064 - RING KING

RING KING

Episode 064

Show Notes

Arcade Version

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OUR THOUGHTS

MIKE

What does it say that an NES boxing game is more well known for it’s questionable intermission cutscene than anything related to its gameplay? Yes, the cutscene is funny and can definitely be seen as an accident, but the fact that this is what people talk about this game speaks a lot more about how little else the game has to offer. Ring King is what happens when someone tries to do something like PUNCH-OUT, but accidentally adds in the design choices from PRO WRESTLING or TAG-TEAM WRESTLING. There’s no need to try to simulate a full boxing match on a system where walking around a three dimensional square is hard to convey. If there’s one thing I’m noticing about the NES games we have been playing it’s that the ones still worth playing today are very simple in design, but able to continue introducing new ideas to that simple gameplay loop. Ring King instead chooses to force clunky controls onto the player and then never change how a boxing match works.

THE VERDICT - NOT ESSENTIAL

Not much left to the imagination…

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