Line #12 VideoGame/Ready2RumbleBoxing


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rumble_0.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:"Somebody better call da doctor!"]]
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4	->''Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! LLLLLLET'S GETTTTT READY TO RRRRUMBLEEEEEE!!!''
5	-->--'''Michael Buffer'''
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7	''Ready 2 Rumble'' is a series of cartoony arcade boxing games released in 1999, starting with ''Ready 2 Rumble Boxing'' in 1999. Developed by the now defunct Point of View Inc. (except for ''Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution'', which was developed by AKI Corporation USA) and published by [[Creator/MidwayGames Midway]], the game was incredibly popular for the Platform/SegaDreamcast console, even though it wasn't an exclusive.
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9	The game was notorious for its "Rumble Meter" system, which, when taunting your opponent (only in the second game; taunting in the first game did nothing) or landing a heavy hit, gave you letters to let you initiate a SuperMode for the boxer of your choosing. It also featured famous ring announcer Michael Buffer to introduce the characters and say his well-known phrase "Let's get ready to rumble!" Finally, it had an in-depth Championship Mode in which you trained your boxer, competed in prize fights, and eventually earned your title.
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11	A sequel, ''Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2'', was released in 2000. It was then followed years later with a series reboot named ''Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution'' released in 2009, which removed all of the original characters and replaced them with celebrity parodies.
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13	Has a [[Characters/{{Ready2RumbleBoxing}} character sheet]] under construction.
14	----
15	!!'''This game provides examples of...'''
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17	* ActionGirl: Selene Strike, Lulu Valentine, and "The First Lady" (Hillary Clinton).
18	* {{Acrofatic}}: Mama Tua weighs in at a staggering 400 pounds, and is still agile enough to pull off cartwheels.
19	* AfroAsskicker: Afro Thunder and his contemporary Big Wallop.
20	* AllThereInTheManual: All of the boxers have backstories that you wouldn't know about unless you read the instruction manual.
21	* AsideGlance: It would be hard to name a character who ''hasn't'' done this in the series.
22	* BadassUnintentional: Mama Tua, as she got involved in the boxing scene by accident. But it ''does'' show where her son Salua [[InTheBlood got his skills from]].
23	* BigBad: Damien Black.
24	* BigNo: The cornermen might yell one of these out if a character is getting dominated or beaten up.
25	* BloodKnight: Jimmy and Johnny Blood, Rocket Samchay and Angel "Raging" Rivera.
26	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Both Michael Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal are aware they're in a video game. However, several of Shaq's post-match quips have him [[NoFourthWall completely shattering the fourth wall like he does backboards]], while Jackson only had just one throwaway line:
27	-->'''Jackson:''' Hey, I got into this game for a ''real'' match!
28	* TheCameo: ''Round 2'' features several celebrity boxers, including Bill and Hillary Clinton (referred to in-game as [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Mr. President and the First Lady, respectively]]) as well as Creator/ShaquilleONeal and Michael Jackson.
29	** Afro Thunder later appeared as a secret character in ''TNA Impact,'' which was also developed by Midway before the company closed its doors for good.
30	* CasualtyInTheRing: Between games, Bruce Blade from the first game was killed in a match with Butcher Brown, after taking a full hit from Brown's trademark [[ForbiddenDangerousTechnique Devastator]] punch. This got Brown banned from boxing for two years prior to his appearance in the second game.
31	* {{Combos}}: Each character have their own unique combos, highlighted by their swings changing color.
32	* ContinuityReboot: ''Ready 2 Rumble Revolution'', which ignored the past games, save for the presence of Michael Buffer, and replaced the original characters with celebrity parodies, save for [[AfroAsskicker Big Wallop]], who is a SpiritualSuccessor to the original Afro Thunder.
33	* CuteBruiser: Selene Strike and Lulu Valentine.
34	* DanceBattler: Afro Thunder, G.C. Thunder, and Michael Jackson all fall under type 2.
35	* {{Expy}}: In no particular order:
36	** Butcher Brown's looks and personality has a lot of similarities to Mike Tyson's.
37	** Tank Thrasher is an unflattering version of David "Tank" Abbott, right down to dominating an unrespected, backwards sport (Abbott - street fighting, Thrasher - gator wrestling) and switching to a somewhat less unrespected sport (Abbott - MMA, Thrasher - boxing).
38	** Likewise, G.C. Thunder is an overly flamboyant version of Prince (the ''actual'' Prince was supposedly offered to be included in the game as a rival to Michael Jackson, but he declined).
39	** Afro Thunder sounds nearly identical to comedian Creator/ChrisRock, and also has a passing resemblance to him as well.
40	*** In an InUniverse example, Big Wallop in ''Revolution'' is an expy of Afro Thunder, though his SoulBrotha traits are toned down.
41	** [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy J.R. Flurry]]'s personality as well as his love for "urban" styled clothing and TotallyRadical slang, is a near dead ringer for Music/VanillaIce during his prime.
42	** Robox Rese-4 is pretty much a boxing version of Film/TheTerminator.
43	** BruceLeeClone: Jet "Iron" Chin. Ironically, while he's a Bruce Lee clone in terms of appearance and making FunnyBruceLeeNoises, his backstory of being a former stunt double for a famous Asian movie star makes him a Creator/JackieChan Expy.
44	** Rumbleman is an obvious parody of the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]].
45	** Nat Daddy was a CaptainErsatz version of Shaquille O'Neal (Nat Daddy = Shaq Daddy). When the real Shaq was slated to appear in ''Round 2'', Nat's model was redesigned to properly match Shaq's body, and his move set was given to Shaq.
46	** Freak E. Deke is a clone of Kemo Claw from the first game, right down to the unintelligible grunts and moveset.
47	** Gino Stiletto is a parody of {{Franchise/Rocky}}. They even share the same hometown (Philadelphia, PA). Funnily enough, though, his arms look just like ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'s.
48	* ForbiddenDangerousTechnique: Butcher Brown's "The Devastator", a powerful knockout punch that implicitly [[KilledOffForReal killed]] Bruce Blade, and got him banned from boxing for two years prior to the second game.
49	* HolidayMode: The Dreamcast and [=PS2=] versions of ''Round 2'' had holiday-themed decorations accessible via cheat codes, and some characters also gained holiday-themed costumes if the internal clock is set to a certain date. These came in all flavors: New Year's, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's, Easter[[note]]April 23, which was the day Easter fell in in 2000[[/note]], Independence, Halloween, Thanksgiving[[note]]The only one not to have any costumes associated, so there's no clock cheat for it[[/note]] and Christmas.
50	* HuskyRusskie: Boris "The Bear" Knokimov, although he's Croatian.
51	* IShallTauntYou: An important part of the second game's gameplay, as it helps fill your Rumble meter.
52	* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Hillary Clinton always takes the ring dressed in her tailleurs.
53	* LegacyCharacter: There's quite a few:
54	** Inverted with Mama Tua, the mother of Salua Tua from the first game, who became a wrestler.
55	** G.C. Thunder was ''supposed'' to be this, but his cousin Afro Thunder came back from Hollywood...
56	** Johnny Blood, the younger brother to original ''Rumble'' fighter Jimmy Blood.
57	* LicensedGame: It's not immediately obvious, but the ''Ready 2 Rumble'' series as a whole is actually licensed, since Michael Buffer owns the trademark to the series and the catchphrase that inspired its title.
58	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Kemo Claw is implied to be one.
59	* MirrorMatch: The first game always used its full roster in the arcade and championship modes, so this would always happen at some point. With the exception of the GBA version, ''Round 2'' has a bigger roster, and it's very rare to encounter the same character you're playing as.
60	* MotionCapture: Notable for having Michael Jackson motion capture all of his own fighting moves, as well as his taunts.
61	* NewJackSwing: The first two games' [=OSTs=] made heavy use of the NJS sound.
62	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The third game in a nutshell. While the first two had many expies, as shown above, they weren't as overtly blatant (save for [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Rumbleman]]).
63	* OlderThanTheyLook: "Big" Willy Johnson looks roughly middle-aged, but is actually ''108 years old'' (or so the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast versions says; the Playstation version gives him an age of 38).
64	** This was [[RetCon retconned]] in ''Round 2'', as his age is billed as 41 in that game. His age in the first game was probably a joke on the fact that his boxing style is that from early 20th century (the manual even states he wound up in the present through a space-time rift).
65	* OneHitKill: In ''Round 2'', getting your Rumble Meter to Level 3 lets you knock your opponent out of the arena and win instantly.
66	* OrgasmicCombat: Considering how over the top the game is, this was inevitable. The worst offender in the series is Selene Strike.
67	* ProductPlacement: Aside from Michael Buffer's own presence and catchphrase, the second games features logos from clothing companies such as Rocawear and Everlast.
68	* PunnyName: Boris Knokimov.
69	* PutOnABus: Tank Thrasher, "Furious" Faz Motar, Jimmy Blood, Nat Daddy and Damien Black disappear without explanation between games. Claw and Stiletto simply retired for good considering their roles as mentors, Salua Tua dropped out of boxing to continue his previous sport -- sumo wrestling -- in Hawaii, and Bruce Blade was [[BusCrash killed in a match with Butcher Brown]].
70	* RaceLift: Lulu Valentine was African American in the first game. In ''Round 2'', she was changed to be Caucasian.
71	* RedBoxingGloves: Naturally, although not everyone wears them.
72	* RingOut: Activating your Rumble meter at its highest level will allow you to uppercut your opponent clean out of the ring, giving you an automatic K.O. victory.
73	** ShownTheirWork: In real life boxing, leaving the ring for any reason is an automatic DQ. Midway took this rule and turned it into an automatic knockout if you hit your opponent with a full Rumble meter.
74	* RoarBeforeBeating: Adding nicely to his Maori New Zealander heritage and reputation as a ScreamingWarrior, one of Jimmy Blood's win-poses in the original game involves him beating his chest repeatedly in this fashion, before yelling angrily.
75	* ScreamingWarrior: Jimmy Blood -- a Maori New Zealander -- from the original has a taunt and VictoryPose consisting of him screaming really loudly.
76	** Two of Michael Jackson's taunts also have him doing his infamous battle scream.
77	* ShowsDamage: As the fight goes on, the contenders' faces get covered with bruises. Sometimes they even lose teeth.
78	* SoulBrotha: Both Thunder cousins fall under this.
79	* SpiritualSuccessor: EA Sports' ''Facebreaker'', which came out two years after the third game. The ''Rumble'' series itself was a 3D one to ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', which was ironically revived the same year ''Revolution'' came out.
80	** The series was also one of many sports games developed and/or released by Midway using the "fast-paced gameplay, loose adherence to the rules" style of ''VideoGame/NBAJam''.
81	* StatuesqueStunner and AmazonianBeauty: Selene Strike. 6'3", a BuxomBeautyStandard figure, and can go a full 12 rounds with all the ranked male heavyweights in the games.
82	* SuperMode: When you activate your Rumble Meter, which makes your attacks faster and doesn't let you tire out when you attack.
83	* SurferDude: Freedom Brock from ''Round 2''.
84	* TookALevelInBadass: Michael Jackson, in-universe. He can deal a lot of damage, and he's one of the quickest fighters on the ''Round 2'' roster, as well as one of the strongest.
85	* TopHeavyGuy: Some of the beefier characters, such as Butcher Brown and Damien Black.
86	* UseYourHead: Butcher Brown has a headbutt move. And since the rules are pretty loose in this game (no disqualifications, for example), he can get away with it.
87	* VersionExclusiveContent: Each of the three console versions of the first game have an exclusive character: Jimmy Blood on the Dreamcast, Gino Stiletto on the Playstation and J.R. Flurry on the Nintendo 64. Also happens to quite a few characters from ''Round 2'' who had to be excised from the fifth-gen versions due to the Playstation and [=N64=]'s limitations.
88	* VictoryPose: Whenever a character wins (obviously). Some characters, such as Afro Thunder and Michael Jackson, do a [[HappyDance Victory Dance]] instead of a pose.
89	* VocalDissonance: ''Michael Jackson'', surprisingly. Many think [[TheOtherDarrin Midway used a soundalike]], but [[http://www.appygamesblog.com/2009/07/07/mj/ according to the head director of the game]], that's his actual voice you're hearing when he speaks. Due to contractual issues, however, he's not credited as a voice actor.
90	* TheVoiceless: Kemo Claw from the original and Freak E. Deke in the sequel. They grunt, and make other unintelligible noises, but never speak. Freak E. Deke speaks but its hard to understand him.
91	* WorldOfBadass: Par for the course for a boxing sim, but you don't see 5'2 female fighters launching guys twice their size ''ten feet in the air'' in any other boxing game like this.
92	* WorldOfHam: That's just putting it mildly.
93	* WritersCannotDoMath: ''Round 2'' takes place three years after the original game, yet some of the returning characters are either aged up ''double'' that, or, as mentioned above, their original ages were [[RetCon retconned]]. Michael Jackson was a strange example, as the Nintendo 64 version of the game bills him at ''25 years old'' (he was actually 42 at the time[[note]]25 was the age he was at the release of ''Music/{{Thriller}}''[[/note]]), while the other ports did not bill his age at all.

Context VideoGame / Ready2RumbleBoxing