Its hard to talk about videogame boxing without mentioning the Punchout series for Nintendo and Super Nintendo. Its hard to believe that while the best games in most genres have all come out in the last few years, the best boxing games are from systems two generations ago. Its not that companies havent been trying to make better games, its just that games like Ready to Rumble and Knockout Kings havent been able to recreate the sharp controls, interesting characters, and fun that Punchout has provided. The latest in a series of challengers to the crown of best boxing game of all time is Victorious Boxers, a Japanese boxing game based on a manga series, and while its quite weird, its also very good.

Since the game is based on a manga, it stands to reason that its going to have a distinctive look, and it does. The main character, Ippo, has the spiked hair and big eyes that are common in Japanese animation, but the rest of the characters are fairly normal looking. Where the fighters really shine is in the way in which they are animated. The characters all show real time damage to their faces when they take a beating, making it quite easy to discern whos winning the fight between rounds. They all move fluidly, and have a large amount of realistic moves which they can perform, and unlike the sluggish Knockout Kings, all the in-ring action takes place at blistering speeds.

There are ten different arenas in which the action takes place, and while none of them are particularly outstanding looking, they do the job just fine. The crowds, which gradually increase as you move up in the ranks, are all animated, but with only two frames of animation they dont look too impressive. There are a wide variety of camera angles to view the action, ranging from the default camera (which is the best), to an above the ring view, ground level, and waaaayy outside the ring perspective. For a game that most likely featured a modest budget, Victorious Boxers ends up looking quite respectable.

Victorious Boxers sound presentation isnt quite as strong as its visuals. Outside of the Michael Buffer clone that does the ring announcing, there are no character voices to speak of. All of the communication between boxer and trainer is handled through a series of poorly translated text bubbles. You are like punch bag is a fine example of the translation work done in the game.

More painful than reading the bizarre text is listening to the odd variety of music put into the game. Electronic jazz, dance, and funky pop tunes all play during the bouts. None of the music is particularly horrible, but a large percentage of it has no business being in a boxing game. The rest of the audio features realistic (Im talking movie realistic) sound effects, be it punches connecting, the crowd cheering, or a fighter hitting the canvas.

By far the best aspect of Victorious Boxers is the actual fighting. The controls are nicely arranged and very easy to learn. Jabs and hooks are performed with the controllers face buttons, and more powerful variations of the punches can be done by pressing one of the shoulder buttons in conjunction with a face button. All movement is handled by the left analog stick where you can duck, dodge and weave with ease. All of the controls work flawlessly, save for the Z-targeting which is used to keep the boxers facing each other. Its a frequent occurrence to have your boxer facing the opposite way as your opponent for no apparent reason. This situation can usually be fixed by wiggling the analog stick, but sometimes it just has to resolve itself. Fortunately, the computer also has this problem, so the disadvantage is spread out.

The game boasts a large amount of fighters, 43 different characters in all. You begin by training against weaker boxers, and as you have more and more success, youll move up the ranks. Similar to Punchout, but not as exaggerated, each character has distinct strengths and weaknesses. Your trainer will usually inform you of a strength or weakness and advise you of a good strategy, but when you get better, or participate in a championship fight, its up to you to figure out what to do.

The actual boxing finds a medium between realism and arcade-like gameplay. Certain things are realistic, like the lack of a health or stamina meter, or the fact that flailing wildly at your opponent will get you knocked on your rear. Other things like the speed of the game, and some of the punches, are more arcade like. It all adds up to a great mix, thats easy to pick up and play, but hard to get perfect. A two-player mode is also included and its a great way to perfect your skills against a human opponent. The camera is very conducive to two-player action, and the controls are easy to learn, so its a good game to play when a group of friends are over.

All in all Victorious Boxers ends up being a very solid boxing game, and a pleasant surprise. Some people may be turned off by a lack of a license, but with all of the thugs and washed-up pugilists out there today, perhaps its better to have imaginary ones. If you thought Knockout Kings was too plodding and boring, give this game a shot - you may be as surprised as I was.