We are still waiting on a suitable Amiga AGA emulator with robust recording features before tackling such games.
Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing
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Player's Review
Evander Holyfield's "Real Deal" Boxing is a boxing video game that was developed by ACME Interactive and published by Sega in 1992, released for the Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear consoles. It was followed by a sequel in 1994, Greatest Heavyweights, which featured a number of improvements.
The game features Evander Holyfield, and over 28 imaginary fighters. It uses 2D sprites seen from a side-on view, combined with a top-down map of the ring, to allow boxers to move 360 degrees about the ring. The cartridge utilizes battery-backed RAM to save a player's progress.
During a fight, each boxer has an energy meter that decreases whenever they are hit. When the energy meter reaches zero, that player's boxer will suffer a knockdown. The meter is not affected by how much physical activity the boxer engages in (apart from getting punched). In addition, there is a meter for the boxer's head and body, which shows how much damage each of these areas has sustained. When the head or body meters reach zero, that boxer will take much more damage when hit in that area. Regardless of how much damage a boxer receives, punches reduce a fighter's energy bar by a consistent amount (unlike in many boxing games, where punches sometimes vary by how likely they are to knock a boxer down, causing serious damage in the process).
If a boxer has received large amount of damage to either their head or their body, and they continue to be punched in that area, the fight will soon end in a TKO. Large amounts of punishment to the head will also result in visible cuts. A TKO will also result if a boxer is knocked down three times. However, unlike in real-life boxing matches, a boxer can be pummeled for an entire fight without throwing one punch in return, but unless they are knocked down three times, or suffer extreme damage to either their head or body, the fight will be allowed to continue. Similarly, fight judges will not score a round as 10-8 unless a fighter is knocked down. The only exception to this is if the scoring of a round as 10-9 would result in a draw. In such an instance, the round will be scored 10-8 to the fighter who won the round. This system of scoring is unrealistic, because in real boxing matches, a round is sometimes scored 10-8 if one boxer has been badly pummeled. It is also possible for boxers to pause and hurl insults during a fight, such as "come on and fight you wimp!"
In career mode, the player fights their way through the 28 selectable imaginary boxers in the game, with the last of these being against Holyfield himself, for the World Heavyweight Title. Following the attainment of the title, the player then fights in a number of 'challenge' matches, against high-ranked contenders. Some of these fights include imaginary fighters who were previously unseen in the rankings. After a certain number of fights (usually 20) the player's boxer will weaken and it will be increasingly more difficult to keep his attributes at a high level. Once the career of the player's boxer reaches 40 fights, he will have to retire. This prevents gamers from repeatedly fighting the same low-ranked, low-quality boxers in order to receive more training (and thus better attributes, making the game easier) at an early stage of their career. The game gradually replaces aging or low-ranked boxers (including Holyfield) with new ones as Career Mode progresses.
In exhibition mode, the player can choose to pit any boxer against any other, with the option to make each fighter controlled by either a player or the console.
I play through Career mode, beating Holyfield, defending the title and eventually retiring. Yes, I know I picked the wrong skin color. I had to reduce my tactic to ridiculous and boring exploit because the game quickly becomes impossible to beat due to the fact that the AI both cheats and reads the player's input. At the end I show the secret character THE BEAST.
The game features Evander Holyfield, and over 28 imaginary fighters. It uses 2D sprites seen from a side-on view, combined with a top-down map of the ring, to allow boxers to move 360 degrees about the ring. The cartridge utilizes battery-backed RAM to save a player's progress.
During a fight, each boxer has an energy meter that decreases whenever they are hit. When the energy meter reaches zero, that player's boxer will suffer a knockdown. The meter is not affected by how much physical activity the boxer engages in (apart from getting punched). In addition, there is a meter for the boxer's head and body, which shows how much damage each of these areas has sustained. When the head or body meters reach zero, that boxer will take much more damage when hit in that area. Regardless of how much damage a boxer receives, punches reduce a fighter's energy bar by a consistent amount (unlike in many boxing games, where punches sometimes vary by how likely they are to knock a boxer down, causing serious damage in the process).
If a boxer has received large amount of damage to either their head or their body, and they continue to be punched in that area, the fight will soon end in a TKO. Large amounts of punishment to the head will also result in visible cuts. A TKO will also result if a boxer is knocked down three times. However, unlike in real-life boxing matches, a boxer can be pummeled for an entire fight without throwing one punch in return, but unless they are knocked down three times, or suffer extreme damage to either their head or body, the fight will be allowed to continue. Similarly, fight judges will not score a round as 10-8 unless a fighter is knocked down. The only exception to this is if the scoring of a round as 10-9 would result in a draw. In such an instance, the round will be scored 10-8 to the fighter who won the round. This system of scoring is unrealistic, because in real boxing matches, a round is sometimes scored 10-8 if one boxer has been badly pummeled. It is also possible for boxers to pause and hurl insults during a fight, such as "come on and fight you wimp!"
In career mode, the player fights their way through the 28 selectable imaginary boxers in the game, with the last of these being against Holyfield himself, for the World Heavyweight Title. Following the attainment of the title, the player then fights in a number of 'challenge' matches, against high-ranked contenders. Some of these fights include imaginary fighters who were previously unseen in the rankings. After a certain number of fights (usually 20) the player's boxer will weaken and it will be increasingly more difficult to keep his attributes at a high level. Once the career of the player's boxer reaches 40 fights, he will have to retire. This prevents gamers from repeatedly fighting the same low-ranked, low-quality boxers in order to receive more training (and thus better attributes, making the game easier) at an early stage of their career. The game gradually replaces aging or low-ranked boxers (including Holyfield) with new ones as Career Mode progresses.
In exhibition mode, the player can choose to pit any boxer against any other, with the option to make each fighter controlled by either a player or the console.
I play through Career mode, beating Holyfield, defending the title and eventually retiring. Yes, I know I picked the wrong skin color. I had to reduce my tactic to ridiculous and boring exploit because the game quickly becomes impossible to beat due to the fact that the AI both cheats and reads the player's input. At the end I show the secret character THE BEAST.
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