Developer: Taito Publisher: Sega Released: 1990 Genre: Sports
Ah Sega, you crude bastards. It is no small exaggeration to say that Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out is still the most popular boxing game of all time. Nintendo absolutely nailed the game’s mechanics and its colorful cast of characters made it instantly memorable and endearing. One can easily see why a company like Sega would want a piece of that pie. But rather than develop their own competitor they instead published Taito’s port of their arcade game Final Blow and slapped on a license. But no just any license; they got Buster Douglas, the man who beat Tyson in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. In the end though it does not matter who endorsed the game, it is still terrible.
The first notable aspect of the game is its graphics. As a port from the arcade Buster Douglas Boxing measures up pretty well. The fighters are massive, incredibly detailed, and feature fluid if a bit slow animation. Punch-Out featured large boxers but they pale in comparison to this game. It loses some of the brightness and a little color but otherwise looked fantastic for the time. I can tell you that seeing this on a home console in 1990 was mind-blowing. Now if only Sega had spent more time securing an endorsement and working on the gameplay.
Sound is where the game lags behind. There was no music in Final Blow and that carries over here. What it did have was the cheering of the crowd and your corner man shouting which areas to hit and punches to throw. Here the only sounds you will hear are punches and they sound awful. It’s a damn shame that the Master System outclasses this version in this area but that is not the only aspect where it is better.
There are only five boxers and they all feature the same build (the game does its title character a solid by doing away with his pudgy physique) but otherwise there is little to complain about. Buster Douglas replaces Detroit Kid from the arcade but it is merely a head swap. Dynamite Joe, Kim Nang, Fernando Gomez, and King Jason round out the cast. Right away it is obvious they wanted to fill every racial group. But that is whatever. The problem is they all fight exactly the same as the AI is dumb as a brick.
To its credit the controls are solid. The A button controls your left hand while B is your right. C will allow you to duck. Using simple button combinations you can execute a wide variety of punches. Some aren’t very intuitive; the knockout punch can be hard to throw regularly. But for the most part you can come to grips with the system quickly. In addition to ducking you can guard and perform a quick step back. The game does a good job of providing the fundamentals of boxing.
Sadly it does very little with any of it. Once the match begins the game basically devolves into Rock Em Sock Em robots. The AI does not use any kind of recognizable strategy, they simply flurries of punches randomly nonstop. Both fighters regain a little health by dodging and blocking attacks but in practice you won’t have the chance as the computer is relentless. The best you can manage is to force them into the corner as the computer aggressively blocks or dodges most punches. Once there you can use the knockout punch repeatedly to end the fight quickly. On the easiest setting it ends the fight immediately. On normal you might need three or four but it is a surefire victory if successful.
The unsatisfying gameplay is made more egregious by the career mode. With such a limited roster that all fight identically you will tire of it quickly. After you beat the competition you become champion. As champion you must defend your title against the same opponents, except the second time around they are even more defensive. If successful you can fight the true final boss, Iron Head. They are not fooling anyone, we know it is supposed to be Mike Tyson. Fighting Iron Head is exasperating as he takes reduced damage from your hits and is a god damn super human. With a single player mode that is boring multiplayer is the only fun you will get out of this. But if you want a boxing game there are better options.
In Closing
James Buster Douglas Knockout Boxing was impressive at launch but has not aged well. In fact it was mediocre to begin with. Games like Greatest Heavyweights and ironically Evander Holyfield Real Deal Boxing make this one obsolete.
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