Knockout Kings 2003

by GameCube

Product Features

• Genre: Sports
• T for Teen: Mild Lyrics

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006JC43
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 8, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,690 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost There...., December 5, 2003

By 

Topographic Cabal "quiditty1" (Plainville, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2003 (Video Game)

Ok... I have played all boxing sim games through the years... and had more fun with them than most people it seems. Guess I'm a fan of the genre.

Anyhow... onto my review of Knockout Kings 2003.

Game Play: Controls take a bit of getting used to, but well worth it to learn. This isn't a toe-to-toe slug-fest game. You have to learn to stick-and-move, hone your defense skills, and put together combinations.

Graphics: Awesome. Hardly any noticeable clipping.

Sound: Acceptable. Game sound effects are good... but; commentators get damn annoying... more on that in the "Cons" section.

Price: I got mine for $20 through Amazon.com, .... worth the price. I wouldn't pay more for it.

Re-Playability: Poor. While the game tells you that each opponent has to be "learned" and defense/offense built around that... I have found that a single defense/offense strategy works against all boxers... making the game boring over time.

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PRO's:
Multi-Player: Slug-fest is fun... wish they incorporated more of its features into the career mode. Slug-fest has the classic Punch Meters... that unlock the super combinations that will floor a failing opponent. This is awesome. In career mode, they don't have this... and I can't understand why.
Graphics: Just Great. (I like the knockdown replays)

CON's:
Commentator's: Damn annoying. Very repetitive, and they don't say things at the correct time to accurately reflect the current situation in the ring. I went through one round where I knocked the opponent down twice... and outscored him on every level.. and at the end of the round the commentator says: " Pretty Good Round for Both Boxers". Excuse me? One boxer is half-dead... how is that a good round for him?
Realism: Ok.. lets be real. If you fight a guy over three rounds and knock him down twice in each round... how does he get back up? Six times on the mat is enough for any sane minded referee to stop a bout.
Boxers: The game has all the greats from each weight division.. but.. the boxers fight nothing like their real life counterparts. They all do exactly the same thing, with minimal variation. Because of this, you figure out one, and you've figured out them all. Holyfield fights with the same style, power, and fluidity as Ali. But that's not what Holyfield is known for... he's a cruiser-weight turned heavyweight champion with an Iron Chin and Iron Will to win. Whereas Ali is a Jab machine with incredible KO Power and great taunting skill
End Game: Ok.. so you make it up the ladder and you are 25-0-0 and just beat the heavyweight champion of the world. Where's the fanfare? Its super-weak to say the least. After you win... you just go through repetitive contender challenges until your age and skill begins to decline... at which point you can "retire" your boxer. Again.. no fanfare.. not even a spec. sheet that shows you your record, championship fights, championship defenses, etc., etc., etc.,.

I like this game only because I'm a fan of the genre. I can see why this game wouldn't be wildly popular with the non boxing sim fan. Why can't Nintendo work on a good Super Punch-Out sequel for the Game Cube?

Quid

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun! great gameplay, and good graphics., October 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2003 (Video Game)

This is a really fun boxing sim! What i really like about this game is the emphasis on using your defensive tactics: Bob and weave to tire out the opposition, block a couple jabs, and throw a combo to send blood flying. In other words if you think you can win by just throwing wild puches in this game, you will be sorely mistaken...and I mean SORELY! Although there is a slug fest mode for those types of players.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye of the Tiger!, February 1, 2005

By 

Sean Parauka (Orange, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2003 (Video Game)

Do you think you have what it takes to become the World Heavyweight Champ of the world? Well buy this game and you will soon find out. I bought this game a few weeks ago and have not stopped playing it yet. The game has it all. Step into the ring with the greatest fighters in Boxing history such as: Ali, Marciano, Lewis, Frazier, and MANY MORE!

One of the greatest features of the game is the CREATE-A-BOXER mode. There is one small flaw to this section of the game. The appearances to choose from for your boxer is limited. You only have about 9 different faces, 6 different pants, boots, and gloves. There is room to add a lot more to it like where you could create your boxer's face like in wrestling games and also create your own pants, boots and gloves. However, you can choose your boxer's nickname, if he's right-handed or southpaw, his beginning stats of: Strength, Speed, Stamina, Chin, Heart, and Cuts. Then you can choose your boxer's special punch with nearly 20 different specials to choose from.

The next greatest feature of this game is the CAREER mode. After you've created your boxer, you start your career and climb your way up the ranks of contenders and will finally face Muhammed Ali at the end for the World title. In the beginning of the career, you start with the attributes you gave to your boxer when you created him. You start out fighting the weak contenders and then the fighters get better and better of course because you're working up the ranks with better fighters. During the fight, the computer keeps a percentage of Punches Landed - Punches Thrown. After a fight, depending what the percentage was at the end of the fight, you earn around 9 points to add to your boxer's stats. This is how your boxer gets better. IMPORTANT TIP: You better learn how to duck with your boxer because I STRONGLY URGE YOU to try to avoid as many punches thrown by your opponent in every fight. Why? After every fight, depending on how many punches you took, you fighters has to rest for a couple months or depending on how bad, sometimes even several months. Your fighter ages between these rest periods, REMEMBER THAT! Your fighters starts the career at age 20 and if you get bad beatings in a lot of your fights, he will age quick. A good fighter can get 3 fights out of each year. IMPORTANT TIP: If your fighters stats in "CHIN" and "CUTS" are high, you fighter will need less rest periods. Finally as you approach your fight with Ali, you fighter will be at the age of 31-35 (Depending how short rest periods between fights were). One feature that EA Sports included to make the career more realistic is that your fighter's stats will slowly begin decreasing when you pass a certain age, which I'm pretty sure is 36. After that your fighter will get weak quickly.

The gameplay of this game is very well thought out and very realistic. You fighter has the same head shots as in real life. You have the Hook, Cross, Jab, Uppercut and all those punches you can use for Body Shots. TIP: Using body shots really wears down your opponent, especially the BODY UPPERCUT! It takes the wind out of your opponent quick. The sounds of the punches are a little off to me. They sound a wack in the face instead the thunderous sound of a punch like in Rocky. The gameplay is great though.

The other methods of gameplay are Slugfest, which you enter a tournament to knock out as many boxers as you can one after the other until one of them knock you out. Of course, you have Exhibition and then you hav Tournament. In tournament, it's the King-Of-The-Ring of Wrestling. You start out with 8 fighters and 4 fights and eventually you work you way to fighting the other survivor of the tournament.

Overall, this game is very well thought out and very well made. For any boxing fan, this is the next game to buy for your gamecube. The game does take a while to learn to master, so do be patient. No one in real life becomes the greatest fighter instantly, right? This game is a total knockout!