https://noahsbarks.com/reviews/hajime-no-ippo-the-fighting/

I recommend reading this review at my site, linked above, for proper formatting.

Around 2014, I was reaching the tail-end of what had been a years-long debilitating medical condition. In hindsight, it’s funny that such a life-altering thing turned out to be a very treatable hernia. But at the time, multiple doctors had failed to find the cause of my routine excruciating pain. My vague understanding of my condition was that physical activity worsened it, which was a huge obstacle to me as someone entering their 20s hoping to be in the prime of their life.

It’s hard for many people to understand just how frightening it is that you might have to live the rest of your life borderline bedridden because of an unknown malady – the constant mental preoccupation with everything in life you would have to miss. Hajime no Ippo practically saved my life during that time. Simply put, it’s one of the most inspirational pieces of media I’ve yet encountered. During a time where I feared simply getting out of bed, Hajime no Ippo encouraged me to battle the pain and rise above my handicap. I would work harder than ever, run harder than ever. In retrospect this was terrible for me, as it probably increased the size of the hernia, but at least I held onto some vague hope. My intestines avoided being strangled, so all is well. To make it perfectly clear, I am completely fine now and rid of all these complications.

In an effort to squeeze more blood from this inspirational stone, I set my sights on the property’s video game adaptations. I had tried the PSP game, Hajime no Ippo Portable: Victorious Spirits, and frankly, thought it sucked. There’s another developer, however, that fails to disappoint (so long as they aren’t making a game in three dimensions.) The beloved underdog Treasure developed Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! for the Game Boy Advance which was released exclusively in Japan on December 12, 2002. While the subtitle could certainly use some… creative work, the game itself is a solid all-rounder that further demonstrates Treasure’s raw, consummate competence. I should mention that I played this game in English due to the efforts of fan-translator Markliujy. You’re a one-hit knockout, buddy! Thank you! Check out his translation patch here.

To my knowledge, boxing video games tend to fall into one of two categories. You have the arcade-style twitch-action of Nintendo’s Punch-Out!! series, or you have three-dimensional third-person games focusing on positioning and tactical strikes in a more “realistic” take on the sport. While the aforementioned PSP game is the latter, Treasure’s opts for the former approach. The core gameplay centers around you using a combination of normal and special moves to inflict yellow or red damage on your opponent, respectively. Yellow damage is temporary and heals over time (but can still lead to a knockdown), while red is permanent and can only be recovered slightly between rounds. The goal is to either knock your opponent to the floor enough times, or get their total damage over the knockdown bar, in which case they’ll be unable to stand back up.

Though the game’s campaign mode has you exclusively play as the main character, Ippo, there’s an extensive cast available for alternate play modes. As you’d expect, all of these characters have differences in power and speed for their standard attacks, but the standard move sets can also vary between what color of damage they inflict. Another thing influenced by character choice is your attack range. During a fight, the left side of the screen displays a bar that shows your distance, with the top right showing you your Spirit Gauge. Special moves are executed by pressing the R button in combination with a direction and attack or defense button. Each special move uses a different amount of your Spirit Gauge, and using them in proper rhythmic combination with your normal attacks is the key to consistent knockouts.

Having typed it all out, the game appears relatively simple to me. But to be honest, I was confused when starting due to there being no tutorial whatsoever. There is a command list, but the specials are useless without knowing the basics. I had to figure out myself the timing for dodging, blocking, and what made for good combos – all things I would’ve appreciated a primer on for at least our campaign character, Ippo. Furthermore, the command list doesn’t tell you the power of your moves, their range, or their speed.

The pseudo-depth of these trial-and-error fisticuffs may temporarily obfuscate what is ultimately a simple, slight experience. The game features a short story mode with about 8-10 matches and no dialogue whatsoever. One has to wonder why an Ippo-exclusive mode was of such concern if they weren’t going to adapt the actual plot. One of the only canonically-minded details is entirely to your detriment, with certain attack moves being locked behind progressing past iconic fights. As mentioned, no other character has a story mode, and if you complete it twice, you’ll have likely unlocked every character, thereby rendering the mode completely obsolete in the face of the alternatives.

You’re provided a standard training mode for practice, and what I consider to be the most fun part of the game, the tournament mode. In tournament, you can play as any unlocked character, with each having their own set of opponents. You’re given further customization options that allow you to randomize your opponents and tweak other game rules. Defeating opponents rewards you customization points for the final mode, customization mode.

Personally, I find customization mode to be almost comically superfluous. The crux is that you pick a fighter and use your points to upgrade their attributes. You can raise the standard attack and defense values, but you also need to pay to unlock your normal move set. In other words, you’re placing a handicap on yourself with the goal of making your fighter able to do things already available to them in all other modes. To top things off, once you get into the swing of this game, the AI becomes predictable and easy, reducing the need to improve your skills or raise your statistics in custom mode.

Despite its limitations, Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! is a fun afternoon romp that ought to please both fans of the IP and Punch-Out!! alumni. Once you crack the flow of the gameplay, you’ll likely find yourself unbeatable and bouts repetitive. But since the only other replay value is grinding points for custom mode, I’m fine with this game only staying in the ring for a few rounds. It’s unfortunate that only characters from Ippo’s weight class are included, meaning we can’t use franchise icons like Takamura, but it’s clear this was always going to be a humble, if sincere, offering. It’s a Treasure game, after all.