Hajime no Ippo INFO BOX SYSTEMS Gameboy Advance RELEASE DATES Japan - 12/12/02 PUBLISHERS ESP Software OTHER TITLES Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting Here's a little known boxing game released from Treasure (well, unless you're into Treasure and follow them religiously, which I'm sure you do, sicko). It plays a lot like Super Punch Out. It also plays a lot like many 2D fighting games. Of course it's a boxing game played from the first person, so there's no real walking around or jumping. It's all about the punches, the counters and the combos. That's where this little boxing games shines. There's a variety of characters you can use in this game, of course, if you play the story mode then you only get to use Ippo. In story mode you fight your way through the ranks until you're number one. It's pretty easy, and you'll probably rip through it in an hour or two, no lie. Once you get the hang of the rather simple combos which consist mostly of just pushing B (the only punch button) repeatedly while smashing directions to dictate what kind of punch you throw. It's fast, and for added oomph you can use the R button with a punch to pull off a character specific special move. Most special moves are just more powerful punches, but it's really satisfying to pound someone in the face as they're already falling. Other then the story mode you'll find a tournament mode that allows you to pick your fighter and then, well, fight your way to the top again. If you enjoy the story mode, the option of picking your fighter should make the tournament mode ten times better. If you find the computer opponents too easy you could always try to find a friend with the game and have some matches against him or her. Not likely, and not something I've ever tried, but it should be fun. Anyway, the game is pretty, nice big animated sprites fill the screen, the music is standard NON stuff, and the action is fast and satisfying. Unfortunately there's not a lot else to the game. The meat of fighting games is in playing against other people, and since there's not much chance of many people reading this having that opportunity you'll just have to settle for the quick single player experience. I should also point out the create a fighter feature just because it's there. I only played with it a little but chose to just use the standard fighters instead.