whoever the boxer is, you can be sure that they've got that crazy Midway touch. The first time one watches Salua's fat bouncing around the ring is enough to make you laugh out loud. The initial lineup of fighters can be expanded by unlocking the secret characters that have been buried throughout the game.

OK, so the characters are great and the graphics are great, but what about the most key part: the gameplay? This is where Ready 2 Rumble starts to loose consciousness. All there is to Ready 2 Rumble is bashing on the available punching buttons, popping out of a flurry of punches when you're getting battered, and pulling off a rumble move at the right time to put an opponent onto the mat for good. What this means is that, once the secret characters have been released and played with for a little while, there is little reason to play the game again unless you have some friends who really enjoy the game. Two player is where Ready 2 Rumble shines, but even that gets tedious after a while. Had there been more depth, then there would be more incentive to play the game longer. But as it stands, most people won't be playing Ready 2 Rumble two weeks from when they purchase it.

A neat extra that was included within Ready 2 Rumble is ability to pick a character and be able to train him. Starting out with relatively low statistics, the player can purchase training options that can raise the abilities of the given boxer. To purchase training you must send your fighter into prize matches where you can wager different amounts of money depending on how much you have at the time. Beginning at the bronze class, eventually the goal is to reach gold class and become the champion.