ABC Wide World of Sports Boxing

The Good
Boxing games aren't all that common. This one has you build your boxer up from scratch. Character creation is actually pretty advanced for such an old game. In addition to selecting the color of your boxer's shorts, you can pick skin tone, hair style & color, and even his height, weight, and reach. These last 3 stats have an effect on your game play as well (I can't recall exactly what, but for example a longer reach means you can fight at a greater distance, but your punches are slower).

Fights require you to move around the ring and mix up offense and defense. Circle your opponent and back them into a corner with jabs so they can't escape your wrath. Throw a left cross as you close in, then finish him off with combination of uppercuts and more hooks! Make sure to keep your guard up to protect your face and lower it to protect your stomach, if you get hit in the head too much you'll get knocked out, same for the stomach. You also need to watch your energy which you consume by throwing punches or getting hit (sometimes you even fatigue when you block punches, and getting hit reduces your maximum fatigue for the rest of the fight-- so watch out). Keep an eye on your Head, Body, and Fatigue stats-- if you can make it to the end of the round, you'll recover a bit.

There are 4 ways to win fights-- Knock your opponent out (KO), knock him down 3 times in a round (TKO), punch your opponent's face into a bloody pulp so the ref stops the fight (TKO), or bob and weave your way to the scorecards (decision). Any win will help your career, but different foes may require different strategies.

You start with a low ranking, and a sketchy manager. Your goal is to work your way up the boxing ranks by defeating higher ranked foes (or in rare cases, lower ranked foes). In addition to improving your Win/Loss record and gaining some respect, fighting also earns you money, win or lose. You can spend this money on training gear or to hire a new manager, etc. Every training item you buy, from the speed bag to headgear to a gym membership, will improve your stats over a few months' time.

As you win fights, your ranking goes up but you'll soon outgrow your manager who has no pull to get you fights against boxers of your improving caliber. A better manager will get you better fights and a greater % of the fight purse, but he will also take a greater share of your reward. One final distinction is each manager has different special abilities. For example the doctor/manager will improve your ability to resist getting cut by punches. One manager can use her sex appeal to get you a title fight from outside the Top 5 rankings, but be careful because you're probably not ready for it.

Play with your friends and you can each manage a boxer. You can have at least 4 boxers going at a time, just bear in mind time is linear and you must oversee them all simultaneously (of course fights are sequential though!).

The Bad
EXTREMELY difficult once you start fighting the top 8 fighters... and bear in mind, over time these Top 10 fighters age and may fall down in the rankings. You may find a badass at #18 if you play for a long time, perhaps after you start a second boxer a year or two later. Top contenders will make you think your computer is on overdrive as the punches rain down on you faster than you can change your guard. Making things worse, their punches will go THROUGH your guard and make you look like a chump. You'll likely have to change strategies over time-- while it's fun to knock people out or cut them early in your career, you're going to have to start running away for 6-12 rounds against tough foes, and that's a pretty boring way to win a championship. At least you can create a new boxer and use him to get those knockouts you crave.

You're going to have to fight with the keyboard, I don't think gamepads were even around for the PC when this game came out, and a joystick back then just wouldn't have enough buttons.

What else don't I like-- the game is on 5 1/4 inch floppy disks, so I can't install and play it now!

The Bottom Line
ABC Wide World of Sports Boxing is a fun boxing game that manages a good balance of character/style customization with in-ring pugilism. Power-up your character outside the ring, then step in the ring and duke it out for fame and glory. Fights are generally well-paced and fun, and they do require a bit of strategy. Things start to go sour once you make it into the Top 8 though and the game becomes increasingly frustrating as the Champ and his Top Contenders will tear you apart.

This game is a tremendously fun boxing game and I highly recommend giving it a try. It's pretty easy to learn and is fun enough to have great replay value (you don't even have to restart, just start another boxer!). If you can beat the champ, you deserve to brag about it in these forums. Good luck