Boxing games have usually been serious affairs, where players can play as real life pugilists like Lennox Lewis, Jack Dempsey or the greatest ever Muhamed Ali. So when publishers/developers Midway released Ready 2 Rumble on October 14th 1999 (in Europe), into the ring strutted an entirely different beast.
Ready 2 Rumble shunned reality for over-the-top characters and cartoon knock outs. The presentation was fantastic, and even had legendary ring announcer Michael Buffer introduce each match. Players could not fail to be entertained by the amount of different boxers on offer, from the colourful and hilarious Afro Thunder to the Ivan Drago-alike Boris 'The Bear' Knokimov. Bouts were lively to say the least, which even had the fighters bruise as time went on. And once you had filled the RUMBLE bar by landing great punches, it allowed the chosen boxer to unleash a devastating knock out punch, resulting in the hapless opponent perform a comedy stagger before crashing to the canvas.
Whilst other, more serious boxing games concentrated on brutal, bloody encounters, Ready 2 Rumble brought the fun into it. There was a Championship mode in which to take your fighter to number 1, an Arcade mode for quick bouts, a Prize Fight mode to place bets on matches and the ever popular training mode which could be set to Manual or Automatic.
This was a true Dreamcast gem, and nailed the Big Fight atmosphere dead center. An awesome, not to be missed title that delivers knock out visuals along with timeless playability.
On 9th September 1999, Sega released a new console to an excited public, the now legendary Dreamcast. Many would argue the first in Next Gen visuals, and online gaming, the Dreamcast was overtaken by Playstation2 but never forgotten. To this day, a decade on, it is still a powerful force in the gaming world. This is my tribute to the console and games, where a poet becomes fanboy.
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