Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 was released in 2000 and was ported to just about every console at the time. It doesn’t appear that an arcade version of the game was released. Around this time, Midway was releasing fewer arcade games, because arcades were closing once again.
The story of the decline of dedicated arcades is too long for me to go over here. From their high point in the late 1970s and 1980s, there were several down periods. Most of those were tied to the rising prices of hardware, saturation of the market, rise of home consoles, and the decline of malls. Needless to say, I won’t be getting into that here.
This is an over-the-top boxing game that reminds me of Punch Out. Many of the same characters are back, and there are quite a few unlockable characters. I don’t remember if there were any in the previous game, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were. Midway liked to put several unlockable characters in their games.
I’m not sure if I ever played this game before. If I did, then it was on the Dreamcast. Because I wasn’t paying attention to gaming news in the early 2000s, I missed a lot. At this time, I was more interested in wrestling, working, and mundane high school stuff. So, I’m hoping this will be as fun as the first game.
TLDR: A slight improvement over the first game.
Narrative
There isn’t a real narrative in this game. This is one of the things that Midway never got right when it came to porting arcade games to the home console. Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 doesn’t have something like Punch Out to bring things together. If it did, then this would’ve been an awesome game!
Gameplay
I like the gameplay in Ready 2 Rumble: Second Round. It is basically the same as the previous game. This is an easy game to pick up and play. There is a lack of depth to everything that is going on in this game, which is exactly what you should expect from an arcade game.
There are four modes in this game, but they are basically the same thing. It is just four ways to go about boxing. Here are the modes:
- Arcade Mode
- Championship Mode
- Tournament Mode
- Team Battle Mode
The big thing here is a roster update. Most of this is graphics, but there are also several unlockable characters. Here is the roster:
- Afro Thunder
- Selene Strike
- Boris Knokimov
- Butcher Brown
- Raging Rivera
- Mama Tua
- Joey T
- Jet Chin
- Lulu Valentine
- JR Flurry
- Big Willy Johnson
- Freak E. Deke
- Michal Jackson
- G.C. Thunder
- Wild Stubby Corley
- Shaquille O’Neal
- Freedom Brock
- Rocket Samchay
- Robox Rese4
- Mr. President
- First Lady
- Rumbleman
The game has good controls. Each character plays similarly. There are minor differences in terms of speed and power, but the basic idea is always the same.
Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 is easy to pick up and play. There isn’t anything too complicated to understand, and there is a minor difficulty upgrade from the last game. It really wasn’t all that difficult to figure out the controls and how to play the game. There wasn’t really anything added to this game to make it stand out in a meaningful way.
I do like this game, but that is because I enjoy the previous game. If there was a story mode, then it would’ve been better. What is here is perfectly fine for an arcade port.
Visuals
The graphics in Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 look pretty good as far as N64 games go. Character models look a little better than the last game; the crowd and ring don’t look too much better, though. It does look better than some of the early N64 games.
Just like the first game, it feels like there is a layer of mud on this game. Some of that is due to how N64 games look compared to the Dreamcast, PS1, and PS2. They don’t all look terrible, but it is a noticeable downgrade from other versions of the game.
Animations look a little choppy to me. Things in this game look a little slower than they should be. This makes the game remind me of Rock’em Rock’em Robots. Stuff like this doesn’t happen all the time, but there are places where it looks robotic.
Character models are a little different. This is part of the graphical upgrade over the last game. There are plenty of arcade games that do this, and it works for this game. From the character select screen to the 3D models, they all look good.
The ring and crowd don’t look different from the previous game. It looks like Midway put new character models into the rings without improving those rings. Given the short turnaround, I can understand why this was done.
While there are several improvements over the first game, there isn’t much more than that. The Dreamcast and PS2 versions of the game look better than this. Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 does look good for an N64 game.
Reviews at the Time
I couldn’t find as many reviews for this version of the game. What is available is decent. The scores were between 6.5 and 7.6/10. These were above average for the time it was released.
Gamespot gave the game a 6.7/10. They liked the game but mentioned that there was little difference between this game and the first. The reviewer said that this game was “better suited for rental,” instead of going out and buying it.
IGN gave the game a 7/10. This reviewer liked the game more than the first. They were a little more positive about it, and recommended buying it.
Nintendo Power gave the game a 7.6/10. Five people gave scores on this game, so I’m not too sure how they landed at the one they did, as four of the scores are higher. This review is a hodgepodge of all five reviews, and there is little that can be gleaned from it aside from them liking it.
The reviews were rather repetitive. I can understand why, as this is basically a roster update from the first game. It does seem like each reviewer liked the game, but wanted more than what was offered here.
7.5/10. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is better than the first game. Some of the graphics are a little better, and the gameplay is slightly improved. There are some things that are the same, and nothing is all that different. The biggest fault I have with the game is that there isn’t much beyond a boxing game. Having a story would’ve greatly improved it.
Pros
- Good Controls
- Decent Graphics
- Upgraded Roster
- Fun Gameplay
Cons
- Nothing new
- Muddy Graphics
Conclusion
Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 is a solid arcade boxing game. It is a lot of fun and has a few more game modes to mess around with. What would’ve been great is a career mode and a create-a-boxer mode. Maybe that is in the third game in the series, which I might play at some point.
This series felt like it could’ve been in the Punch Out series of games. They’re over-the-top games, and I like that Midway leaned into the more comedic and cartoonish gameplay. The Ready 2 Rumble games were fun to mess around with back in the day.
Going back to play this game has been fun. Midway made many of my favorite arcade games, even if I played them on the console first. There are quite a few of them I haven’t played yet, and I’m looking forward to playing them.
I’ll have to revisit the Dreamcast versions of these games at some point. My friends and I played the hell out of the demo back in the day, and playing these games reminded me of that. The N64 wasn’t really a console that I remember, but it has some great games on it. I’ll have to get to some of the others at some point.
If you liked this post, check out some of my others on Midway games. Such as NBA Hangtime or NBA ShowTime.