Boxing (1980 video game)

Boxing
Boxing
Developer(s)	Activision
Publisher(s)	Activision
Designer(s)	Bob Whitehead
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Release	July 1980[ citation needed ]
Genre(s)	Fighting, sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Last updated November 03, 2024

Boxing is a video game interpretation of the sport of boxing developed by programmer Bob Whitehead for the Atari VCS (later renamed to the Atari 2600).^[1] It was published by Activision in 1980 and is one of the first video games developed by Activision. The game is based on Boxer, an unreleased 1978 arcade game from Whitehead's previous employer, Atari, Inc. ^[2]Boxer was written by Mike Albaugh who also wrote Drag Race for Atari, a game cloned by Activision as Dragster .^[3]

Gameplay

White is landing a punch on black Boxing-Activision-2600.png — White is landing a punch on black

Boxing shows a top-down view of two boxers, one white and one black. When close enough, a boxer can hit his opponent with a punch (executed by pressing the fire button on the Atari joystick). This causes his opponent to reel back slightly. Long punches score one point, while closer punches (power punches, from the manual) score two. There are no knockdowns or rounds. A match is completed either when one player lands 100 punches (a "knockout") or two minutes have elapsed (a "decision"). In the case of a decision, the player with the most landed punches is the winner. Ties are possible.

While the gameplay is simple, there are subtleties, such as getting an opponent on the "ropes" and "juggling" him back and forth between alternate punches.

Reception

Boxing was reviewed by Video magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was described as "demonstrat[ing] Activision's willingness to strike out boldly in new directions" and praised for keeping things from "becoming needlessly complex" by making automatic punch-type selection for the player.^[4]

Legacy

Boxing was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service in 2010.

In 2011, an extended academic version of the game, called Clever Boxer, was developed as a benchmark for Game AI.^[5]

Boxing was featured as an Easter egg minigame in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Activision</span> American video game publisher

Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one of the largest third-party video game publishers in the world and was the top United States publisher in 2016.

Alan Miller is an American video game designer who was the co-founder of the video game company Activision.

<i>Tennis</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Tennis is a sports video game for the Atari VCS which was written by Activision co-founder Alan Miller and published by Activision in 1981.

David Crane is an American video game designer and programmer. Crane grew up fascinated by technology and went to DeVry Institute of Technology. Following college, he went to Silicon Valley and got his first job at National Semiconductor. Through his friend Alan Miller he learned about potential video game design work at Atari, Inc. and began work there in 1977.

Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was written by Bob Whitehead. The player flies a helicopter left and right over a scrolling, wraparound landscape, shooting down enemy airplanes to protect a convoy of trucks below.

Tod R. Frye is an American computer programmer once employed by Atari, Inc., and is most notable for developing the home adaptation of Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 video computer system. Following the collapse of Atari he worked at video game and computer game companies such as 3DO and Pronto Games.

<i>Ice Hockey</i> (1981 video game) 1981 video game

Ice Hockey is an ice hockey video game designed by Alan Miller for the Atari VCS, and published by Activision in 1981. Actor and comedian Phil Hartman starred in the commercial for the game.

Fishing Derby is a fishing video game written by David Crane for the Atari Video Computer System and published by Activision in 1980. It's one of the first video games developed by Activision.

Robert A. Whitehead is an American video game designer and programmer. While working for Atari, Inc. he wrote two of the nine Atari Video Computer System launch titles: Blackjack and Star Ship. After leaving Atari, he cofounded third party video game developer Activision, then Accolade. He left the video game industry in the mid-1980s.

Garry Kitchen is a video game designer, programmer, and executive best known for his work at Activision during the early years of the company's history. He has developed games for the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, as well as co-founded Absolute Entertainment with ex-Activision developers. His port of Donkey Kong for the Atari 2600 was a major hit for Coleco, selling over 4 million copies. His other 2600 work includes Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker for Activision and Space Jockey for U.S. Games. He also wrote Garry Kitchen's GameMaker and The Designer's Pencil for the Commodore 64.

<i>The Activision Decathlon</i> 1983 video game

The Activision Decathlon is a sports video game written by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, and MSX. Up to four players compete in the ten different events of a real-life decathlon, either in sequence or individually.

Carol Shaw is one of the first female game designers and programmers in the video game industry. She is best known for creating the Atari 2600 vertically scrolling shooter game River Raid (1982) for Activision. She worked for Atari, Inc. from 1978 to 1980, where she designed multiple games including 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe (1978) and Video Checkers (1980), both for the Atari VCS before it was renamed to the 2600. She left game development in 1984 and retired in 1990.

Video Chess is a chess game for the Atari VCS programmed by Larry Wagner and Bob Whitehead and released by Atari in 1979. Both programmers later developed games for Activision.

<i>Stampede</i> (video game) 1981 video game

Stampede is a video game written by Bob Whitehead for the Atari Video Computer System and published by Activision in 1981. Stampede is a left-to-right horizontally scrolling action game with a cattle round-up theme. An Intellivision version was released the following year.

<i>Skiing</i> (Atari 2600 video game) 1980 video game

Skiing is a video game cartridge for the Atari 2600. It was authored by Bob Whitehead and released by Activision in 1980. It is one of the first video games developed by Activision.

<i>Dragster</i> (video game) 1980 video game

Dragster, released in 1980 for the Atari Video Computer System, is one of the first video games developed by Activision.

<i>Oink!</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Oink! is an Atari 2600 video game designed by Mike Lorenzen and released by Activision in 1983. Oink! is inspired by the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs" and casts the player as a pig defending his home from a wolf bent on destroying it.

Laser Blast is a single-player video game developed and published by Activision in March 1981 for the Atari VCS console. Designed by David Crane, one of Activision's co-founders, Laser Blast places players in control of flying saucers attacking land targets.

Sky Jinks is a vertically-scrolling, air racing-themed video game developed by Bob Whitehead for the Atari 2600 video game console, and published by Activision in 1982.

<i>Video Checkers</i> 1980 game for Atari 2600

Video Checkers is a video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. in 1980 for the Atari VCS, renamed to Atari 2600.

References

1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
↑ Stilphen, Scott (2005). "Bob Whitehead Interview". The 2600 Connection. Archived from the original on Nov 30, 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
↑ Spicer, Dag (November 12, 2010). "Mike Albaugh Interview" (PDF). Computer History Museum.
↑ Kunkel, Bill; Laney, Frank (December 1980). "Arcade Alley: A New Era Begins - Activision Exploits Atari's Success". Video . Reese Communications: 12 and 105. ISSN 0147-8907.
↑ Nasrinpour, Hamid Reza; Malektaji, Siavash; Aliyari Shoorehdeli, Mahdi; Teshnehlab, Mohammad (September 2011). "Deploying Fuzzy Logic in a Boxing Game Network". 6th Annual International North-American Conference on AI and Simulation in Games (GameON-NA). Eurosis. doi:10.13140/2.1.1110.3524.

External links

Boxing at AtariAge

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[giantlist-1] 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".

[2] Stilphen, Scott (2005). "Bob Whitehead Interview". The 2600 Connection. Archived from the original on Nov 30, 2016.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[albaugh-3] Spicer, Dag (November 12, 2010). "Mike Albaugh Interview" (PDF). Computer History Museum.

[kunkel-4] Kunkel, Bill; Laney, Frank (December 1980). "Arcade Alley: A New Era Begins - Activision Exploits Atari's Success". Video . Reese Communications: 12 and 105. ISSN 0147-8907.

[5] Nasrinpour, Hamid Reza; Malektaji, Siavash; Aliyari Shoorehdeli, Mahdi; Teshnehlab, Mohammad (September 2011). "Deploying Fuzzy Logic in a Boxing Game Network". 6th Annual International North-American Conference on AI and Simulation in Games (GameON-NA). Eurosis. doi:10.13140/2.1.1110.3524.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]