Boxing is a sport that many like though I am neutral about it myself. When it comes to videogames my experience with boxing games is scarce, but I enjoy them when I get one that perks my interest. The very first game I played was Riddick Bowe Boxing on the original Gameboy, I had a blast with it due to the different mechanics and stats you could improve, then Super Punch-Out and Punch-Out on SNES and Wii respectively, those games are the total sum of my experience. Now we have Boxing Champs on Nintendo Switch, is it a champ or chump?
First of all, you don’t have many options in the game, in single-player mode you can partake in a match against CPU or play the career mode. The career mode is where, as expected, you choose your fighter’s appearance, assign some stat points, and work your way from the bottom all the way through the championship. This is the mode you will spend the most time on. The game has solid controls, you can use either the right stick for attacks such as jabs, crosses, and uppercuts or the ABXY buttons for jabs and crosses, LR for uppercuts, ZR for Block, and ZL for taunts. I prefer to use the buttons rather than the stick; the stick wasn’t doing it for me. Gameplay-wise I felt a little disappointed because I was able to go from zero to hero with just the A button, jab, I was able to win the championship just by blocking and jabbing my way to success. I expected a little more of a challenge from the CPU but, ultimately, it failed to meet my expectations. In two player mode, you play against another player locally, you can choose from all the pugilists available in-game, each has different stats. For fun you can choose one with average stats and the other player can choose one with maxed stats to see who is the better player.
Graphically the game looks colorful enough, it kind of reminds me of the flash games I used to play on Miniclip ages ago, which isn’t a bad thing. I like the details put in even if it’s a top-down view, you can see the damage the boxers get when being hit. When you are down the minigame to get up its fun to do as well, it’s affected by toughness, the higher the stat the faster you get up. The music is ok, the sound effects are as expected, so nothing to write home about; I had fun with the game, for me it’s a game that you can enjoy in short bursts of time so you can extend the game’s length.
Bottom Line is Boxing Champs is a fun little game, but I feel that it lacks the oomph needed to be a champion. I would have liked more modes, but for someone who likes local versus games, it was still able to provide some fun. For boxing enthusiasts, you should take the fight somewhere else.
A Review code was provided for this review.