Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing is a boxing video game developed by Midway Studios San Diego, published by Midway Games in 1999 for the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Game Boy Color, and Nintendo 64. The success of the Dreamcast version led to it becoming one of the few Sega All Stars titles.

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
North American Dreamcast cover art
Developer(s)Midway Studios San Diego
Publisher(s)Midway Games
Platform(s)Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color
ReleaseDreamcast
  • NA: September 9, 1999
  • EU: 1999
  • JP: January 13, 2000
Nintendo 64
  • NA: October 31, 1999
  • EU: December 1999
PlayStation
  • NA: October 31, 1999
  • EU: 1999
Game Boy Color
  • NA: December 1999
  • EU: December 1999
Genre(s)Fighting
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Like Nintendo's Punch-Out!! series, it features many characters with colorful personalities (i.e. Afro Thunder, Boris "The Bear" Knokimov, etc.); however, unlike the Punch-Out!! series, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing is in 3D, thus allowing for more control over one's character in the ring. Also unlike Punch-Out!!, players can choose whichever boxer they want from a rather large selection of characters.

Throughout the fights in the game, there is a special RUMBLE meter which fills up, one or two letters at a time, until the word "RUMBLE" is spelled at the bottom of the screen. Letters can be obtained by successfully landing hard blows; most such actions will yield one letter, though some particularly strong punches may yield more. Once the meter is full, the player can power himself up, enabling access to a special combo called "Rumble Flurry", activated by pressing a button combination. Each character's "flurry" is unique to them, and consists of a series of punches which does a large amount of damage if landed successfully.

One unique graphic feature of the game is the gradual bruises gained by players as the fight progresses (like hematomas and swellings), present in all fifth-generation versions. While this is not necessarily a new feature to games (it had been implemented before in SNK's 1992 game Art of Fighting), it garnered much appraisal from reviewers, because of the added fun factor this element supplied to the game.[1]

The Game Boy Color version was one of the few games for the system to feature built-in rumble.

The Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 versions each have an exclusive boxer: these are, respectively, Jimmy Blood, Gino Stiletto, and J.R. Flurry.

Ring announcer Michael Buffer appears in the game as himself.[2]

Marketing

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing commercials were produced by MTV.[2] The commercials mimicked that of the Who Framed Roger Rabbit film where animated characters fraternize with humans.[2]

Reception

The game received "favorable" reviews on all platforms except the Game Boy Color version, which received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[3][5][6][4]

Chris Charla reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "With fast action, seriously funny character design, and excellent graphics, Midway once again proves it's untouchable when it comes to arcade sports."[30]

Adam Pavlacka reviewed the Nintendo 64 version of the game for Next Generation, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "After playing the Dreamcast version for months, it is hard for us to accept an inferior version of the game, even if it does play just as well."[31]

Sequel

The game was followed by a sequel in 2000 called Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2, and was later followed by a third game in the series, Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution, released on March 17, 2009.[35]

Afro Thunder is featured in TNA iMPACT! upon gaining 750,000 style points and TNA iMPACT!: Cross The Line upon unlocking the Freedom Center arena.

References
  1. Justice, Brandon (September 8, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (DC)". IGN. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  2. "Midway Unveils Multi-Million Dollar Domestic Marketing Campaign for Ready 2 Rumble Boxing". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. August 19, 1999. Archived from the original on November 25, 1999. Retrieved July 3, 2019 – via Yahoo.com.
  3. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for Dreamcast". GameRankings. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  4. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  5. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  6. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  7. Sutyak, Jonathan. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (DC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  8. Ottoson, Joe. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (GBC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  9. McCall, Scott. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (N64) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  10. Weiss, Brett Alan. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (PS) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  11. Edge staff (November 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (DC)". Edge (77).
  12. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (DC)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
  13. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (N64)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
  14. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (PS)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1999.
  15. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (DC)". Game Informer. October 29, 1999. Archived from the original on January 23, 2000. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  16. "REVIEW for Ready 2 Rumble [Boxing] (N64)". GameFan. November 22, 1999.
  17. Scary Larry (1999). "Ready 2 Rumble [Boxing] Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on December 13, 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  18. iBot (1999). "Ready 2 Rumble [Boxing] Review for N64 on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  19. The D-Pad Destroyer (1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 12, 2005. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  20. Colin (September 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review (DC)". Game Revolution. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  21. Colin (November 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - N64". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  22. Colin (November 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing - PlayStation". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  23. MacDonald, Ryan (August 27, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review (DC)". GameSpot. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  24. Gerstmann, Jeff (November 18, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review (N64)". GameSpot. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  25. Gerstmann, Jeff (November 18, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review (PS)". GameSpot. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  26. Fragmaster (September 19, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing". PlanetDreamcast. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  27. Harris, Craig (December 15, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (GBC)". IGN. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  28. Boulding, Aaron (November 12, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (N64)". IGN. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  29. Perry, Douglass C. (December 2, 1999). "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (PS)". IGN. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  30. Charla, Chris (November 1999). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 2 no. 3. Imagine Media. p. 115.
  31. Pavlacka, Adam (January 2000). "Finals". Next Generation. Vol. 3 no. 1. Imagine Media. p. 95.
  32. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (GBC)". Nintendo Power. 130. March 2000.
  33. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing (N64)". Nintendo Power. 127: 157. December 1999.
  34. "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 1999.
  35. Orry, James (March 2, 2007). "Ready 2 Rumble returns to the ring". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.