Willy Beamish Review

This review of mine was posted on Nerdbacon.com on 7-15-14

You can find the review at its original source at this link:
http://nerdbacon.com/adventures-willy-beamish-sega-cd/

To start off my hopefully long tenure on Nerd Bacon, I decided to review something strange in my library. For the infamous Sega CD, we have a point and click adventure title known only as The Adventures of Willy Beamish. An interesting title, it was developed by Dynamix and published by our good old friends at Sierra in 1991 for MS-DOS. It was later ported over to the infamous Sega CD add-on for the Genesis, which I happen to own. For those of you who don’t know, the Sega CD was a disaster, both financially and critically for its lack of games with any credibility and ultimate confusion  by consumers at its very existence. Both the CD and 32x add-ons were forgotten, and basically worked and looked like life support for the outdated Genesis console. I mentioned games without credibility, but this game among others, I happen to actually quite like.

You play as a young boy named, well, Willy Beamish. And essentially, the main point of the game is that Willy really wants to go to the creatively named “Nintari National Championships.” (In case you couldn’t catch on to the wordplay, it’s a video game competition.) Only problem is that it would cost him about 2,500 dollars to gain entrance, so he decides to enter a…frog jumping contest with a grand prize of 25,000 dollars so he can get into the famed Nintari championships. A frog jumping contest? Well, better go get an expensive frog costume and win me some 25 grand!

Willy is not fond of detention.

As you can see, the plot is a bit…odd. But that’s one thing that gives the game its charm. Everything you could expect from a Sierra game is right here though, from Kings Quest-esque death animations, to specific patterns you must follow to get anywhere, The Adventures of Willy Beamish may take you some time to complete, but it will be worth it. The charm of all point and click adventure games can be found here, and I believe this title does a good job of sucking you into the atmosphere with its humor and memorable characters. While it’s true that Willy is a bit of a 90’s “brat” archetype, he remains quite memorable to me for one reason or another, and I actually happen to quite like him. From making sarcastic remarks at his parents and every day life situatons, he sincerely reminds me a bit of Bart Simpson, a feature that is common in young characters, but I happen to quite like in this game. One thing that’s humorous other than Willy himself is some of the many ways you can fail at the game. Seriously, I encourage every single one of you to go look up some of the death animations for yourselves and try not to laugh at the over the top, demented nature of them. As I said earlier, they really remind me of some of the ones from Kings Quest, but I would have to say that these are definitely more over the top and hilarious, which is really fitting when you think about the overall story as it develops. I don’t really want to spoil TOO much more, so, instead, I shall move on to other parts of the game.

If you’re not careful, you can die and be processed into Splenda. Not joking.

The music isn’t anything special, basically what you would really expect from the game at first glance. As for the environment, I actually quite like it. It reminds me of the city of Chicago and has a decently memorable number of locations and characters to be found in it. No complaints here really.

The gameplay is the expected point and click style, where you must try everything with everything. This is where a few of the “flaws” are with this game, in that sometimes, items you use in certain situations make absolutely no sense to use, creating a sort of “fake difficulty” in the trial and error you will have to go through to simply pass some obstacles, many of which are time based. Often times, the difficultly also seems to be a problem. The game (if you have the box) clearly looks like a kid’s game, and even has the art style of a kid’s game  (bright and cartoony).  And even with some of the humor and sexual innuendos found in the game, it even deceptively feels like a kid’s game at first. That’s where things stop though. The game requires a lot out of you, and while I don’t believe the game is as difficult as, say, Darkseed, I do think it will take anyone with no experience in the genre, or someone younger, quite a long time to complete, and honestly, sometimes it can be frustrating and really feel unrewarding. The game is a huge guessing game. One wrong move, and the game will punish you for it, making it excruciatingly frustrating to really play for long, extended periods. I felt bored with how much trial and error there was, and yet I don’t mind it when found in similar titles, and this is because of this game’s fake difficulty. Games such as Kings Quest are rewardingly difficult, and while this game feels rewarding some of the time, it really just feels falsely difficult and frustrating rather than rewardingly difficult.

Strange things happen when Willy and his friends read his sister’s diary.

Despite the fact that it can feel like it has this fake difficulty I keep mentioning, due to ridiculous trial and error, it remains pretty easy for anyone who has played the genre before. I don’t really have a very safe estimate for how much time it took me to beat, but it definitely didn’t take me long, and I didn’t really feel like anything other than frustration and parts of the plot really brought it down. It remained a pretty fun and enjoyable ride throughout, even having pretty solid controls on the Sega CD. I had fun with it, and I can recommend it to anyone who has played the genre or Sierra games before. However, I can’t really say it would really appeal to anyone whom the game is seemingly marketed towards. If you can find it out there and own the Sega CD, or even MS-DOS, I would say give it a chance. Its dark and enjoyable humor could very well win you over.

I give it a solid recommendation and score the game a 7.5 out of 10. The main issue is the frustrating nature of the game, as well as the plot at times, and the fact that sometimes it doesn’t feel special compared to other point and click titles.

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Sega Genesis VS. Super Nintendo: How did it effect us?

This post was originally written by me for thepalaceofwisdom.co.uk, a site I currently work on, on May 10th 2014. 

You can find this editorial at its original source at:

http://www.thepalaceofwisdom.co.uk/blog/2014/05/10/retrosnesgenesis/

I wasn’t alive during what many claim to be the greatest console war, I wasn’t even in existence when Sega claimed that “Genesis does what Nintendon’t!” though commercials raging across the television screens of suburbia. I can only dream and think up what it was like in the lunch room of schools during the days of the fourth console generation, discussing the age old question. “Which is better?” Such an elementary question, isn’t it? But you have to think about the kind of answers one question could garner and the type of people it could attract to the discussion. Today we are looking at the battles raged on between the Sega Genesis (or, Mega Drive for those outside the US) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Just what impact did these two 90′s titans have on the gaming scene today?

In America we call the state of Alaska “The Last Frontier,” but what do we mean by that? Well since it was officially the first state added since 1912, we thought of it as new land to explore, a new land to admire and a new land to develop and make our own. We also looked at its harsh conditions and noted that people had not yet scaled the entire land of it. We noticed its natural beauty that couldn’t often be found in the rest of our highly industrialized nation. We looked, and saw a Last Frontier. When will gaming’s last frontier come? No ones really sure of that yet, but one of the first frontiers, was its journey into console competition.

While the Nintendo Entertainment System sold a lot better than the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, really it almost had no competition. NES was really the first console since the Atari 2600 to be significantly successful in what can’t even be called a market. In fact one could argue that Nintendo started (or revived) the gaming market and didn’t really enter it. You’d be correct in praising its innovations and its legacy but one thing that it never really had was competition. Sure you got the Sega Master System along with the highly underrated Atari 7800 console, but these never really hit it big with consumers. In fact one could argue that Nintendo was somewhat of a monopoly in the gaming market that it revolutionized and formed to its will. One thing we all learn in Economics class back in High School… Monopolies are generally not a good thing. Was it back then? Well it didn’t seem to matter really.

Imagine if something like that were to happen today… imagine if you will that the PlayStation 4, Xbox One or even the Wii U were the only consoles in the current market. Imagine that the  Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and every console preceding it, lost their online capabilities and could only be played offline and with older games. Imagine just some of the policies that would be in effect if there was this sort of monopoly around today. Remember the original Xbox One’s DRM policies? Now imagine if they didn’t change them because they knew you had nowhere else to go. Imagine if they boosted their online subscription fees but you still wanted to get your game on. Imagine the market being flooded with games with in game purchases and anti-consumerist philosophies about them (more so than there already is). Imagine the entire indie market dying before our very eyes. Guess what? Like a small child on a Saturday morning cartoon, we’re calling to Superman to help save us. Never fear citizen, Console Generation 4’s console war is here to save the day!

That’s right, you heard it here folks, I think console wars are actually a good thing. Not only do they promote competition but they also make sure that the big named game companies will try their best to respect their consumers, because they know that they have other options from a gaming standpoint. Now I know generation 4 wasn’t the first generation with some competition (look back at Intellivision, Colecovision and the Atari 2600 in the 2nd generation) but I believe this is where the console wars of today have really taken influence from. I’m also not trying to downplay the ‘Master Race’ either, as at this time PC games were continuing being a success but I want to just talk consoles here. While console wars can cause brand loyalty issues, they can also help people discuss things intelligently, while also getting them more pumped up for what their favourite console does next!

Nurse I need two subjects to slice up with a bit of analysis. Subject A on the operating table would be the one that released first, the Sega Genesis. Mega Doraibu was released to Japan in 1988, then as Genesis in North America for 1989 and PAL regions in 1990 as the Mega Drive. What was revolutionary about this in the American market was that it really was the first 16 bit console to make an impact on gamers. In addition, it revolutionized (arguably for the negative) what players would look for in their games. What Sega marketed mainly was the ‘Bit’ advantage they had over their main competitor Nintendo. They often pointed out that the ageing NES only had 8 bits, while their console had a whooping 16!

While yes the graphics were superior, it was this sort of argument that got developers very focused on how their games looked rather than actually played. Kids at the time were flooded with messages about bits & graphics, and there were even marketing campaigns about how their games were faster than Nintendo’s. Sega’s marketing measures were controversial and perhaps somewhat poisonous to the industry, but overall they did prove pretty darn effective. “Genesis does what Nintendon’t!” was a huge deal back then in America, as all over the States you could hear people quoting this tagline. Genesis really started what we now know as aggressive marketing in the industry.

Look back (not even that far) at Sony’s little ad about sharing games on the PlayStation 4, that was a direct punch in the face to Microsoft’s Xbox One and its DRM pre-reversed polices. You could definitely argue that hostile marketing like this comes once in a blue moon, but notice its this that garners people’s attention over all else. Even without direct references against different consoles, you always have the fight for which console appears in a commercial with a respective game. I can’t count how many times I have heard “better on the Xbox 360” or something to that effect being played at the end of a video game commercial. Its almost as though there’s a little bit of a war between the two consoles when it comes to ads and we can thank Sega for starting that.

Genesis was a nice, sleek console that looked good on the shelves of gamers, more so than its Nintendo counterparts. The classic NES console looked a lot like a toaster oven and was complained on as being something that didn’t look hip & happening in that day in age. In addition to the marketing ploys, Sega also had a nice, sexy design that won a lot of consumers over in America as well as in Europe. Its black coloring and great aesthetics really beat out its counterparts and it really isn’t hard to see why.

While its easy to just talk about appearances when judging the Genesis and the graphic wars, when it came right down to it this was a solid console with a huge amount of solid games for it. Genesis gave the video game industry memorable classics such as Altered Beast, Ecco the Dolphin, Golden Axe, Shining Force, and the legacy ridden Sonic The Hedgehog. Also Sega had taken the Genesis and clearly marketed itself as the adult console. Letting blood show in Midway’s Mortal Kombat for example, while the NES and even the SNES struck a lot of youth as the kids console of choice. Not only was the Genesis a looks and marketing masterpiece when it came out but it also soon had a library of games that could rival Nintendo, something that hadn’t happened yet in that market. This is when game developers really had to try. Because they knew that companies like Sega and Nintendo needed to beat each other out. So if Sega seems to have all these positives, do they have what “Nintendon’t?”

All bad puns aside, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo’s answer to the Sega console giant. It was first released in 1990 as the Super Famicom for Japan, then followed 1991 in America and 1992 in Europe & Australia. While Sega pushed hard marketing, speed and a new blue coloured mascot, Nintendo and their pesky red-hatted plumber came punching right back with the late but significant launch of their Super Nintendo. While the SNES was about two years late to the fourth generation party, it still garnered the best sales overall and arguably had the better looks and games.

While Nintendo may not have had as hard marketing or appealing console specs like Sega did, they introduced a much more versatile controller that made it a lot easier to play their titles over that of the Genesis. Games were another thing it definitely had, sure Sega kept competing but there wasn’t a lot they could do when the SNES came bundled with a copy of one of the best games in history… Super Mario World. After the fact that Sega kept angering fans with its wasteful add-ons, Nintendo kept moving forward releasing classic after.

While there is no doubt in my mind that Genesis has one of the best libraries in the history of video gaming, it’s not going to be a surprise to most when I say that the SNES’s library was just simply better. As I mentioned previously, you had the acclaimed Super Mario World along with other titles like Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario RPG, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and just so many other fantastic titles that graced the shelves of many gamers in the early 90s. Super Nintendo Entertainment System matched the Genesis in every way and as of 2014, the SNES still leads in sales figures, at approximately 49 million units sold – compared to the Genesis’s approximately 40 million (according to respective reports from each company).

If you don’t take sales figures and games alone, consider the hardware comparison presented by Purdue University. According to the study not only does the SNES have double the RAM of the Genesis, it has double sound RAM, better audio, double simultaneous colors possible, way more general colors possible, more maximum simultaneous sprites, better maximum sprite size and better display resolution. There is simply no way to argue that the SNES did not win the console war in really any regard other than if you break down sales by just a region. Realistically, the game was already set, the match had already been won and yet there was still about in the lunch rooms of the world. I can hear the voices yelling. “Sega or Nintendo? Sega or Nintendo?” All across the playgrounds, and even the break rooms of the world, fights were broken out over the preferred console of choice for the fourth generation and that is what fascinates me overall.

While SNES is clearly the superior console for the most part (one could make a case if they preferred the games on the Genesis) and yet (even when shown the proof in the case of hardware and such), many fans of the Genesis will still back their preferred console up. Is this a bad thing? Think about the ignorance that many console war fighters have these days with their favorite consoles. Don’t you think that I would think that these testosterone filled imbeciles would learn by now to accept fact? I actually admire the survivors of the fourth generation console war who supported and continue to support Sega because of the fact that many of them did and do like the games over the hardware specs or even some of the games that the SNES had to offer. That’s what gaming is all about.

Will there be clearly better artistic and superior games on certain consoles out there? Of course. But one unique factor of the console wars is the fact that sometimes, there isn’t just one factor that influences a console of choice, but an ultimate and complex reasoning behind it all. SNES might have won the console war from a hardware and sales standpoint, but even though I would say they won it from a game standpoint as well, it really is up for debate. That’s what I most love about console wars, the fact that there is always a debate ready and waiting for someone to spark it among friends, co-workers, families and above all… anyone with a mind and a will to game.

Hook up your 16 bit consoles friends and rage on! The fouth generation console war will always not only rage on within fans of each respective console itself but also in the hearts and spirits of gamers everywhere. What about you? What’s that you’re saying? Xbox and PlayStation? The console war spirit rages on in these new contenders as well, and I can only be optimistic about what the future holds for video game console competition after the first frontiers of video game console wars have been set over 20 years ago.

- See more at: http://www.thepalaceofwisdom.co.uk/blog/2014/05/10/retrosnesgenesis/#sthash.OFybyptQ.dpuf

Flash Game Watch: Back in Time (Walkthrough)

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From The Vault: Rocket Power Beach Bandits Review

Subject: Rocket Power Beach Bandits Review   Mon Feb 04, 2013 12:48 am
When I was younger (I'm turning 17 this year mind you so I'm already pretty young) I LOVED Nickelodeon. I loved sitting down in front of my TV and watching episodes of older Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, The Rugrats, and Jimmy Neutron. But wait, this review is about Rocket Power, so you're probably (maybe not) wondering what I thought of the show and to be honest, I really don't remember too much of it. I mean yeah, I remembered what the characters looked like, and yeah I know the premise, but I really don't remember a single episode of that show. For some reason though, someone bought me this game, and I remember sitting in front of my game shelf wondering what this game would be, assuming it'd probably be as bad as the Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius game I had just finished playing, but nevertheless I was curious as a probably around 8 year old could be. And I really enjoyed it, like REALLY REALLY enjoyed it. I recently started playing all these old games, and because I hadn't played this game in years, I popped it into the ole ps2 and began my journey to find out if 8 year old me was a nutcase that had no taste in games or was right in finding a gem... The first thing you'll notice that may give you some reason to consider turning the game off is the character models which, I mean resemble the characters from the show ok, but the way they move and the way their mouths move when they talk is really awkward. Not to say it's too bad, but sometimes its really kind've distracting. But beyond the first bad thing you'll notice, lets get to the premise of the game shall we? So the Rocket gang er whatever you want to call them are on summer break and are like totally stoked for some surfing some gnarly waves bro! But then they like look at the beach and the sands gone for no reason, so they go up to some politician conveniently having some speech about the sand issue and afterwards, they do what any good American would do...SUSPECT THE POLITICIAN! Anyways, after that they kinda go around and try and find clues to where the sand went and try and save their summer vacation from some major suckage. It seems like a really juvenile plot, and it is, its a kids game, but honestly it goes together quite nicely and I have no really big complaints outside of some nitpicking. A good aspect that really helps the story is the script for each character when you talk to them, or even for what your character says when they pull of some tricks or wipeout. It gets repetitive at times, but overall it gets some laughs, and despite the weird models and how they move, it gives some much needed personality. If you're a fan of the show, all the characters are pretty much here, and it even takes some real environments from Ocean Shores on the show. Despite being decent, the story isn't what shapes the game, it of course, is the gameplay. The gameplay consists of doing all sorts of extreme stuff, whether it be skating, rollerskating, jet skiing, even bumper cars and some other pretty fun mini games that all play well. The skating is what really excels, and despite an awkward button setup, its really easy to learn, and is very fun to use. During the open world story mode, skating is the best way to get around, and there's really just not many problems with it other than a few minor nitpicks. Rollerblading is pretty sloppy honestly, as its really hard to control and you end up bumping into walls a whole lot. Jet skiing is only used a few times, but is overall a fun method, and is transported well into a boss fight. There's other things like a hoverboard, and one of those sandboard things if I remember correctly, but they mainly are just like the skateboard. If you play the minigame mode, you and your friends could have some fun with some of these things, and the skating element itself can make this experience an enjoyable one. Overall, I'd say if you find it out there somewhere for cheap, get it. It's pretty good honestly, even if you don't know about the show in the slightest. The mini games are fun, the story mode and the whole use of hockey pucks to kill robots (forgot to mention you have a hockey stick as your main weapon in the story) is fun, each level is fun, the multiplayer is fun, this game itself is fun. I mean, I suggest the person who plays it be a little younger, since that's who is going to get most of the enjoyment out of this, but even if you're an adult, give this one a try.

From the Vault: PK Out of The Shadows Review

Subject: PK: Out of The Shadows Review   Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:42 pm
So, I have had this game in my collection for quite a long time and it practically just sat on my shelf for the longest time with me just scratching my head at the concept and the universal panning of the game. Now, I realized it'd be a kiddy title, but you know, I had some fun with other Donald Duck titles, and the fact that this one had a unique concept to me you know? I figured, "Hey, this looks interesting, Disney's take on a dark comic book game with the humor of Donald Duck, this could be fun!" As you guessed by reading the score I've given, I was most certainly wrong. The first majorly notable problem is the game's camera, which basically works in a way to utterly make you extremely furious. Every time you want to do anything it just over corrects itself to an uncomfortable position and does so every time you move from place to place. It not only makes you angry combined with some unresponsive platforming, but really makes the game really hard to enjoy. Aside from just the camera, the main game play is essentially extremely boring. What I could classify this as is a basic third person shooter with awkward platforming and forced humor. Your main weapon is a laser gun that shoots pretty fast and makes short work of most enemies as long as you keep targeted. The problem that lies here is the fact the lock-on sequence isn't smooth like something out of Legend of Zelda, its ultra frustrating, and will likely get off what you want to aim at if you try any simple jump to the side to try and dodge their attacks. This makes combat really frustrating, and frankly, the bland shooting really isn't greatly improved by the minuscule amount of power-ups you get.  The platforming, again is really tedious, as the camera in the game is your biggest enemy. Still, jumping and maneuvering still finds a way to be completely tedious seemingly on accident. I only died a few times from the actual enemies, but the falling damage (that's right FALLING DAMAGE IN A GAME THAT UTILIZES PLATFROMING A LOT) and the clumsiness of jumps just make falling into pits of whatever easier than anything, and when you're first starting its hard to get really. This purple goo stuff throughout the game hurts you, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out but it kills you on touch. So, you could just be jumping around, and because of the clumsy mechanics, hit the goo and die again, and again, and again. I mean the saving grace here is that there are checkpoints. You essentially go around collecting coins that are always in plain sight and use them to purchase checkpoints. I don't like that, but my main nitpick is the checkpoints being so far apart especially in a game specifically designed for kids. Thanks to your terrible game, these kids are going to fall and fall and fall and start awhile back from where they were... beautiful.  Other than rescuing some annoying sounding scientists, the simplicity of jumping, shooting, and collecting coins remains the same and remains in all its horrendous beauty, and never gets any better, and to only make matters worse the story is practically non-existent. So, basically, you're Donald Duck who is some security guard at some building that's never explained, who falls asleep on the job and dreams about his loved ones teasing him. So, out of nowhere he decides he wishes he was a superhero, and then some green hologram guy is just like "okay, there's a bunch of aliens trying to invade, stop them." And that's a good majority of the "story" there. Oh and guess what? In addition to changing Donald's costume to look more like a hero (I have no problem with that), the green hologram guy also changes Donald's voice as well. His VOICE! You know, that thing that makes Donald, Donald?! And the voice they choose isn't even heroic, so the point of that is unknown to me, especially some of the humor that could have been drug out using his real voice. There's some humor in the minuscule amounts of cutscenes there are in this game, but 99 percent of it is extremely unfunny, and to make things worse, the voices don't even match up with the lips half the time. The graphics are okay, and the game can resemble a decent game at times, but every time you think for a second the game "isn't bad" the tedious and boring enemies, the bland backgrounds, and everything else I mentioned earlier make it impossible to recommend to anyone other than collectors and Disney freaks. It could appeal to children around the age of 10 or a little younger, but there are certainly much better options.

From The Vault: Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 Review

Subject: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2   Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:40 pm
Hey you guys? Remember Ready 2 Rumble boxing? Wuzzat? No? well thats actually a shame, because frankly for a game that came out so early in the lifespan of the PS2, it has to be one of the best boxing games I have played on the console. It has a wide variety of characters, and enough modes and ummm interesting choices on unlockable characters to keep you playing and entertained for quite awhile. Now from those sentences, you guessed right in this being a positive review, but I'd just like to go over some of the minor flaws I noticed with the game. Now, if you don't have a buddy to play with, or are playing through the arcade mode, you'll notice something once you start getting better at the game. THE A.I. IS HORRIBLE! Ok, calm down, look at the release date, its an older title and it takes some time to notice this fact. Some of the horrible things about the AI are just how cheap you can get as a few tricks can get you through the arcade mode time and time again, and frankly, most of the attack patterns are fairly predictable after you've played for awhile. Now, not to say this drags the game down too far really to me, frankly it really doesn't ruin anything, and I can't rate the bad A.I as more than a minor problem. Now, another flaw is of course, the absence in a story to the overall game, but I mean really, its a trippy boxing game, if you want a good narrative go play Mass Effect or something XD But nah really, I know I dragged Street Fighter 4 down for a lackluster and a mostly absent story but come on! This game came out in 2000 and is really just a parody of sorts anyways, not too big of a flaw really, and it doesn't cut into the experience of the game at all. The last complaint I have is the bad writing, which, I mean yeah its pretty bad, but thats one of the reasons why this game is so hilarious. Some of the stuff these guys say is absolutely hilarious, and again, doesn't really do anything harmful to the player playing the game other than occasionally annoy them or get like an eye roll reaction of some sort. The biggest flaw is obviously the bad A.I, and of course I'm going to mark it down for that and the fact it makes the single player experience boring after you unlock everything or maybe even before. Single player is the only really standout flaw here  And its a fighting game from the turn of the millennium so really, what did you expect? The pros of this title are easy to talk about as there really was a lot right they did here, take it from me, an avid PlayStation 2 collector, that this is probably my favorite boxing game on the entire console. Simply because it works, rarely any glitches, punches feel nice and smooth, and the combos with each fighter come off as fresh, unique, and fun to pull off to me. Each character is pretty damn funny and peculiar, as even the cover gives you some hippie black guy named Afro Thunder (yes that's his name) punching the crap outta the fat italian Joey T who is pretty angry that some girl named Lulu Valentine beat him in a boxing match XD. Yeah, pretty entertaining, and I learned that just from reading the game manual itself. Some other characters include some cocky Hollywood guy named J.R Flurry, A Brazilian hottie named Selene Strike (I know girls boxing guys right? odd), Mama Tua, another girl but she's like an obese Hawaiian lady. Then there's a robot punching bag, Shaquille O'Neal (yes the basketball player), Michael freaking Jackson (im not joking), and some Russian guy that kinda reminds me of that guy from Rocky 4, and Im pretty sure he says "I must break you" a few times. Every character just seriously makes me crack up, and the sheer concept from half of these appear to have come from a cocaine addict or something because no one with a clear mind would put Michael Jackson in a video game . Naw but they all work well, I mean, yeah you have your uninteresting and cheap characters like in any fighting game, but its pretty subtle here, even for an over the top boxing game. Besides the characters, theres a few modes you can enter, like the arcade mode which is basically self explanatory and only a one player thing. There are some two player modes, and even a tournament mode if you wanna get a bunch of people together and play an 11 year old game. There's a sort of career mode as well where you basically level up your boxer's stats using like workouts and earning money by fighting in bouts, and that to me is probably the best single player feature. The characters, the modes, and the sheer fun of the gameplay comes together to make a simply enjoyable experience, and overall, if you by some rare chance encounter this game, BUY IT! You probably won't be disappointed having this very entertaining boxing game in your collection. LADYS AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS.....LLLLLETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!