Original Release: Sierra, 1985, Assorted computers
Other Releases: Apple II (1986)
An early computer boxing title and perhaps the first to attempt to be an actual “sim” of the sport, complete with manager modes and AI fights
Sierra Championship Boxing (Apple II, Sierra, 1986)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
The first real boxing “simulation” that I’m aware of, you can open this title by heading into the ol’ virtual gym and whipping up a boxer with no restrictions on how broken you wanna make them. Turns out there’s no point to making your own Lv 100 ultimate character, though, as this was too early for any kind of concept of “single player campaigns” and such; you just add the dudes you create to a pre-existing roster of about 50 all-time greats (and a few goofy schlubs) and pit them against each other for the heck of it.
There are three basic modes of play, which can be independently assigned to each boxer in a match: take full manual control, give them general advice in between rounds, or do a pure sim in which you just watch the whole thing unfold.
Unfortunately, it seems to only really be good as a sim or in “coach mode,” at least in this version. Under full manual control, the boxer only sorta sometimes responds to your button presses. I don’t think good gameplay was the focus here so much as a sim that would settle those “who would beat who” arguments, and for that purpose alone it’s not a bad effort for something that first came out in early 1985 (when primitive Atari 2600 Boxing was still the standard).
Obviously greatly outclassed by many other titles at this point, though, and not something you’ll want to try and play as an action/arcade game. Collision detection on punches is also random as hell, and the scoring at the end of each round is kinda off the wall as well.
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