Hajime no Ippo: THE FIGHTING (GBA)

!SPOILER WARNING!

I recently watched this Anime, and about two days after I finished all 70 something odd episodes the next season was announced for 2009; A week or so later the GBA Rom was translated into English, so I decided to check it out.

OK, on to the first part of the review.. This game was better than i thought it was going to be, It has almost all of the boxers that Ippo fought (or just Sparred with), Miyata, Sendo, Vorg/Volg, Date, Mashiba (who I still swear looks like a Japanese John Kerry.. it must be the eyebrows...) to name a few. Story mode takes you through the fights in the order they appear in the series (excluding a few boxers that didn't make it to the game like Jason or that guy that headbutts Ippo) there's also a option to customize a boxer but, it is NOT a create-your-own sadly, you just pick a boxer that you unlocked from story mode and slowly get points to beef them up till the point they're much stronger than the original one was.This feature offers a lot of replay value to the game, because you get points by winning fights in Story and Tournament mode (my current custom Ippo is a goddamn beast).

Tournament mode is pretty much Arcade mode, you pick a boxer (that's unlocked, of course) and you go through every opponent (excluding the customs) till you win. The only real reason for this is if you want more challenging fights by toggling to like normal or hard mode (to me normal mode was actually challenging, maybe I'm just a wuss but Date and Miyata were a pain in the ass) or by getting points to raise the stats on your custom character.

Something I forgot to mention, In Story mode when you get to Date you have to beat him to unlock him (which brings you to the first ending) or you can lose so you can beat and unlock Shigeta (if the name doesn't ring a bell he's the South Paw that taunts Sendo). There is also a Sparring option if you want to practice (Highly recommended you mess around with this when you first play the game so you can understand how everything works), you can also experiment with a new character that you aren't quite used to yet here. There is a option to set the difficulty and a input options on who controls your opponent (None, CPU and 2nd Player).

Finally there is VS Mode, I haven't even messed with VS mode, But I'm positive that it's just 1 player vs 2 player.

Starting out the controls took me awhile to understand fully, when you pause the game you can bring up a list of your moves, All of Ippo's moves from the series are in here I think.. the Gazelle Punch, Liver Blow, Smash (which I guess is his short uppercut, Not really sure), Dempsey Roll, a standard Long Uppercut that every character in this game has, a Cross Block that I think he used like once.. and another move everyone has that uses Spirit Points to raise from the mat. I'll tell you right now though, the Dempsey Roll is a royal pain in the ass to pull off (I partially blame my controller).

They did really well showing off the moves that were in the show, Date even has the move he had in the show where he turns his head right when you punch to make it look like you hit, uhh Mashiba has his elbow block, I think Shigeta even has a taunt move that depletes the opponent's Spirit Points if it's used correctly. EVERY boxer on here (excluding Okita because hes just a slower Dante without the extras) is unique and take awhile to adjust to, especially Miyata, because nearly all his useful attacks are counters (his Jolt inflicts like the most yellow damage IN THE GAME), From what I can tell the original Japanese voice actors are all in this also.

The game is a little short going by story mode, But creating a custom character really helps the replay value a lot, there's slots for a custom of every boxer I think. I really hope they port this game International/US, as there are few boxing games out that are really good.

This game will remind you of Super-Punch-Out!! (both SNES and Arcade versions) because the layout is very similar in-game except all you see is your gloves.. and your opponent isn't at least 3 WEIGHT CLASSES ABOVE YOUR TINY LITTLE ASS (seriously I feel bad for Little Mac, at the same time i wouldn't ever want to piss him off). I really wish they could have somehow used that song "Naked Fang" from the anime when you fight in the ring, even if it was just a midi version of it or whatever (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoLvqSMWC38 if you want to hear it).

OK, This is getting long (I'm not used to writing reviews you'll have to excuse me for now), One last thing I'll say is that sometimes the fights (noticeably the Date and Miyata fights on Tournament mode) are frustratingly hard even on easy, I'm still glad I downloaded this. I tried to be a little more reasonable with my rating (I'm still getting use to rating things), I'll get used to it though.


RATING :
Game play: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Music: 9/10
Sound: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Replay Value: 9/10

Overall: 8/10

Tips:

• There are two ways to successfully pull off a Dempsey Roll, right at the start or at the end of a Liver Blow/Gazelle Punch combo (I have only done this once and it was against Sendo, which is funny cause it's what finally finishes him off in the Anime) If you're doing it at the start of a fight, keep an eye on the side of your screen, you should see a red and blue sideways 8 on a scale, If your opponent charges you you wont make it (Don't even attempt on Date or Saeki they don't give you a chance).
• Your goal is to break your opponent's guard, after you do that and get a few hits in with a combo immediately finish with a special, If you have Ippo and you have the moves available Liver Blow to a Gazelle Punch (IF you can somehow do it use a Dempsey Roll next).

• There are two types of damage, RED and YELLOW Red; Red lasts till the end of the round and is what you should focus on dealing the most; Yellow slowly goes down after inflicted but will still knock you down (The Liver Blow is probably the highest Red damaging move in the game, coupled with a Gazelle Punch that inflicts a lot of Yellow damage its a deadly combo.).
• At the end of each round you are given 3 options, Recover Damage, SP Increase UP, Down Limit UP. As you may notice in this picture there is a red down arrow on your damage bar, if damage goes over that arrow you get knocked down, Down Limit UP moves it to the end of the bar, but you still have to wait till the damage goes below the area that arrow was at before you can get up from the 10 count (unless you use your Get Up ability). SP Increase UP fills your Spirit Points faster when you hit, I don't need to tell you what Recover Damage does. (Note : Each fighter has their own little animation on one of these options, for Ippo his Coach slaps him on the back when you select SP Increase)
• Miyata's Jolt Counter has the highest Yellow damage in the game (and adds more depending on how strong the punch you countered was), You can easily knock people out in a single hit with this, but its tricky getting the timing right, you have to brace for a punch right before it's thrown.
• Vorg/Volg has the best combo in the game, coupled with the White Fang he's a beast, You will still probably have trouble with Date though, Vorg just doesn't hit hard enough to bring him down as early as the other fights, and his punches hurt like hell.
• The Corkscrew Blow deals red and yellow damage plus can break someones guard making it very useful, The Heartbreak Shot does the same thing but also stuns your opponent.
• Mashiba's Flicker Jabs will keep your opponent at long range, up close he has his Chopping Right, one of the more unique characters by far.

That's it for now, Maybe I should review the Anime one day.