Victorious Boxers 2: Fighting Spirit is the North American sequel to Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory

Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory

Victorious Boxers: Ippo's Road to Glory, known in Japan as , is a Japanese-developed boxing video game created by New Corporation for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. It is based on the manga and anime series, Fighting Spirit. Though the original series is very popular in Japan, it is not...

. Its original Japanese title is . In Japan, it is actually the third game in the series to be released on the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

. Because of this, it is sometimes confused with the actual second Japanese game, . Like its predecessor, it is based on the anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 and manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 series Fighting Spirit.

The fights in the game mirrored the fights that took place in the manga series. The beginning of the game focuses on Ippo Makunouchi's rise up the Japanese Featherweight ranks, and includes the fights of Ippo's fellow gym mates. The storyline, which unfolds in the story mode, takes place in various linear segments in the game..

Gameplay

Controls - The controls are very similar to its predecessor. There are both offensive and defensive types of moves. Defensive moves include dashing, bobbing, weaving and guarding. Offensive moves include standard boxing maneuvers like jabs, hooks and uppercuts.

Modes

Story Mode - The story mode is a single player mode that follows the boxing careers of the main characters from the manga/anime series. There are three different difficulty settings: easy, normal, or hard.

Exhibition Mode - The exhibition mode is a multi player versus mode where players can compete against each other. Initially, only a small amount of characters are available, but more characters become available by playing through the story mode. Players can adjust the number of rounds, knockdowns, and the style of the count for the match. Players can also adjust a character's level of power, speed, and stamina.

Tournament Mode - Player(s) can compete in tournament style gameplay with either 4, 8, or 16 fighters.

Plot and setting

The story is based on the Japanese manga/anime series , which was released here in North America as Fighting Spirit.

Characters

The game features over 70 boxers.

Story

Development

Victorious Boxers 2 was released in Japan in celebration of the manga series', Fighting Spirit

Fighting Spirit

Fighting Spirit, known in Japan as , is a boxing manga and anime series created by Jōji "George" Morikawa which is serialized by Kodansha in Weekly Shōnen Magazine...

, 15th anniversary.

Reception

Like the first Victorious Boxers, this game had a relatively unknown release. Though very similar to the first, it did not receive as many positive reviews. PALGN rated it an overall 6.5 and stated that it was a "reasonable boxing title" that could have done better if released earlier. They also stated that fans of the anime and manga would enjoy it. Famitsu

Famitsu

is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...

 rated the game a 28/40. ThunderBoltGames rated it a 7 out of 10 and said that the games has "the right stuff were it counts." Eurogamer

Eurogamer

Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...

 also rated it a 7 out of 10 and said that while many gamers may prefer games like the Fight Night

Fight Night (EA video game series)

Fight Night is a series of video games created by EA Sports. The series consists of* Fight Night 2004** Updates: Total Punch Control.* Fight Night Round 2...

series over Victorious Boxers 2, "it's certainly an acquired taste that proves satisfying if you give it time to beef up". Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 has it rated at 61 out of 100 and Game Rankings

Game Rankings

GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...

has it rated at 70%.