Showtime Championship Boxing

Showtime Championship Boxing, known in Japan as Jikkyo Pro Boxing USA, is a boxing game developed by Opus Corp. and published by ACS under their ACS Sports label. It is licensed by the American premium cable television network Showtime, and is based on their flagship television show of the same name. Released in 1999 for Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. The game was released as a launch title for the Dreamcast in both North America and Europe.

Gameplay[]

The game uses a conventional control scheme common in most boxing games: the player is given four punch buttons, each corresponding to left jab, right jab, left hook and right hook, respectively, blocking high is mapped to the left trigger, with blocking low being initiated by holding both triggers together, the right trigger acts as a modifier for body blows, while movement can be done with the d-pad or the analog stick. Pressing a direction alongside a punch button would oftentimes yield other types of punches. (e.g.: → + left jab for a left cross, ↓ + right hook for a right uppercut, etc.)

The player may perform their fighter's signature punch by pressing both hook buttons together. Meanwhile, pressing both jab buttons instead performs illegal blows such as headbutts and low blows. Pressing both left punch buttons together initiates a clinch, while pressing both right punch buttons together performs a push. By holding down the right shoulder trigger and moving the analog stick, the player can control head movement and perform sways. Lastly, the player can perform a taunt by pressing all four face buttons together.

Each player's HUD consists of the health meter, which goes down as the player recieves attacks, and the stamina meter which decreases quickly as the player performs attacks, replenishes while on neutral, and slows down movement and attacks when running low. When the player is knocked down after their health is depleted to 0, in order to stand up before the count of 10, the player must move the analog stick frantically in order to fill up their knockdown meter and continue the fight.

By default, each fight is contested via twelve 3-minute rounds that can be won either by knockout, technical knockout (after three consecutive knockdowns during the same round), judge's decision or disqualification. The player may adjust these settings in the Options Mode, with options for changing the amount of rounds, as well as the time limit for each round, or toggling certain rules on and/or off such as disqualifications, the three knockdown rule or being saved by the bell.

As a North American and European launch title for the Dreamcast, the game takes advantage of the new console's power to provide the best graphics ever seen in a boxing game to date, boasting sharp, lifelike character models, accurate recreations of the featured venues and presentation which closely mimics that of the Showtime Championship Boxing program at the time. In-game commentary is provided by Steve Albert and Ferdie Pacheco. Jimmy Lennon Jr. serves as the in-ring announcer.

Game Modes[]

The available game modes are as follows: Exhibition, Best Bouts, Career, Tournament, Profiles and Options.

Exhibition[]

In Exhibition mode, players can create a single match of their choice against the CPU or another player. The game allows players to pit boxers of different weight classes against each other.

Best Bouts[]

One of the main modes of the game, Best Bouts mode serves as a showcase of boxing's rich and storied history, featuring a selection of 5 famous fights across five decades of the sport's history. In this mode, players are given a task to reenact the end of the chosen fight as it happened in real life.

Rocky Marciano vs. Joe Louis (1951)
- Win by TKO in the 8th round as Rocky Marciano
Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson (1962)
- Win by KO in the 1st round as Sonny Liston
Larry Holmes vs. Ken Norton (1978)
- Win by split decision as Larry Holmes
Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns (1985)
- Win by TKO in the 3rd round as Marvin Hagler
Mike Tyson vs. Donovan Ruddock (1991)
- Win by unanimous decision as Mike Tyson

Before each match, the player is shown an FMV video package, hyping up the chosen bout and highlighting its importance. Fulfilling the given challenge at the end of each bout would unlock one of the game's five bonus boxers. Completing all five challenges would eventually unlock all of them.

Career[]

The game features a Career Mode, which allows players to take on the career of their own created boxer. Players start off by creating their own boxer. The game includes an extensive create-a-boxer feature, which allows the players to create their own boxer, allowing the player to alter their created boxer's appearance, profile, stats, taunts and signature punches. At the start of their career, players may select their gym, with each gym granting unique stat bonuses at the start.

In Career Mode, the player has to fight their way atop the top 30 rankings of their selected weight class, at first fighting generic created boxers at the lower levels before eventually reaching the top 10, where they have to contend with some of the in-game boxers. Before every match, the player has to select their training courses, in order to improve their stats (Power, Speed, Stamina, Heart and Chin), with each course specializing in improving certain stats. As the player progresses through their career, the player could unlock better courses.

Every win or loss affects the player's current rank, moving them up or down the top 30 rankings, with the game eventually ending once the player has defeated the current champion of their division, and in turn, becomes the new champion. Boxers created in Career Mode can be used in other modes, complete with their current stats, and the player can make as many boxers as they want to, as long as there is enough space on the VMU.

Tournament[]

Tournament mode, as its name suggests, allows players to set up an 8-way boxing tournament of their own against the CPU or other players. Tournament mode supports up to four players.

Profiles[]

The game features a Profiles mode which chronicles the careers and highlights of each of the 45 boxers in the game. Each profile is typically accompanied with at least one real-life image of the boxer in question, taken during their fights.

Roster[]

Heavyweight[]

Middleweight[]

Lightweight[]

Bonus Fighters[]

These boxers have no given weight and thus treated separately from the rest of the cast.

Apollo Creed - guest from the Rocky film series
Card Girl - the game's ring girl
Jimmy Lennon Jr. - the game's ring announcer
Mills Lane - the game's referee
Rocky Balboa - guest from the Rocky film series

Arenas[]

Ports[]

Besides being released for the Dreamcast, Showtime Championship Boxing was also ported to the Game Boy Color. Released the following year in 2000, the Game Boy Color version plays vastly different from its console counterpart, featuring only 10 fighters (Bernard Hopkins, Frank Bruno, Jake LaMotta, Lennox Lewis, Marvin Hagler, Mike Tyson, Naseem Hamed, Roberto Duran, Rocky Marciano and Shane Mosley) and gameplay from an isometric perspective in order to compensate for the lack of 3D graphics. Only four modes are included in the Game Boy Color version: Exhibition, Career, Versus (via link cable) and Options, and the game omits the create-a-boxer feature entirely, likely due to the system's hardware limitations. The Game Boy Color port of Showtime Championship Boxing was developed by Crawfish Interactive.

Trivia[]

The game's cover features former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson.
- This marks Mike Tyson's first appearance in a video game in 12 years, following Nintendo's Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, first released in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Various boxers were cut from the game's roster due to contractual obligations. One notable example of this was Evander Holyfield, who had signed a contract with Electronic Arts to appear exclusively in their Knockout Kings series of boxing games prior to this game's release.
Besides releasing for the Dreamcast, the game was also slated for a PlayStation release, but the port was cancelled for unknown reasons.
Released a year after its North American and European release in 2000, the Japanese version of the game, titled "Jikkyo Pro Boxing USA", features several changes from its initial release:
- All of the stadiums in the game are given fake names, due to licensing issues. In addition, their logos have also been removed entirely.
- Best Bouts mode was removed entirely, with the bonus fighters now being unlocked by beating the game's Career Mode at least once.
Despite sharing a name and the Showtime license, the game has no relation to the 2007 game of the same name released for the Nintendo Wii and DS by Destination Software.