Ready 2 Rumble Boxing

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
North American Dreamcast cover art
Developer(s)	Midway
Publisher(s)	Midway
Platform(s)	Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color
Release date(s)	Dreamcast NA September 8, 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)	Sports game, Fighting
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Distribution	64-megabit cartridge, CD-ROM, GD-ROM

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing is a boxing video game developed by Midway and published 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.

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 fighters they want from a rather large selection.

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 supply to the game.^[1]

The Game Boy Color version was one of very few GBC games to feature built-in rumble.

The Dreamcast, PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions each have a fighter unique to them: these are, respectively, Jimmy Blood, Gino Stiletto and J.R. Flurry.

Ring announcer Michael Buffer appears in the game as himself.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (DC) 84.30%[2] (N64) 77.61%[3] (PS) 75.75%[4] (GBC) 64.33%[5] Review scores Publication Score AllGame [6][7] (N64 & GBC) [8][9] Edge 8/10[10] Electronic Gaming Monthly (DC) 8.75/10[11] (N64) 7/10[12] (PS) 6.5/10[13] GameFan 85%[14] Game Informer 7.25/10[15] GamePro [16][17] (PS) [18] Game Revolution (DC) B+[19] (PS) B−[20] (N64) C−[21] GameSpot (DC) 8.7/10[22] (PS) 7.3/10[23] (N64) 6.7/10[24] GameSpy 7.5/10[25] IGN (DC) 9.1/10[1] (N64) 7.8/10[26] (PS) 6.5/10[27] (GBC) 6/10[28] Nintendo Power (N64) 7.9/10[29] (GBC) 7.3/10[30] Official PlayStation Magazine (US) [31]

The game was met with positive to mixed reception. GameRankings gave it a score of 84.30% for the Dreamcast version,^[2] 77.61% for the Nintendo 64 version,^[3] 75.75% for the PlayStation version,^[4] and 64.33% for the Game Boy Color version.^[5]

Legacy

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.^[32]

Afro Thunder features in TNA Impact! upon gaining 750,000 style points.

References

External links

• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing at MobyGames