Granny Vinnie Reviews

7800 Rank: 39th Genre Rank: (Sports) 6th Awards: 9th Worst Originality Glory Be! Is that Ronald Reagan and a Kangaroo? Pros: Big cartoony boxers/ Fun tournament mode Cons: 1 Player game is too easy/ The boxing is too simplistic/ Cannot perform the boxer's specialty punches Hey Pip-Squeak! Watch the Junk!

Overview: Your name is Crazy Craven. You are a little white boxer with a tiny neck. Yes, you have heard all of the rumors, and you have read all of the papers. Tonight, you will be destroyed by the World Champ, the Bronx Bomber. Good thing this game is easy, because normally a guy that big would twist you like a pretzel.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are kind of like a mix between a Saturday morning cartoon and an early 80's Amiga computer. The boxers look pretty funny and they are mildly amusing. When the computer gets to use the fighters, each boxer has his own crazy "special punch" that ranges from front kicks, wild body shots, and an overhand punch that squishes you like an accordion. Mysteriously, you cannot perform these moves. Another drawback here is that they claim that there are 12 different fighters in the game but really there are only 6 different character models, each with two different colored shorts and two different names. The color schemes are a little gaudy, but overall in match graphics are pretty good. The serious problem comes with the menus. The menus are grey. That's pretty much it. They are grey. There are black letters in a green or pink box, surrounded by a lot of grey. This kinda resembles what it would look like if the government gave out generic video games along with their generic government cheese. Some in game graphics are really good, like win you win the title and the ticket stubs for the Main Events. Some are really bad, like the opening title screen and the training room. It's kinda like good graphics and bad graphics are battling it out in this game, as well as the fighters.

Sound: Ding-Ding, Roar, and Punch Landed. That's pretty much it. The roar gets louder and softer, the "ding-ding" starts the match, and never fluctuates in volume. The landing of a punch sounds like a millisecond sample of TV static.

Gameplay: Matches can last 3 rounds and players score points for successful punches landed. If it goes to a decision, which is highly unlikely, the player with the most points wins. If it is tied, Player 1 wins!!! Talk about Home Cookin'. 99% of all matches will end in the first round by an early KO. Once a boxer is knocked down the bell rings and the match is over. Looks like a Don King production, if you ask me. Player 1 faces right, and Player 2 faces left. Up and the left button delivers a head shot, down and the left button takes a swing at the body. Pretty simple stuff, in fact...really easy...but not bad. The only way to really deliver a knock out punch though is by learning how to perform the mildly tricky "Running Punch". This is executed by moving to the left, and then quickly pushing right along with hitting the punch button. If this connects, you will score 6 times as many points as a normal punch well as scoring 6 times as much damage. This is easily mastered, and when it is mastered, matches MIGHT last as long as 60 seconds. But if done right, you should be able to win a match against anyone within 15-20 seconds. The game has 4 different modes of play: Main Event, Exhibition, Tournament, and Training. Training features your boxer of choice and a heavy bag. Basically, all this is good for is figuring out how to do the "Running Punch". After a minute or two in there, you will probably never go back to see this place again. Exhibition is your standard 2 player match. Tournament is a good option, where you and a friend (or several friends) can enter several boxers into a "Box-off." Round after round, winners will whittle away the competition until someone has the World Championship. "Main Event" is the main feature of the game. Here you cannot pick your man, and you are forced to use Crazy Craven. You will fight 5 different competitors on your way to the World Title. After mastering the game, beating the entire "Main Event" could take as little as a minute or two.

Originality: This was based on a computer game, I believe, but I never played it. So, for Originality, I would have to give Fight Night a mixed score. I like the cartoon-like boxers with the funny special punches. It keeps the game light-hearted and fun. But the gameplay is not that intriguing. While not terrible, it's a little boring. The right button is not used, which is a shame. But pushing left and right and the punch button fakes a punch, which is useless. This is a button mash fest anyway, so no one is gonna pay attention to who is faking whom. If a fake punch is thrown, the boxer faking the punch will get bashed in the head. But oh well, fake punches are pretty original...I guess. The right button would have been great for uppercuts, hooks, and power punches, but who needs 'em? We like boring games! Even though that's weak, the tournament part is pretty cool, and I remember my friends and me enjoying this. It also should be said that Fight Night is a much better two-player game than a 1 player game. The trick is finding 2 people who would want to play it. The 12 boxers all have strengths and weakness...and some just have strengths and more strengths. Each boxer's punch is rated, and his ability to take a punch to the head and body is also rated. These were pretty original options for the time, but the gameplay throws us back to the early 80's boxing games.

Value: The 1 player game is just way too easy once you figure out the "Running Punch." The two player tournament is a good addition to Fight Night, although finding two people who would want to play this in 2001 would be tricky. The Training room is nearly a waste, and the fact that the computer can perform special punches and humans can't hurt the game's longevity.

Overall: When I think of Fight Night, I think of the word: anemic. For one, DipStick and Little Moe look very unhealthy, and their parents should have fed them more meat when they were growing up. But moreover, the word anemic reminds me of how weak this game is, and how good it could have been. The main problem of the game is that the 1 player game is just WAAAAY too easy. The graphics cannot make up for its gameplay simplicity, even though the gameplay could appeal to young children, senior citizens, and some forms of foliage. Basically, if Fight Night was a boxer, it would be Frank Bruno. NES's Ring King and Super Punchout are Joe Fraiser and Muhammad Ali. And, it's 2 on 1. But, as bleak as that may sound, this is the best "in-ring" fighting game on the system. Fight Night is heaps better than Title match Pro Wrestling and video game travesty, Mat Mania Challenge. If you like collecting boxing games or you have young kids...this would be a good game to nab.



The only review of Fight Night for the 7800 on the web!!!:
CV's Atari 7800 Panoramic Froo-Froo: 3.0 out of 5.0 (Fair)


Additional Info: I would like to take this time to thank Mitch Orman, owner of The Atari 7800 Page for allowing the use of his screenshots for this review.

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