While I can see the case for Fight Night Round 4, I believe Fight Night Champion is the best boxing video game ever created! #retrospective #SOFTDRINKTV #game #review #sdtv
In no particular order: Mike Tyson's Punch Out (NES), Rocky (Master System), Ring King (Arcade/NES), The Final Round (Arcade), Greatest Heavyweights (Genesis), Super Punch-Out (SNES), Boxing Legends of the Ring (SNES), Rocky: Legends (PS2/Xbox), Fight Night Round 4 (PS3/X360), and Fight Night Champion (PS3/X360).
Fight Night Round 3 because the gameplay was fun and it had different haymaker punches that do different things and the soundtrack was amazing as well.
fight night champion is easily the greatest boxing video game of all time, its easily the most realistic best pure playing boxing video game of all time, its features full spectrum punch control, heavy punch modifier including jab and straight, champion mode was great, career mode was even deeper, more blood, more cuts than ever, create a boxer was even deeper, fight night champion, just like nhl 14, nhl 2k8, fight night champion is simply an all time classic, its easily my all time favorite boxing video game, i agree everything what you said about fight night champion.
It's probably the weakest point of the story because he's invulnerable until round 8, and there are bs conditions like "land 75 body shots in rounds 3-5" or "absorb no more than 8 headpunches in rounds 6-7." It takes you away from simulation into arcade.
The Fact that im still trying to beat Isaac Frost last fight in 2024 at age 51 on my beloved JB PS3 Really says something ! Ultimate Fight Night. the next Generation Boxing Game "Undisputed" will be a real backstep let down compared to Fight Night 3-4 &Champion.
I bought this on sale on the X-Box store last year for Series S for maybe 4 bucks and it’s the most satisfied I’ve ever been playing a fighting game of any kind. Not to mention it has the best story mode of any sports game I’ve ever played. This game was an absolute gem.
I have a funny story about this one... When I first played it and went through the options, having never played a boxing game that wasn't Punch-Out, I chose G.O.A.T. difficulty. I was a Peanuts fan. "I was supposed to be the hero and now I'm the goat!" As in who to blame for the loss. So I thought it was the easiest difficulty. ...I had never heard "Greatest Of All Time" abbreviated before. So I found my ass getting kicked.
@@coldsnap5742 discouraging indeed, LOL. That A.I. is brutal, and can knock you down in a matter of seconds if you don't defend properly. But don't feel bad, man. That's clearly a lack of communication issue, and it's the game developers' fault for not making it more clear. I've been watching a series from the channel "Daryl Plays Games" called "what (insert name of game here) feels like for someone who doesn't play videogames" where he kindly points out various designs flaws the development makes only because they take for granted what the players already knows about games. Highly recommend it. Anyway, happy New Year, dude
Fight Night Champion, FIFA Street, FIFA from 11 to 14. the legendary era when EA SPORTS actually made great games. and now look at what they have become
This is the last great EA Sports game we have ever gotten. (Yes, I'm saying this.) This was a legitimately great game, no bells, no whistles, just a great game. It did the Sweet Science right and it's one of the games I actually bought on digital for my PS3 a decade ago. I love this thing. The finale of Champion Mode is well done and you really have to be smart in how you finish out, the game quite literally DEMANDS IT. Playing this, knowing what we know about EA, you'd swear this was made by some other company and EA Sports just paid to get it sent to them as a finished product. No. EA really went to work on this and this is legitimately a great game. Sadly, this is the last great boxing game we'd ever see. The sport is pretty much cooked at this point and we haven't seen a game since. I'm not touching UFC for a few reasons all told. Excellent retrospective on an excellent game.
I hope you make videos on the downfall of UFC & FIFA games since they are the only 2 EA stuff you haven't done and would love to hear you discuss their declines like Madden, NBA Live, & NHL.
FIFA was Ultimate team, it re-overtook PES in 2007 and then FIFA 11 is where it started to go wrong with the deconstruction of career mode, 16 was the drop, 17 was the up again, 18 was the fall off. UFC is THQ not making it, Undisputed 3 is hands down the best UFC game. I personally haven't enjoyed the EA ones
I still play this game online to this day. There is still a very passionate playerbase that is loyal to the game even 13 years later. You can even find people on YT still making FNC content. One hugely underrated aspect of the game was the crowd AI. It was insane. People would stand and cheer when you hit a good counter or combo. If you got a great counter stun the crowd would leap to its feet and camera flashes would start going off. It was extremely immersive and given how bland crowd AI is in other sports games today, I'm constantly in awe of it. This game was a *masterpiece.* It is truly a travesty they dropped the series after this game. The series was at its peak and EA just banished it into oblivion.
This was hands down my favorite game of all time. I was playing online a good 5 years after it was released. Problem was every fight you get into at that late into it's life was a final boss fight. Wins come alot fewer and far apart and then it stops being fun. I might dip my toes back in if it's still a thing, but god I hope someone can capture the same lightning in a bottle and make new ones.
I'm not a huge boxing fan whatsoever but I will say Fight Night is probably the best sports franchise ever I started with 3 on the 360 bought round 4 and champions and champions really did have one of the best sports campaigns ever.
I seriously love this game - one of my all time favorite games, not just sports. I really liked how the Story Mode set up opportunities to fight different styles of fighters. For example, there's an opponent with a devastating Left Hook and you have to watch for his setups. Or, there's a fighter who is very defensive and is on guard until the final minute or so of a round, to score points. And, the bareknuckle boxing is just such a cool surprise element.
The online modes in this game were so addictive. The OWC belts are such a cool feature despite the bugginess. The gym systems and gym wars. Sparring in the top gyms legitimately made you a beyyer player. Sure, there was lots of cheese but its the most fun ive ever had online gaming. Now I want to go out and buy an xbox for an eleven year old game lol.
I never knew why I haven't touched Fight Night Champion in 2 years since I got it on Xbox Game Pass. This game will always live on through a very long lifespan.
i give Issac Frost all the credit in the world he is the first video game character to make me brake a controller everytime i see him i get angry and my ptsd comes in
This was the game that made me a boxing fan. I remember whooping people with Issac Frost, and Manny Pacquiao in 2011. I just recently picked it up for my Xbox One and am currently creating fighters like Canelo, Tefimo Lopez and Uysk. I beat the Champion mode in 2 days. Looks like I still got it.
My favorite boxing game ever! I remember playing the story mode with some friends trying to defeat Isaac Frost. None of us could but we still had a great time playing. I still have this game and refuse to let it go. 🤣
No doubt. This was my game back in the day. Had days I even played it 5+ hours straight. Story mode was fantastic. Playing as Marvin Hagler in Legend mode was my best experience in any fighting game ever. Too bad the clowns forced me to retire a lot earlier than I thought. Can't say enough how great of a experience this game was
Loved Fight Night, I had the first one when it came out and that one is still a classic. Career mode was fun, the fighting engine was super intuitive. I never played this one though.
I remember back in 2012 I spend all summer saving up my allowance money at home to buy this game brand new at the old video game store at my town, lots of great memories playing this game
Softdrink, You gotta try Victorious Boxers 2. If you like APF 2k8, You'll have an appreciation for a lot of the realism from a boxing aspect in VB2. Despite it's anime roots
@@dcb99filmzyes. Back in the ps2. Some of the guys played a little fast. But you had swaying. Counters. Vulnerability. It's a shame an anime boxing game had a better vulnerability system than Undisputed. Not that undisputed is a bad game, it's not. But missing a true vulnerability system is tough to swallow in 2023/4
You retrospectives have made me purchase a couple. I appreciate your dedication to giving an honest in-depth review review. I hope to see ufc or need for speed vid in the future!
have played this game more than any other boxing video game ever....champion mode could legit be a movie, it's that good. the fights force you to actually box with strategy to win. jabs and counterpunches are critical to your success in the game. the fight decisions in this game are true to life as well. some pretty questionable ones.....lol. props to the commentators as well. teddy always has some good details about boxing history.
I think this is how we fix Superstar/Face of the Franchise Mode in Madden. We create Fictional NFL players like they did here but give the story the GTA 5 treatment. We let you play as 3-5 different characters on one team, each on their own journey. 1. Rookie Quarterback who unexpectedly has to step up and start after an injury. 2. 2nd or 3rd year RB trying to slay his own personal demons while trying to make his incentives and give his family the life they always deserved. 3. Veteran 10-15 year Linebacker, like a Ray Lewis-type character, trying to make one last Championship run before retirement. 4. (And here’s the kicker) 3rd or 4th year Head Coach. Someone who’s been with the team long enough to establish his system but still hasn’t claimed the ultimate prize, someone who’s still hungry. The conflict here would be getting pressure from the team owner (Special Guest Jerry Jones?) but still wanting to make the right decisions for the players. Along with all of this, the story could change dynamically by how you play as these characters, whether you see success or failure. Pick apart the defense, throw for big yardage, and win as the rookie quarterback? The next cutscene is a post-game interview where you can make a splash and become a media sensation depending on your responses. Or…get sacked five times, throw three interceptions, and lose? The next scene is the quarterback in the locker room, ice pack on his shoulder, cut under one eye, shiner on the other as other forlorn players express their tacit support, in spite of the loss. Or the coach could stop by and give a “down but not out” pep talk. I know these things are possible and could totally be accomplished. But it’ll never happen. It’s fun to dream, though.
I played the hell out of fight night 3 with my dad and cousin. Fight night was goated and it’s probably best that it’s in the past and can stay that way
I wish!!! One of my all time favorites would come back! This game was so fun we don’t need real boxers. EA can create and entire roster and build on it with DLC. Like u said every fighter was very unique and all played different. I still play on my PS3 !
FNC is a great boxing game with a fantastic story, but it’s really missing some of the things from the career mode that earlier games had like hiring your corner, corner cut man minigames that felt like you had an impact, and prefight intro. I would consider Round 3 to be the best game but I maybe confusing it with Round 2. I may need to emulate these games myself to try them out again! Great video
Online was the best part. 17 time bare knuckle WORLD champion here! At one point you could bet on the match in the game!!! It used virgin mobil top up cards. It was awesome.
I plan on it! I want to review every sports release this year, but they might not be super on time. Such as my still not finished Wild Card Football review lol. But yes I plan on it
I still play this game pretty much on a weekly basis , for a while the boxer share servers were still up so ive downloaded so fun characters to play with and the game is still great.
@softdrinktv - you should do a video on how great sports video games were during the xbox360/ps3 era. I remember in games like FIFA and NCAA FB how you could go online and create teams with logos, uniforms, etc... Too bad they stopped doing this - at least EA.
Loved playing this game, played the crap out of it when I had my 360. And have longed for another boxing game. Thankfully we have Undisputed!! Now time for someone to make a UFC game for pc….
I’ve always loved the game. Played it on Xbox360, One, and now on Series X. GOAT. Playing as Frost to almost killing Big Baby Bishop was the most dramatic of the story only to try and take him out as the finally boss. Great Story telling. lol I’m playing it now.
EA was really the shit back in the day. I remember getting toasted by Tyson when I was fighting for the belt on the career mode. was funny and stressing at the same time The gameplay, was very satisfying and realistic. This game was ahead of its time, the graphics look better than some modern games today. Imagine playing a Boxing game in 2024 with all those (and new) fighters: Floyd Mayweather, Ali, Tyson, Roy Jones Jr, Canelo. Fun fact: knockout kings was the original name of the series
I have this installed on my xb series X and it still looks great after all these years. Just until last year EA even supported the boxer share option where you can make a boxer and share w/ the community. Too bad they stopped supporting it because it provided you up to date real life boxers. But EA still has the servers up so you can still fight online today!
I've played the previous fight nights, but haven't played this one. I will say that having a story mode really changes the stakes of a fight. I'd hate to think that we've passed the golden age of sports games.
EA was very creative and clever in how they did the Story Mode. They created a storyline and used it as a hands on manual of how to play the game. Every boxer you faced forced you to learn different game controls in order to beat them. I didn't realize it until I got to Isaac Frost lol.
It may not do well in the algorithm, but I would love a NASCAR Racing 2003 Season retrospective. 20 years on it’s still regarded as the GOAT of North American motorsports sims. And the spiritual successor to the company that made it is what is now iRacing, and they’re making the next official NASCAR game!
It’s my favourite game of all time by far but there’s two huge issues. 1 : the career mode was fairly dull . 2: the career mode would crash whenever you tried to load too many custom fighters into the roster , the crash was impossible to avoid too I my Andre ward career mode crashed when I was 49-0 and about to unify my second division I nearly cried lmao
EA Sports MMA was and still is my favorite fighting game ever made. I have so many great memories of straight bullying people with Fedor and the pit bull. I never tried this game but after this I'll have to give it a try.
I still play it on series s. Runs smooth even on 30fps and the career mode isn’t pay to win. I hope they make some of the older college basketball and football games backward compatible too cause these older sports games are the complete package
FNC is the accumulation of ten years making boxing games, it’s the best boxing game of all time. Undisputed is still second, and I still play FNC RD 3 on PS2 emulator on my phone.
I think fight night 2004 and round 2 are the best in the series. The career mode has great training mini games and just the best career modes in the series. Also they have the best knockout physics opposed to the animation based ones in round 4 and champion. And more in depth punching and defense systems
Fight night round 3 is better imo. The parrying is overkill but it has a better feel with the head movement and punches. Fight night champions gameplay can get boring. If you are any good the career mode gets way too easy once you hit high 70s ovr. You just fight the same rotation of 4-5 challengers and it’s a walk in the park. Imo fight night round 3 has a much bigger skill curve. It’s a chess match with parrying and head movement. Fight night champion is more of a stamina war. And since there is no high/ low block system it’s not really a chess match. You don’t have to read your opponent. You just spam and manage your stamina. Online is a great showcase of this.
