''4D Sports Boxing'' is a 3D

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, with

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...

animation, developed by Distinctive Software and released in 1991 for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

, and

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

. It is part of the ''4D Sports'' series along with '' 4D Sports Driving'' and '' 4D Sports Tennis''. An updated version was published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

in 1992, including an

FM Towns Marty The FM Towns Marty is a home video game console released in 1993 by Fujitsu, exclusively for the Japanese market. It uses the AMD 386SX, a CPU that is internally 32-bit but with a 16-bit data bus. The console comes with a built-in CD-ROM dri ...

port.

Gameplay

The game features stylized boxers in polygon-based graphics, composed of triangles, some with names suggestive of non-fictional people. All opponent boxers have different fighting styles: some prefer to attack, some to counter-attack. Some (like Smokin' Joe Blow) have great punching power, some have amazing speed; The Champ has nearly perfect attributes. The game is regarded as one of earliest, and possibly first, 3D head-to-head

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

s. The player can choose which attributes of the playable boxer's attributes to improve: speed, power or stamina. While fighting, different tactics and strategies can be used, like all-out attacks, counter-attacks, dodging, etc. Sometimes fights end in a unanimous decision, even 15 round fights. Draws and disqualifications are also possibilities.

Development

The game was published by Mindscape in June 1991 for

IBM PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...

, and

. The Macintosh version has slightly better graphics with a smaller screen size. An improved version was published in February 1992 by

. It has different music, introductions, and adds pupils to the boxers' eyes. The FM Towns Marty version is based on this version, but with higher quality sound.

Reception

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'' wrote that the polygon graphics were strange-looking but very accurately modeled boxers' bodies and punches. The magazine concluded that "''4D Boxing'' is an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable game with an effective representation of boxing skills ... a welcome and often-played addition to any sports game library". That year the magazine named it one of the year's best sports games. In 1994, ''

PC Gamer US ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...

'' named ''4D Boxing'' the 47th best computer game ever.

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/162/4-d-boxing, name=''4-D Boxing'' 1991 video games Amiga games Boxing video games DOS games FM Towns games Classic Mac OS games Video games developed in Canada Video games scored by Jeff van Dyck Distinctive Software games Single-player video games