Reviews

Barry Mcguigans Boxing was probably the best boxing game for the zx spectrum, released early in 1986 at the height of the little mans popularity you started off either as a new comer or a contender to try and claim Barry’s Featherweight World Title.

It was different in many ways to other beat em ups of the time due to the fact that your character was built up of individual skills, training, temperament, best punch, stamina, strength etc , making you develop a very personal fighter.

You also trained your character before every fight with items such as the speedball, heavy bag, sparring and road training, which you could use to beef up any needy points your character lacked.

As soon as the bell sounds the action began with both boxers menacingly approaching the centre of the ring ready to trade blows, you couldn’t actually move your boxer left or right, but this left you to control all the jabs, uppercuts, hooks, swipes and also enabled you to block your opponents punches, it was a truly innovative system , it worked well as your fighter piled on the pressure he forced the other guy further and further back , but it did take a few fights to get used to but once mastered it enabled you to concentrate on the fighting much better than other games of this ilk.

Climbing the ranks from number 20 up to fight Barry himself as World Champion was some feat and with no save option it can take hours of your time to actually win the belt.

Obviously the first few bouts were quite easy and I used to fight the first two or three fighters at least twice each to build up my stamina , but as soon as you reached around rank 15 the fights took a serious turn and became a lot harder, reaching into the 5th or 6th round until you felt you had the fight in the bag.

Quite often the fights became Rocky style affairs with each fighter going down a couple of times in a round and you really had to work at blocking the blows to keep yourself in the fight as your endurance was sapped , you felt great satisfaction when you finally defeated a dogged opponent.

The graphics were excellent for the time and loading it up last night they still look good today , good animation of the boxers , flashing lights from the crowd when there’s a knockdown and good detail in the ring. It also had one of catchiest tunes on the spectrum , sort of a Rocky style theme which did add to the atmosphere.

I lost many many hours playing Barry McGuigans Boxing and it was and still is one of the very best sports games to appear on any 8 bit home computer.

Without doubt the best boxing game on the Spectrum, in fact Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing for me, passes as one of the best sports game for the Speccy. The graphics are superb and the gameplay is excellent and very addictive. Okay sound wasn't much to rave about but then again I had the 48K version back in the day and didn't even know a 128K version existed until years later....but nevermind.

I loved this game back in the day and still play it over EA's Fight Night series. Not bad considering it was a gift from Dad and that I had NEVER HEARD of Barry McGuigan beforehand! Oh forgive I was only 9.

A gem of a game.

Although it's a 1985 effort, no better boxing game was published in the following years, on the Spectrum.
You can create your own boxer, and choose what kind of training you want him to do, which is an essential part of the game, and enriches it with a strategic element that complements the arcade section.
It's simple and complete.

This is by far the best boxing simulation available for the Spectrum. Not only can you choose your man's physical appearance and boxing style, but you must be very careful in your training choices if you want to have a chance to survive each match. You must learn your opponent's strengths as well, and try not to rely on the same tactics over and over.

This game wins hands down!

Boxing games on the Spectrum didn't really work, but this is one of the rare exceptions. This is just great fun, played this for hours endless on my 48K years ago. Of course the limitations are there but for me it does a good job capturing the proper feel of a boxing match, something I've failed to see in many other Spectrum boxing games. It's very limited, but it's also very, very good.

Best boxing game on the Spectrum. There were a few good ones but none of them came close to exceeding this.

1985 Gamestar (UK)
by John White, Tony Porter, W. Allen, Troy Lyndon and Doug Barnett

Not being a fan of Spectrum boxing games, I gonna rate this game lower than other users. To be honest I always loved 'Rocky/Rocco'. I played it hundreds of times as a kid. But today this sort of games seems completely useless to me.

In Barry I think there are 7 types of punches and one defensive position, and unlike other games of the genre you get a little more from what punch you choose. In games such as Rocky if you press down just one key, you get the job done, you just have to be fast, the result is almost always the same. This doesnt happen only for boxing games. For e.g. in the game 'Barbarian' the trick was to kick you opponent down and then use your sword to decapitate him, and once you discover this you would use it always. Plays would turn into repetitive routines.
Barry requires a little more attention and precission, but to be honest, I don't think it is that much different from other similar games, just slighlty better.
Also it's impossible to premeditate a strike from your opponent, you don't get to look him in the eye, or watch him "dance" in front of you, this can make the fight a bit random.

Still you get the necessary info of your opponent before each fight. You get to know if he is a dancer, a slugger or a bulldog, this allows you to build a training strategy and after some practice know how he will act in the arena.
This is one of the best part of the game adding a strategy element and making it far more competitive.