One of the earliest (also one of the most comical) boxing games, which became (though unintentionally) an extreme success in the arcades and got an expanded NES port.
Version Differences#
Four versions of the arcade were released:
- kingofbj is the original Japanese version.
- kingofb is the European version (despite being assumed by MAME as the World version). It plays the same as the original Japanese version, but with the text translated into English.
- ringkingw is an earlier (and rare) North American version released by Woodplace itself. Everything looks the same as the European version, except for the new title screen and some text fixes.
- ringking is the North American version released by Data East. It uses as base ringkingw, but it has some unique differences.
Title Screen#
King of Boxer |
Ring King (Woodplace) |
Ring King (Data East) |
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The only difference of the title screen is the name change.
2 Players Mode#
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Other Versions |
Ring King (Data East) |
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The biggest difference between the earlier versions and Ring King (Data East) is how 2 Players mode works:
- In King of Boxer and Ring King (Woodplace), two players can play the game by alternating with each other.
- While in Ring King (Data East), the game offers a new versus mode where two players can play simultaneously in a Best of 3 match.
Because of this, some small things from the previous versions are cut in Ring King (Data East).
Player Start#
King of Boxer and Ring King (Woodplace) shows a simple black screen where is written PLAYER # START, whenever you start the game, win a match or continue the game after a game over.
Ring King (Data East) omits this to reflect the previous difference.
Pre-Fight Cutscene#
Japan |
Europe |
US |
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The Japanese AWB Jr. Welterweight was simply translated as Middle Weight Class for the international releases. Also Ring King changes the player's location from Japan to USA and retranslates some text to make it more accurate and less Engrish: Trial became Fights, Win become Wins, Lost become Losses, and KO become KO's.
Matches Order#
The later version of Ring King, Blue Warker and Violence Jo switch places making the entry level fighter (Blue Warker) the champion and viceversa.
Other Versions |
Ring King (Data East) |
|---|---|
Blue Walker |
Violence Jo |
Brown Pants |
Brown Pants |
White Wolf |
White Wolf |
Bomba Yern |
Bomba Yern |
Beat Brown |
Beat Brown |
Violence Jo |
Blue Walker |
Game Over#
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Other Versions |
Ring King (Data East) |
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During the game over screen, in King of Boxer and Ring King (Woodplace), the game explicitly specify which player has lost the match along with the GAME OVER tagline.
This wasn't the case anymore in Ring King (Data East), due to the 2 player mode change, leaving only the GAME OVER tagline when you lose the match.
Also in King of Boxer and Ring King (Woodplace) the ring will be centred, like when a match starts. While in Ring King (Data East) will remain in the same position where you lost.
High Score Table#
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King of Boxer |
Ring King |
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King of Boxer has actual names written in the high score table (possibly Staff Members) and allows 10 characters. Ring King instead has random objects and animals written in the high score table and allows 3 characters.
Continue Countdown#
For some reason, the continue countdown starts at 7 seconds in the Ring King (Data East), compared to its former releases which start at 10 seconds.