Heavyweight Champ

Heavyweight Champ
Arcade flyer for the 1987 game
Developer(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release	October 1976 (original)[1] September 1987 (remake)[2]
Genre(s)	Sports

Heavyweight Champ^[a] is a series of boxing video games from Sega. The original arcade video game was released in 1976. The game uses black-and-white graphics and critics have since identified it as the first video game to feature hand-to-hand fighting.^[3][4][5] It was a commercial success in Japan, where it was the third highest-grossing arcade video game of 1976.^[6] However, it is now considered a lost video game.^[7]

Sega released a remake to arcades in 1987, changing the side perspective of the original game to a third-person viewpoint from behind the boxer. Both games feature unique controls that simulate throwing actual punches.^[3] The 1987 remake was Japan's fifth highest-grossing arcade video game of 1988 and received positive reviews from critics.

The 1976 original featured gameplay viewed from a side-view perspective. It employed two boxing glove controllers, one for each player, which moved up and down for high and low punches, with an inward movement for striking.^[3] It used large monochrome sprite visuals for the graphics.^[8]

The 1987 game changed the perspective to behind the player's boxer. In addition, the player is given two punch controllers, one for each hand. Only a single-player mode was made available, in which the player faces a series of opponents in one-round, three-minute bouts. Players can swivel the cabinet to move their boxer from side to side.^[9]

The original 1976 game was a commercial success in Japan. On the first annual Game Machine arcade chart, Heavyweight Champ was the third highest-grossing arcade video game of 1976 in Japan, just below Taito's Ball Park and Speed Race DX.^[6]

The 1987 remake was also a commercial success. In Japan, Game Machine listed the 1987 version on their November 15 issue as being the fourth most-successful upright arcade unit of the month.^[10] It went on to become Japan's fifth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1988.^[11]

The 1987 remake was also critically well-received. Advanced Computer Entertainment and Commodore User praised the game's unique controls but raised concerns that they might decrease the lifespan of the cabinets.^[12][13] Commodore User also had positive impressions of the game's graphics and gave the game a 9 out of 10 overall.^[14]

Sega reused the Heavyweight Champ name when they released the Sega Master System version of James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing outside of North America. The game features a side perspective and is otherwise unrelated to the arcade games. It was not received well.^[15][16][17]

The 1991 Sega arcade game Title Fight also featured controls for left and right punches and a similar behind-the-boxer perspective as the 1987 game, along with two-player gameplay through use of a dual-monitor cabinet.^[18]

• List of Sega arcade games

• Heavyweight Champ (1976) at the Killer List of Videogames
• Heavyweight Champ (1976) at arcade-history
• Jonathan Dunn-Rankin (1977). Sega Center offers state of the art video games in 1977 (television). San Diego: CBS 8 San Diego. Retrieved 9 April 2022.