''George Foreman's KO Boxing'' is a

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport (such ...

produced by Acclaim, featuring boxer

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

, released in 1992. Three years later, Acclaim released another game with Foreman: ''

Foreman For Real is a 1995 sports game, boxing video game for the Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System featuring George Foreman.Power Punch II ''Power Punch II'' is a boxing video game developed by Beam Software for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and originally released in North America in June 1992. The game puts the player in the role of Mark Tyler, an undefeated heavyweight c ...

: players are given the option to block the opponent's attempted punches, evade in two different directions, and throwing a wide variety of punches. Victory in a match can be won by knockout, technical knockout or by decision. A knockout requires a boxer to knock his opponent down four times in a three-round match; on the fourth knockdown, the downed boxer will fail to answer the 10-count. A technical knockout is awarded if a boxer is knocked down three times in a single round. If neither of these occur by the end of the third and final round, one boxer is declared the winner by a judge's decision, which is determined by each boxer's punches thrown and landed, knockdowns and total damage done. In the 16-bit versions, a portrait of each boxer accompanies their energy meters. These portraits become progressively battered and bloody as the fighters take damage. A password system is used in career mode to save progress in the game in lieu of battery backup.

Versions

The two 16-bit versions of ''KO Boxing'' were developed by Beam Software for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

and the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...

, in 1992. Beam Software also developed the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

and the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

versions. The versions for

Master System The is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console manufactured and developed by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series ...

and

Game Gear The is an 8-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth-generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and in 1992 in Australia. The Game Gear primarily ...

are different, and are based on the Master System version of ''Heavyweight Champ''.

Reception

The game was poorly received. ''Mega'' said that "the dire gameplay and abysmal graphics make this a game to avoid." ''

Total! ''Total!'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 (cover-dated January 1992), with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996. A "1993 ...

'' reviewer James Beaven went as so far to call it "worse than wrestling games," panning its "jerky" animation and overwhelming difficulty: "the only reason this scored anything was because you can move George a bit." Super Gamer magazine gave the game a review score of 46% stating "George looks the business in the ring restrained beat-'em-up, but not enough moves."

Super Play ''Super Play'' was a British Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) magazine which ran from 1 October 1992 to September 1996. Overview ''Super Play'' covered in great detail the role-playing video game genre. Many of these games were nev ...

gave an overall score of 18%, they criticized the gameplay saying there is little opportunity to dodge the opponent's punches and the limited movement from the main character, they also gave criticism to the graphics calling it annoying and ropy concluding: "Useless boxing game that’s a strong contender for the worst SNES release of all time." Nintendo Game Zone reviewed the SNES version and gave a score of 60%, they criticized the game's graphics being poor, the inability to move in the ring, lack luster gameplay and the lack of different moves concluding: "Fun, Laughter, and great games play. All these things aren’t to be found in George Foreman's KO Boxing."

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George Foreman's Ko Boxing 1992 video games Beam Software games Black people in art Boxing video games Cultural depictions of American people Cultural depictions of boxers Game Boy games Game Gear games Master System games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Sega Genesis games Sega video games SIMS (company) games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games based on real people Video games developed in Australia Video games featuring black protagonists Video games set in the 1990s