It's no secret that boxing is a favored topic for the gaming world; I can remember beating the pixels out of friends and family on the ol' Intellivision system. Victorious Boxers, a smashing success in Japan, is hitting the U.S. PS2 market, and bringing with it a fresh new perspective on perhaps familiar territory. Where most boxing titles have merely improved the genre with progressively more detailed graphics - Victorious Boxers is not only providing state-of-the-art presentation, but an in-depth storyline to give gamers more than just flash and dash.

The roots of Victorious Boxers can be found in the popular comic, Hajime No Ippo, which will probably "ring a bell" with many fans of Japanese media. Victorious Boxers casts you in the role of Ippo - a loner who has seen the harder sides of the streets. Determined to excel, Ippo meets an old trainer at the ring - and so the game begins. Under guidance of your mentor, you will gradually acquire new moves and perfect your technique. With over 40 boxers to take on, and an impressive variety of locations, Victorious Boxers will satiate even the most ravenous boxing game fan.

Mr. Ryuta Aoyogi, Lead Programmer for developer, New Corporation, was good enough to give up some insight into the behind-the-scenes world of Victorious Boxers. 

1. What's the hardest thing about converting a title from Japanese to an American format? Are the changes usually limited to mostly translation, or are there also other plot/gameplay factors that are altered in the process?

The hardest point was the localization for the visual scene, and in connection with this, we had to change the visual sequence. Also we adjusted the difficulty from the 2nd part of the story for the US market.

2. What kinds of methods do you use to bring the ultimate realism to your characters and their moves? Do you do live action model work or study any footage of professional boxers? 

All motions in this game were made by hand. We did not use the technology, Motion Capturing, physical or speed calculations in this game. Right now, I think this is the best method - to extract the important part in order to make 'boxing' realistic in the game. I always pay attention to fit the realism to the game system. It is easier to get the realism by making the motion corresponding to the game system than by the motion capturing. Even the game has the 'real' boxing, if it doesn't fit with the game system, you may not get the good motion in the game. 
I studied about boxing a lot, but you need to love boxing first. There are some points we understand because we love it. We built the motion data by ideas: which part should be realistic, which part should be over-reacted, etc. In order to make the realism, we mixed the real action and the "improvised" action. 

The action of boxing has two patterns - one is "Style (technique)" which is taught at the gym, the other is "Fight" which is acted in the bout. I believed we could mix these patterns in Victorious Boxers. 

3. What kinds of locations and arenas will players be able to participate in? Are there any real life settings that boxing fans might recognize?

Victorious Boxers is based on the comic "Hajime No Ippo" which is very famous in Japan.
So there are some real places like Koraku-en, but the settings are not exactly same as the real place. There are also there are some unique places like in the woods, Japan after WWII, etc. If I have an opportunity, I would really love to make the game with authentic places and settings.

4. What do you feel most sets it apart? What were you able to do with the PS2 that you've been unable to do with other titles?

The "reach", the range to reach, is very narrow in the boxing. Boxing is the fight between this range. So I tried to see that the player had both offense and defense - the ability to move and punch quickly, sway, punch back, etc. The key of this is the offense system of swaying and punching back. You can feel you are really boxing. Depending on the defense moves, players will be able to make various types of punches.

From the view of hardware capability of PS2, you can see the down and action with the lope. On the other hardware, the lope is just the wall. You can see the smooth and natural action with the lope.

5. Realism is also a high priority in Victorious Boxers. Did you spend a lot of time with professional trainers for boxers or study various boxing techniques? What are some of the aspects of depth and realism you've had the most fun, or are most proud of brining to Victorious Boxers?

I went to the boxing gym and watched the bouts a lot. And at that time, I tried to be both the boxer and the audience. It was easy because I already had a love for boxing.

As I said the above, the important point for the realism is the matching of Motion and Game system. I believe we could make it - especially the defense and offense match to the game system. But I am still feeling we can improve it more and more.

6. What kinds of game genres have you done design work for during your career? How did you get involved with Victorious Boxers?

I was involved in jumping action games and another boxing game. Victorious Boxers is my second
boxing game. I have worked in various stages and positions in the development cycle - Editor Design, Dot Drawing, Modeling, Motion Making…except the Game Design. These experiences have been helpful for me and I have used those experiences in helping to create Victorious Boxers. It was especially good to think about how the motion should be, data creating, etc. With Victorious Boxers, this is the result I have worked for from the time I created a 2D jumping action game.

7. Sometimes as a game designer, you may acquire experience and expertise in other areas of game making. Would you say that as game designer you've acquired well-rounded knowledge of all aspects of game creation in order to best communicate with team members in all parts of the process?

Generally speaking, the game designer works on the documentation of the game quite a bit. I spent a lot of time communicating to the rest of the team. We take all of our teams experience and then discuss what is the best way that we should do the game.

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The Badger would like to thank Mr. Ryuta Aoyogi for taking time out with us to give us some of the inner details of Victorious Boxers.