Knockout Kings

Knockout Kings is a series of boxing video games that were produced by EA Sports for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Color and GameCube yearly between 1998 and 2003. Before releasing the first Knockout Kings, Electronic Arts released its first 3D boxing game, Foes of Ali, for the 3DO in 1995. While there are a few similarities between the two games, Foes of Ali was developed by a different team, Gray Matter and as such, is not regarded as a true prequel. The Knockout Kings game series gives the user a chance to compete against numerous real fighters, such as Muhammad Ali, Eric Esch, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Larry Holmes, Jake LaMotta, Roberto Durán, Alexis Argüello, and Ray Mancini. The duration of a round can be adjusted to either 90 seconds or 3 minutes. In the game's "slugfest" mode, fighters can knock each other out at any given moment of the fight, or suffer 6 or 7 knockdowns and still last for the whole fight. There are several differences between Knockout Kings, Knockout Kings 2000, and Knockout Kings 2001 in particular, the most notable being the graphics. In Knockout Kings, the boxer sprites, although distinctive, are not facially representative of their real-life counterparts. Championship bouts can last only up to 10 rounds and not for 12 as in real life or 15 as in the past. In between rounds, all that is seen is a ring-card girl. In Career Mode, a fighter is made to retire right after winning the title and defending it for only the first time. A created boxer can fight in Career Mode and Slugfest Mode, but not in Exhibition mode. Although there is a training mode within Career Mode, it is extremely basic. However, 2 aspects that Knockout Kings has which the sequels lack is that the referee does a mandatory eight-count when a fighter is knocked down whereas in the sequels the referee stops the count immediately after a fighter gets up from a knockdown, and, in Career Mode, the result of a fight is afterwards seen on the screen as front-page newspaper headlines. In Knockout Kings 2000 for the PS1, the boxer sprites are for the first time facially representative of their real-life counterparts. Championship bouts can last up to 15 rounds. Sound and Music volume can also be adjusted in Option Mode. In between rounds, you may see either a ring-card girl, a replay of a part of the previous round, or your boxer sitting at his corner together with the statistics so far of the bout. Injury to the face of boxers can also be recognized, as well as his mouth-piece flying out if he is hit by a hard punch. A created boxer in Career Mode can now fight in all Modes. The training mode within Career Mode is more specific. You can now control your boxer while he is training and, in the PS1 version, you can also choose the location of your gym. Each boxer in the PS1 version can also be seen entering into the ring just before the bout takes place. There is also a new Mode where the player can see the statistics and biography of all the real-life boxers in the game, and another Mode in which the player can re-live famous classic bouts. The user-interface and intro-theme of the PS1 version is different to the N64 version and there are also more boxers, while the graphics on each version are similar. Knockout Kings 2001 contains the same improvements as Knockout Kings 2000 and adds more. Whereas fighters in KO Kings and KO Kings 2000 are either "boxer" or "slugger" style fighters, the styles of fighters in KO Kings 2001 are either "boxer", "slugger", "freestyle", or "crab", and these differences of style are very noticeable during bouts. Commentary in KO Kings 2001 is also far more vocal than its predecessors. During Career Mode, your trainer will occasionally talk and give you advice in between rounds as you progress through the bout. A fighter in Career Mode is made to retire after winning the title and defending it for several times. KO Kings 2001 is also the first game of the series to introduce CPU vs CPU bouts and "fantasy match-ups" between famous boxers of different eras, and the first to introduce women's boxing, which is accessible in Exhibition Mode. The PS1 and PS2 versions of Knockout Kings 2001 are virtually identical. Knockout Kings 2002 changes many concepts of its predecessors, e.g. you have to progress through a number of bouts in order to unlock new fighters. After Knockout Kings 2003, the name of the series was replaced by Fight Night (EA video game series).

In Knockout Kings 2002, you get to stare down your opponent as the ref runs down the rules, smack your gloves with his, wait for the bell...and let your fists fly. The speed, pain and adrenaline of professional boxing has come to your fingertips. Now it's time to show the world who's the champ! Intense, head-to-head action takes it to the mat with the superior technology of PS2.

All the egomaniacal, violent splendor of heavyweight boxing comes to the PlayStation 2 in Knockout Kings 2001 by EA Sports. This title employs EA's new CyberScan technology, which allows the boxers faces to be accurately reproduced in full polygonal glory. In addition to the graphical overhaul, the game features new modes of play and simplified control. Choose your champion from a stable of boxing's greatest, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and Lennox Lewis. A new career mode allows you to play through several weight classes and to box at famous arenas all around the world.

Fight Night is EA Sports' new boxing series, replacing the previous Knockout Kings line of games. You have the option of creating your own personalized boxer, and entering a career mode, where you start off on the lowest rung in dirty, rundown gyms, as you make your way up the ropes to become the undisputed champion. Throughout your career you will have to battle many enemies, all vying for the same title. As you play, you will be able to train, improving your boxer's stats. You can hit a punching bag to increase power and speed, spar with an opponent for more stamina and agility, attack the dummy to improve chin and body, or hit the mitts to improve heart and cut. Besides career mode, you have access to the standard modes. Fight Night 2004 features the "Total Control" system, which utilizes both sticks to give you complete percision over your boxer's moves. The right analog stick controls all the punching, and the left stick controls movement and defense/blocks. There are several unlockables available, all of which must be earned through career mode. You can buy new clothes, entrance music, even new girls to accompany you to the ring. The PlayStation 2 version of Fight Night 2004 supports online play via EA Sports' online network. As with all other EA Sports titles, Fight Night 2004 utilizes the EA Sports Bio, which tracks your progress through all EA Sports games. The more games you play, the longer you play them, and the better you do translates into a higher Gamer Level. When you reach certain levels, you can unlock special rewards.

Toughman Contest is a game based on the world famous boxing competition of the same name. You pick one of 24 fighters, compete in one of 5 locations from around the world, and re-create the Toughman tournament as seen on TV. The boxing action is viewed from behind the back of fighter you control. Your fighter is rendered as an outline, so you can see what your opponent is up to and react accordingly. Toughman matches consist of three one minute rounds. Your goal is to KO your opponent by causing their stamina meter to decrease to the point where they fall down, or beating on them enough that you are scored the winner at end of the third round.

In Knockout Kings 2002, you get to stare down your opponent as the ref runs down the rules, smack your gloves with his, wait for the bell...and let your fists fly. The speed, pain and adrenaline of professional boxing has come to your fingertips. Now it's time to show the world who's the champ! Intense, head-to-head action takes it to the mat with the superior technology of PS2.

A boxing game featuring a Championship mode and a 1 or 2 player exhibition match mode. In the Championship mode, players choose from 1 of the 8 available boxers, and then compete against the other 7 boxers on the road to try becoming the World Champ. Players go toe to toe with their opponents in the boxing ring in 3 minute rounds. The boxers can throw hooks and jabs at each other with the sole intention to knock their opponent down to the canvas by draining all their energy by landing those punches. Each punch thrown costs the boxer some stamina which is indicated by boxing glove icons. If all the boxers stamina is drained, they can no longer throw punches for a little while until they gain some of their stamina back. After each fight is over, players go to the gym to train in various different exercises like skipping rope and bench pressing weights. These exercises increase the players boxer in various areas like speed and power. Options include setting the number of rounds (from 1 to 10) and setting the difficulty level (novice, advanced, and expert).

Tape up your hands, pull on your gloves and get ready to go toe-to-toe with some of the most accomplished boxers you're ever likely to meet. Victorious Boxers places you directly in the ring as Ippo Makunouchi on his quest to become the champion. But first you must prove to the coach that you're worth training!

Onizuka Katsuya Super Virtual Boxing ~Shin Kentou Ou Densetsu~ is a boxing video game, developed by Sting Entertainment and published by SOFEL, which was released exclusively in Japan in 1993. It was licensed and endorsed by Katsuya Onizuka, a former WBA Super Flyweight champion.

All the egomaniacal, violent splendor of heavyweight boxing comes to the PlayStation 2 in Knockout Kings 2001 by EA Sports. This title employs EA's new CyberScan technology, which allows the boxers faces to be accurately reproduced in full polygonal glory. In addition to the graphical overhaul, the game features new modes of play and simplified control. Choose your champion from a stable of boxing's greatest, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and Lennox Lewis. A new career mode allows you to play through several weight classes and to box at famous arenas all around the world.

Final Blow is an action game based around the sport of boxing. You can play the fighters in a sequence of knock-out competitions, (the computer versions also include a round-robin league). Rounds last one minute, with a short break in between them. As in the real sport, your aim is to knock your opponent down for 10 seconds, by gradually weakening him with a series of punches. You can block punches, to avoid them inflicting damage onto you. The ring is of a limited size, so players can be cornered, although the referee will intervene to break the boxers up if they become entangled in a stalemate position.

Ashita no Joe: Masseki ni Moe Agare! is a Sports game, developed and published by Konami, which was released in Japan in 2003.

Knockout Kings is a series of boxing video games that were produced by EA Sports for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Color and GameCube yearly between 1998 and 2003. Before releasing the first Knockout Kings, Electronic Arts released its first 3D boxing game, Foes of Ali, for the 3DO in 1995. While there are a few similarities between the two games, Foes of Ali was developed by a different team, Gray Matter and as such, is not regarded as a true prequel. The Knockout Kings game series gives the user a chance to compete against numerous real fighters, such as Muhammad Ali, Eric Esch, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Larry Holmes, Jake LaMotta, Roberto Durán, Alexis Argüello, and Ray Mancini. The duration of a round can be adjusted to either 90 seconds or 3 minutes. In the game's "slugfest" mode, fighters can knock each other out at any given moment of the fight, or suffer 6 or 7 knockdowns and still last for the whole fight. There are several differences between Knockout Kings, Knockout Kings 2000, and Knockout Kings 2001 in particular, the most notable being the graphics. In Knockout Kings, the boxer sprites, although distinctive, are not facially representative of their real-life counterparts. Championship bouts can last only up to 10 rounds and not for 12 as in real life or 15 as in the past. In between rounds, all that is seen is a ring-card girl. In Career Mode, a fighter is made to retire right after winning the title and defending it for only the first time. A created boxer can fight in Career Mode and Slugfest Mode, but not in Exhibition mode. Although there is a training mode within Career Mode, it is extremely basic. However, 2 aspects that Knockout Kings has which the sequels lack is that the referee does a mandatory eight-count when a fighter is knocked down whereas in the sequels the referee stops the count immediately after a fighter gets up from a knockdown, and, in Career Mode, the result of a fight is afterwards seen on the screen as front-page newspaper headlines. In Knockout Kings 2000 for the PS1, the boxer sprites are for the first time facially representative of their real-life counterparts. Championship bouts can last up to 15 rounds. Sound and Music volume can also be adjusted in Option Mode. In between rounds, you may see either a ring-card girl, a replay of a part of the previous round, or your boxer sitting at his corner together with the statistics so far of the bout. Injury to the face of boxers can also be recognized, as well as his mouth-piece flying out if he is hit by a hard punch. A created boxer in Career Mode can now fight in all Modes. The training mode within Career Mode is more specific. You can now control your boxer while he is training and, in the PS1 version, you can also choose the location of your gym. Each boxer in the PS1 version can also be seen entering into the ring just before the bout takes place. There is also a new Mode where the player can see the statistics and biography of all the real-life boxers in the game, and another Mode in which the player can re-live famous classic bouts. The user-interface and intro-theme of the PS1 version is different to the N64 version and there are also more boxers, while the graphics on each version are similar. Knockout Kings 2001 contains the same improvements as Knockout Kings 2000 and adds more. Whereas fighters in KO Kings and KO Kings 2000 are either "boxer" or "slugger" style fighters, the styles of fighters in KO Kings 2001 are either "boxer", "slugger", "freestyle", or "crab", and these differences of style are very noticeable during bouts. Commentary in KO Kings 2001 is also far more vocal than its predecessors. During Career Mode, your trainer will occasionally talk and give you advice in between rounds as you progress through the bout. A fighter in Career Mode is made to retire after winning the title and defending it for several times. KO Kings 2001 is also the first game of the series to introduce CPU vs CPU bouts and "fantasy match-ups" between famous boxers of different eras, and the first to introduce women's boxing, which is accessible in Exhibition Mode. The PS1 and PS2 versions of Knockout Kings 2001 are virtually identical. Knockout Kings 2002 changes many concepts of its predecessors, e.g. you have to progress through a number of bouts in order to unlock new fighters. After Knockout Kings 2003, the name of the series was replaced by Fight Night (EA video game series).