Big Boy Boxing
The Summer of Demos : Day Eleven
“Welcome to the Big Boy Boxing tournament, Ladies and Gentlemen. We’ve got a great show for you tonight. In the red corner is our plucky hero in the red cap. He’s trained under Coach Hank for all of two minutes and is at the top of his game with a killer Thunder jab. And in the blue corner is…three kids in a trenchcoat. Get ready for a clash for the ages!”
A boxing boss rush game in the vein of Punch-Out, BBB’s combat is easy to learn but hard to master. You can dodge left and right and duck to avoid attacks, jab left and right to deal damage, as well as lean forward to sock your opponent in the face. When you hit an area flashing yellow you charge up to three yellow Thunder lightning bolts that you can use to land a stronger hit. Each opponent has three challenges to complete, with some requiring multiple replays to fulfil.
As indebted to Looney Tunes cartoons as it is to the Punch-Out series, every boxer has fluid and hilarious animation to best telegraph their attacks. Before you attempt each fight for the first time, there’s a tongue-in-cheek cutscene of them getting ready for the match. From the aforementioned kids in a trenchcoat to a fighter who bulks up his water weight by drinking a swimming pool, the seven fighters in the demo give a good idea of the creative humour we can expect of the 15+ foes in the full game. It also promises a story mode, challenging rematches and upgradeable abilities to make your fighter your own.
In a word : KNOCKOUT!!
Big Boy Boxing is an upcoming boss rush developed by Soupmasters and published by Joystick Ventures for PC via Steam. An earlier Alpha Build demo is available on Itch, although greatly different from the current iteration.
This article is part of the Summer of Demos series, where I’ll be releasing a Demo Diving preview article each day in July. If you liked this article, be sure to share it with a friend or enemy. If you back me on Patreon, you get access to articles one day before they release anywhere else. If we reach £25/month before the end of July, I’ll extend the Summer of Demos into August.