Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory

Victorious Boxers - Ippo's Road to Glory is a Playstation 2 video game that is based on the anime and manga series Fighting Spirit. Its original Japanese title was "はじめの一歩 VICTORIOUS BOXERS" (Hajime no Ippo Victorious Boxers). Though the series is very popular in Japan, it is not as widely known in the United States. Five months after its Japanese release, it was announced that it would be distributed in Europe and North America. Victorious Boxers was the first Fighting Spirit video game on the PlayStation 2 and was considered by some industry experts to be "one the most technically accurate representation of the sport of boxing". It was followed by two sequels, はじめの一歩2 VICTORIOUS ROAD (Hajime no Ippo 2 - Victorious Road), which was released only in Japan, and Victorious Boxers 2 - Fighting Spirit, which was released in Japan, Europe and North America.

Plot and Setting
The story is based of the Japanese manga/anime series "はじめの一歩" (Hajime no Ippo), which was released here in North America as Fighting Spirit. The fights in the game mirrored the fights that took place in the series. The beginning of the game focuses on Ippo Makunouchi's rise to the Japanese Featherweight championship, and later switches to Ippo's fellow gym mates' careers. The storyline, which unfolds in the story mode, takes place in six different, linear segments in the game that actually overlapped in the manga. The first bit of the story is omitted from the gameplay and involves Ippo's high school life where he is constantly bullied until he met Mamoru Takamura, who introduced him to boxing.

Story
The game takes place in Japan and begins with a sparring match with Ichiro Miyata, which is actually a rematch from a previous sparring match with Miyata that took place in the manga series. Though the rivalry between the two is only briefly mentioned in the game, it was actually one of the driving plot devices of the manga series. After winning their rematch, Ippo then goes to take his professional boxer exam. Once he passes he then begins his boxing career which leads him to enter the East Japan Rookie Champion Tournament. After winning the tournament, he then faces the West Japan Rookie Champ, Takeshi Sendo. Ippo later enters the Class A tournament where he wins his chance to challenge the Japanese Featherweight Champion, Eiji Date. After losing to Eiji Date, Ippo begins his comeback works his way back up to the featherweight championship, where he once again faces Sendo, who has become the new champion. After winning the title, Ippo then goes on to defend the title five times.

The story then shifts to one of Ippo's sempai, Masaru Aoki, who has already been boxing for a number of years before Ippo. He enters the Class A Tournament, but is unable to win. Afterwards he begins his comeback and rises up through the Lightweight division, all the way to the Lightweight Championship against Katsutaka Imae. Aoki's story differs more from the manga than Ippo's in that Aoki actually lost several of the fights in the manga and did not win the Title bout against Imae. After Aoki, the story shifts again to another of Ippo's sempais, Tatsuya Kimura, who began boxing with Aoki. His story is very similar to Aoki's in that he also enters the Class A Tournament and does not win. Afterwards he also begins his comeback which eventually leads to a Junior Lightweight Championship fight against Ryo Mashiba. Kimura's story is also different than the manga in that he, like Aoki, lost several of the fights manga and did not become the Junior Lightweight Champion.

The story then switches again to Mamoru Takamura. His story is the most similar to the manga in that he is the only character in the series to have never lost a fight, though much of his background and early fights are omitted. It begins with Takamura as the Japanese Middleweight Champion and he is defending his title against the Class A Tournament winner. After winning, he and the others go to an old friend's lodge in the mountains. While training there, he encounters a mountain bear. Though he knocks it out, he received a scar across his chest. After having such a successful boxing career in Japan, he begins to shoot for the a world title. He receives a challenge from the World Junior Middleweight Champion, Brian Hawk. Takamura then begins an even stricter weight management program to drop down to the weight class so he can fight Hawk. When they finally fight, Takamura is victorious and becomes the new Junior Middleweight Champion of the world.

After all the main boxers have been played, Ippo went to visit his coach, Genji Kamogawa, at the mountain lodge because Takamura is getting out of hand with the coach gone, though in the manga it was actually Ippo and Aoki. While there, he learns about Kamogawa's history as a boxer. The game explains it via a flash back story that featured much longer cut scenes that the rest of the game and, like Takamura's story, is accurate to the manga series. He and his long time friend and rival, Ginpachi Nekota, were both boxers before World War II. After the war, they still boxed but because Japan was severely crippled socio-economically, they could only do exhibition matches. The two boxed each other often and once they met a Yuki, young girl from Hiroshima, their rivalry grew even more. While boxing, Kamogawa severely injured Nekota, but Nekota never told him about it because they were friends. One day, Ralph Anderson, an American soldier stationed in their area, challenged some of the boxers there and beat them up in an attempt to show American dominance over Japanese boxers. Nekota tries to beat him in a boxing match, and would have succeeded if not for having developed the beginning stages of punch-drunk syndrome from his fight with Kamogawa. Anderson used an illegal punch on Nekota which only worsened his condition. After Nekota's defeat, Kamogawa begins intensive training to take down Anderson. Through his training, he develops what he referred to as an "iron fist". He then challenges Anderson, who because of his near loss has also trained extensively. After defeating Anderson, Kamogawa vows to pass on the his boxing spirit to his students in the hopes of showing his boxing to the world.

Characters
The game features 44 playable characters, 42 characters and 2 duplicate characters that are handicapped. The game's main protagonist is Ippo Makunouchi. Ippo's friends and fellow contenders are also included. Most every boxer up to the 53rd volume of the manga is included. Examples include, Ryuichi Hayami, Ryo Mashiba, Volg Zangief, Kazuki Sanada, and Ryuhei Sawamura. The ones not included in the game are, Itagaki Manabu, Makino Fumito, Hama Dankichi, and Rally Bernard. The different boxers span five different weight classes. Most every boxer also has a special move that their character in the series utilized in fights.

The two duplicate characters are weaker versions of Ippo Makunouchi and Mamoru Takamura. The two characters are much weaker than their normal versions and are embodiments of parts of the story in manga. The weaker Ippo is the first version of Ippo available. He wears sweats and a t-shirt instead of boxing trunks. He only has one special move, the Jofle uppercut. He is based off Ippo when he first started to box and was training to fight Miyata again. The weaker Takamura has less muscle mass and appears to be ill. He can be used to level the field a bit when fighting with different weight classes. He is based off a fight in the manga where Takamura overdid his weight management because he was scared to eat food after a prank Aoki played on him.

Gameplay
The game has two modes, a single player story mode, and a single or two player versus mode. The game also keeps track of the fight records and saves it to the memory card. Like many fighting games there is an auto-save option that does this. In addition, actual matches can be saved to the memory card as "replay data" and be viewed later. Another feature of the game is that there are 18 different camera angles available during matches, some of which include a first person view from either character, a TV camera angle, and overhead views for various angles.

Controls - The controls were designed to give more realistic movement to the characters. Characters can quickly dash, bob and weave in all eight directions. The punches are also divided into left and right jabs/hooks. When used with "technique" and "special" buttons, even more punches can be executed. Basic combinations and advanced counter-punches are also possible. By combining the upper body movements with the punches, players can duck down and hit to the body or lean back and the throw a quick punch to the head. The initial setup relied heavily on the analog stick for all movements. Minor movements controlled the upper body movements and bigger movements controlled the lower body and movement around the ring.

Damage - One of the more distinguishing features of Victorious Boxers, or lack of features, is that there is no damage or life meter. Visible damage can be seen on a boxer's face, but is most noticeable between rounds, when the characters are sitting in their corners. The amount of damage they've taken is reflected by bruises, swelling, and black eyes on the characters' faces. The only other sign of damage is the speed of movement displayed by the characters throughout the fight. The characters will begin to move slower and the controls become less responsive to simulate fatigue. The more a boxer is hit, the more their stamina is effected. Likewise, when they use special moves more often, their stamina is drained more quickly. Another realistic aspect is that distance is an important factor when trying to maximize damage. A jab thrown right in front of the opponent will not do as much damage as it would at arms length. Right hooks do not do as much damage if the character is positioned to the opponent's left and vice versa.

Modes
Story Mode - The story mode is a single player mode that follows the boxing careers of the main characters from the manga/anime series. All of the playable characters are from the Kamogawa Boxing Gym. Cut scenes are added in before and after matches as the main story telling device. The cut scenes utilized the same character models as the fights. The game has six story arcs and begins with Makunouchi Ippo, the main protagonist from the manga series. After Ippo's story arcs are completed, it then proceeds to the other character story arcs: Aoki Masaru, Kimura Tatsuya, Takamura Mamoru, and Kamogawa Genji. Aside from providing the plot to game, story mode also unlocks more options in the versus mode as a player progresses through the story. Once a main character has been played or a special technique been learned, they become available in the versus mode. Likewise, once an opponent has been beaten, they too are playable in the versus mode.

Versus Game - The versus mode is a free fighting mode where a player(s) can box. The number of players can range from 0 - 2. Both fighters can either be controlled by the computer or by a player. Initially, the only playable characters are Makunouchi Ippo and Miyata Ichiro. The only way to unlock more characters is to play through the story mode. Every character, with the exception of Eiji Date, is unlocked in the order in that they are played in the story mode. Characters that have yet to be unlocked have an unknown icon placed over their face. Although the characters are categorized by their weight class, any character can be selected to fight another regardless of weight class. In addition to choosing the fighters, players can choose from ten locations for the bout as well. Initially, the only available arena is the Kamogawa Boxing Gym basement. New locations become available once a fight takes place there in the story mode. Some of the arenas are actual locations in Japan and include Korakuen Hall and the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.

Development
The game's design gave it a feel of realism that had not been implemented in a boxing game before. The control scheme that was used in Victorious Boxers gave it a level of versatility that had yet to be utilized in previous boxing games. While other games before it had used such ideas as bobbing, ducking, and utilizing an analog control to add degrees of movement, Victorious Boxers did it all on a level of precision not yet seen. The controls gave players "better boxer control", "defensive movement", and were completely customizable. The boxing mechanics also provided more realism by taking into account, the rotation of the body, angle of the punch, and weak points when determining damage. Other components were also designed to give a more realistic feel to the game. "The AI of the computer opponents is extremely advanced" in that they would react realistically to the player's actions. . Though the graphics may not have been on par with other PS2 games, the gameplay animations were very fluid and lifelike.

Reception
Although the game sold well in Japan where the manga series is more well known, it did not sell well in the US mainly due to very little name recognition and poor marketing. In 2001, GameSpot awarded it "Best Game No One Played". Next Generation Magazine rated it 3 out of 5 stars and stated, "It's arguably the best 3D boxing game yet" and the Versus mode offered "solid replay value". Despite the lack of sales and gamers that played the game, it still received good reviews and ratings on game websites. GameSpot editors gave it an "8.5" and users gave it a "8.0". IGN rated it an "8.6" and their readers an "8.1". GamePro rated the controls and fun factor a 4.5 out of 5, though the graphics and sound were rated lower at 3.5 and 3. The Sports Gaming Network rated it 84 out of 100. GameZone rated it a 7.6. Game Rankings.com has it rated at 74.4% and Metacritic at 75 out of 100 with a 7.7 out of 10 from users.

Many reviews commented that the anime/manga style of characters and use of Japanese names would be a turn off to US gamers who were more familiar with boxing games like Knockout Kings or Ready 2 Rumble. Other criticism was about adapting to the controls. GamePro mentioned that though the controls were very intuitive and precise, "they require a lot of brainwork and dexterity". Next Generation also commented on the initial controls, saying that they are problematic at first but can be reconfigured to suit the player. The lack of audio dialog, which forced the player to read text for the story mode, was also a negative when many other games on the PS2 at the time were adding in voice overs. Though the music and sound effects during the fights were well received.