A-
		Title	Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2
		Publisher	Midway	Graphics	A
		Developer	Midway	Sound	A
		Released	October 2000	Gameplay	B+
		Platform	Dreamcast	Longevity	A-
	ESRB Information
	Animated Violence Suggestive Themes
	Highlights
	This game was really cool...
	Full Review

Since we have been playing/reviewing a lot of terrible games lately on the Dreamcast (and trust me when I say they are terrible), we at RetroPixels decided to review a good game for once. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is almost certainly the most played game on my Dreamcast and it is a fun game of boxing that is not exactly heavy in the complexity department (which is perhaps why I keep playing it). One thing that will be obvious if you’ve ever played the original Ready 2 Rumble Boxing on the Dreamcast is that Round 2 is better in every possible way. Much tighter controls, better graphics, and better sound (Michael Buffer is in this one as well) mean that the game looks and plays very well…there is no compelling reason to play the original over Round 2, although it is a good game as well.

There are the standard arcade modes, a story driven (if you can call it a story) championship/career mode, and a multiplayer tournament modes to fill out the typical roster of game types. The championship mode is basically a walk through the career of whichever boxer you pick. Each boxer has a very distinct personality and none of them are alike. You can pick from a super cocky Afro Thunder (who yells out stuff like “Better call the Doctaaaaa”) to Mama Tua, a large Hawaiian woman who likes to tell you “I put my weight into my punches”. In between fights you are forced to suffer through training your boxer, through things like jumping rope, hitting a speed bag, etc. You can put them on auto, but the benefits for doing so suck, so to level your boxer up you have to do timed button pressing nonsense. Not a favorite in my book.

In addition to made-up boxers, there are also a few real people tossed in the game as fighters, including the first family (Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, as the First Lady and the President), Shaq, and Michael Jackson. An interesting note on Michael Jackson in the game is that it would almost seem he gave permission to use his name and likeness. He is probably the fastest puncher in the game, has some ridiculous combos, and at the end of the credits there is a “very special thanks to Michael Jackson” (the same line from a Simpson’s episode where he voiced a character). It all makes for an entertaining game, especially when you hear the First Lady say things like “Now you’ll know who’s really in charge” and The President saying things like “Your punch has been vetoed” while taunting.

When you have full rumble on yellow or red, you can hit the triggers to put you in rumble mode, which basically makes your hands glow and lets you do a flurry of punches that do a ton of damage to your opponent. A glowing silver rumble meter means the game is over for your opponent. Hit the trigger, than hold down X and Y and your opponent will get knocked out of the ring completely. As it is the quickest means of ending a match, it also means you are encouraged to do things that take the game far, far away from logical boxing.

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Because of the prevalence of the Rumble Meter, being a smart boxer doesn’t win matches very quickly at all…taking chances and throwing haymakers everywhere does. This almost does a disservice to the game because it makes things seem too easy for almost all of championship mode. Then, you’ll come to a point (usually around when you are fighting the 3rd ranked fighter) where specials are blocked and haymakers are countered, and (after you lose) you’ll wonder what the heck just happened. This is when you’ll realize that cheap wins are good, but knowing how to do it the hard way is better.

If and when you recover from getting pummeled that one time, and discover how to beat the good people, you’ll face Michael Buffer’s alter-ego Rumbleman in the championship fight. Rumbleman is basically 8 feet tall and 500 pounds of pure muscle, and has a reach nearly double that of the average boxer. Rumbleman has another advantage though…when he taunts he goes from no rumble in the meter to full silver RUMBLE. The taunt takes quite a while, so interrupt it or you might as well be prepared to fight him again because you will go flying out of the ring. However, assuming you can keep Rumbleman from rumble-ing, he’s actually a fairly anti-climactic final boss. Beating him is as simple as crowding him…he is a slow puncher, and easy to beat down if you get close (just don’t stand on the outer edges of his reach…he will hurt you).

While overall Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is an excellent game (one of the best on the Dreamcast), there are still a couple things that could have been better. While all the elements of “real” boxing are there, from counter punches, blocking, dodging, leaning side to side and front to back, etc., there is little use for it in single player until the last 3 or so fights. The vast majority of the game is haymaker to rumble, to knocking your opponent out of the ring. It is a game that has all the tools needed for a great boxing game, but due to the over-prevalence of the Rumble Meter, you’ll only use one of them. Everything in actual boxing matches is geared towards them, and it is certainly possible that it will get old for you after a while. If you can force yourself to play the game as a more real boxing game, the mechanics are certainly there to do so…you can win without resorting to Rumble flurries and haymakers, but it takes a lot longer and is more difficult to win. That is why playing in tournaments against friends is the best way to go…human players are far more likely to try more advanced moves when playing against human opponents because just throwing haymakers only works against computers (or dumb human players…). Overall the game is very fun, and easily one of the best games on the Dreamcast. My only complaint with the game is that boxing the easy (some would say cheap) way and using Rumble all the time gives you far too big of a reward, while boxing the hard way (countering punches, dodging, leaning, etc.) is not nearly as beneficial as it should be.