Arcade Vs Master System - Heavyweight Champ

[@johnmp3828]

arcade is the punch out we have at home

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh you think so huh? I think that's a load of bald bull.

[@mtshark7]

Going with the arcade.

[@RetroComparisons]

I'm torn. The arcade game is pretty good but it's trying to be Punch Out whereas the SMS game isn't very impressive overall yet is pretty decent in all individual aspects.

[@KevGamingXP]

Great classic game of this game.

[@RetroComparisons]

Thanks for watching buddy!

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

Sega made the first boxing game ever, in 1976. It was also the first fighting game. It's now considered lost media. Both of these games were an attempt to keep the oldest fighting game franchise alive. The 8-bit game is using the Rocky Engine, and briefly had Buster Douglas branding. On paper, it sounds like a dream team. Unfortunately, Dragon's Lair ruined everything. You see, the arcade industry was caught up on laserdisc hype. Full sized cartoon characters put the tiny sprites of the era to shame. Nintendo was feeling the pressure to adapt or die. But laserdisc based machines were fragile as hell, and Nintendo had been using FMV games back in the 70's. If anyone understood why sprite based, chip generated graphics were superior...well, they just needed a way to make full sized cartoon style sprites in real time. Scaling was the obvious solution. But even the best arcade hardware Nintendo could turn a reasonable profit on, could only scale one sprite at a time. And so Punch-Out was born. A franchise that slowly evolved Dragon's Lair's gimmicky quick time gameplay into the ageless rapid fire, combo based puzzle game we know today. And Sega's OG franchise, shallow and dry as a 70's boxing game, suffered a slow and humiliating death in public obscurity. Even Urban Champion has slightly more popular culture street cred. So does the Game and Watch boxing game. All this really puts the Sega CD in perspective, doesn't it? And the N64?

[@RetroComparisons]

Once again another one of your comments have fascinated and educated me. I wonder if there's a private collector out there that has that Sega boxing game?

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@RetroComparisons If so, they're either shy or I didn't do enough research yet. But it's not like most cases where everyone complains about a rich asshole intentionally screwing everyone else out of it. A modern picture of the cabinet turned up, but it's not likely to be working in that condition. Also, it turns out it had another AM3 made sequel released in '92-'93, 'Title Fight'. Unfortunately, MAME struggles with the backgrounds, and you get a grey void instead of a roaring crowd. The original visuals are among the best of 32-bit, and look spectacular. The controls are perfect twin stick punching. Sega even remembered to include enemy tells, this time. The series finally got a redemption, in the end...even if it never seriously challenged Nintendo. PS: Yu Suzuki's first game was a boxing game for SG-1000 that would be thrown into arcades to also be massacred by Punch-Out. No idea whether it was intended as part of the series, but it's fun connecting the dots. Final update: I've at least found footage of the lost game, and it has full screen, cartoony looking fighters at a higher resolution than you'd expect for the mid-70's. It also features small bits of character flashing and a freeze frame to really emphasize a hit. Gameplay is exactly as shallow as you'd expect, but in terms of presentation, this was way ahead of the curve. No wonder why Sega kept it alive, even if the end result of the franchise feels like a huge reference to itself.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 Oh yeah those collectors who own like the only copy of something and refuse to even share a screenshot do drive me nuts. Like what kind of ego do you have to have? Hmm interesting, let me know where you found that footage. I'd love to see it.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@RetroComparisons Here on KZbin, thanks to CBS 8 San Diego. It's fun; they really worry about the cost at 20 cents a play.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 That was a fun watch. The game actually looks better than I expected. Also, that 21 year old looks like he's 51.

[@mikec3260]

The arcade version looks fast and furious and a whole lot of fun! The MS version reminds me of an updated version of Rocky for MS, a game of which I really enjoyed. Winner: Arcade Both versions look fun and I would have owned the MS version. Nice job on showing the lesser known games or atleast for me that is!

[@RetroComparisons]

Do we have a tie??

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons Hmmmm a tie in their own ways for sure.

[@MKF30]

Haha I know this game, both versions are entirely dfifferent so Arcade is adult Punch Out vs MS version which is Rocky vs. Creed haha. Both look fun but very different! Nice video dude!

[@RetroComparisons]

Lol thanks buddy! Yeah you nailed it for the games they were going for here.

[@MKF30]

@RetroComparisons You're welcome dude! Any time😃👍🏼

[@baronhausenpheffer]

Definitely an "apples and oranges" port that it doesn't make a lot of sense to directly compare. (Outside of a channel like yours where that's the entire point, of course!) That said, despite the huge differences, I could tell you right now that the Sega Master System game is the one of these two that I would be more likely to want to play today. The arcade game is clearly a "Punch Out" clone with none of the precision and technical prowess of "Punch Out" -- meaning no fatigue penalty for throwing punches and shoddy hit detection that verges on flat-out mysterious -- so it's all about spamming the hit button until the CPU player falls over. The Master System game at least has some nice music and sound effects, and the graphics feel to me like they have actually aged a little better. It's tough to tell from this clip how much strategy there is in the SMS game. It seems like it might make sense to wait for your enemy to throw a punch, hope it's slightly out of range, and rush in to counterattack with one of your own. However, the lack of any real "tells" in the animation seems like that would make it mostly a guessing game. Still, it looks "learnable" while the arcade makes me wonder if there's anything to learn. Win: Sega Master System!

[@RetroComparisons]

The arcade version is ok but for being something that was clearly imitating Punch Out, they focused everything on style and lost all of the charm and fun. The SMS port while not amazing is probably the better of the two for the hardware that it's on and since it's not trying to be something it's not it makes it more fun by default. The arcade game just made me wish I was Punch Out. As far as the gameplay goes on the SMS, I couldn't figure out a strategy which means either it's purely a button masher, takes a lot of playing to figure out, or had some more info in the manual that would have made it easier.

[@NathanSeraph]

I rented the MS game back then. I remember it was very sluggish and just stupid button mashing. It wasn't much fun and I returned it after one day.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's one of those weekend rentals that would have ruined the whole weekend.

[@shotgunl]

Interesting idea to rotate the action to the side. However, it does lose that arcade Punch-Out-style charm of the arcade Heavyweight Champ (though, I'm not sure if Heavyweight Champ is actually good...stuff like Toughman Contest and George Forman's KO Boxing were pretty average at best).

[@RetroComparisons]

I'm not sure why they didn't keep the Punch Out style for the SMS unless they were afraid of being considered a rip-off. The SMS version does look and play a lot like George Foreman's KO Boxing.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Arcade version: Punch Out!! wannabe. Master System version: Looks almost like a reskin of Rocky.

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh yeah they were totally going for that Punch Out look on the arcade.