Great Boxing – Rush Up is a 1990 Famicom boxing game developed by Pixel and published by Visco (released outside Japan by Romstar as World Champ). Rather than a straight arcade slugfest, it plays more like a boxing RPG: you build a fighter from scratch, training and winning matches to raise his stats and climb the rankings toward a championship bout, in the vein of Data East’s Ring King.
You can play a one-player Ranking mode, climbing the ladder toward a title shot in one of four weight classes (five ranked opponents stand between you and each championship), a tournament mode for up to eight competitors, or a straight two-player versus match.
How to Play
The standard NES controls apply: D-pad mapped to the arrow keys, A and B buttons mapped to Z and X, and Start/Select mapped to Enter/Shift. In the ring, one button handles your footwork and the other throws punches, and holding a direction while you punch changes the shot between straights, hooks, and uppercuts. Watch your stamina bar, which drains as you punch and as you take hits, and your spirit meter, which fills as you land clean shots; a full spirit meter lets you unleash a knockdown attack. Between fights you spend earned points to raise your boxer’s speed, stamina, defense, or punching power, so how you train shapes your fighting style as much as your reflexes in the ring.
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