Hajime no Ippo 2: Victorious Road (はじめの一歩2 VICTORIOUS ROAD) is a boxing video game developed by New Corporation and published by ESP Software and was released on January 29, 2004. It is the 2nd game in the series after Hajime no Ippo: Victorious Boxers.
Introduction[]
An action game based on the popular boxing manga Hajime no Ippo, featured in Weekly Shonen Magazine. Take control of the main character, Ippo Makunouchi, and fight against numerous rivals such as Ichirō Miyata and Takeshi Sendō, aiming for the featherweight championship. The story is based on the original manga, and also covers the battles of Mamoru Takamura, Manabu Itagaki, and various other characters.
Gameplay[]
Controls[]
In Victorious Road, the player controls a boxer using the left analog stick and punches using the face buttons. Holding R1 while pressing one of the face buttons allows you to use a special move, assuming your character has one. Each character can have a maximum of four special moves, ranging from the Dempsey Roll to the Frog Punch. Some characters also come equipped with provocations, which are taunts that take up a special move slot. These include the Ali shuffle, as well as Sawamura's head tilt. The game does not have a dedicated block button, instead occasionally blocking for you. Ways of avoiding punches include slipping, side stepping, dashing, or parrying by pressing a punch button immediately after your opponent punches.
Modes[]
Arcade[]
The single player arcade mode allows the player to go through the main story of the manga, from the First Rounder arc all the way up to the Phantom Card arc. There are five separate acts of the mode, all covering various points in the story. These are unlocked as you beat each act, with exception to act 5, which is only playable after becoming world champion in any division in Boxer's Road mode.
Boxer's Road[]
This is the career mode and main draw of Victorious Road. Once a new game is started, the player is given the option of selecting a start date along a timeline of all the notable fights in the series up to a point. They are given an option of starting in five different countries (Japan, Thailand, Korea, America, and England), followed by the boxer's specifics (name, blood type, age, height, reach, and weight). The player can then use the Boxer Edit menu to customize their fighter from a list of templates or randomly generated faces. The player is then dropped into the main menu of Boxer's Road.
The main menu allows for a look at the boxer profile, coach, current time, as well as a list of buttons labelled Schedule, Rating, Strategy, Options, Save/Load, and Retire. Schedule allows for the settings of meals, training methods, sparring days, and rest days. Rating shows the various boxing organization's rankings, ranging from the national level to the world level. Retire lets the player boxer to put a permanent end to their career and acts as a game over.
Boxers both from the manga and ones based on real fighters can be found in the rankings. Every single one of these fighters can be unlocked for exhibition mode and tournament mode by fighting them. This mode is the only way you can unlock a few notable characters like Brian Hawk, Ricardo Martínez, and Eiji Date. Fighters based on boxers canon to the manga will have green names in the Rating menu, while boxers based on real fighters will have slightly red names. Fighting specific boxers will unlock wearable items, such as the sunglasses that are unlocked by defeating a member of the Otowa gym.
Exhibition[]
The exhibition mode allows up to two players to battle using any characters unlocked in either arcade mode or Boxer's Road mode, as well as fight on stages that they have also unlocked. Before each fight, the player is asked about the rules of each fight, ranging from round count, knockdown rule, and whether or not the bell saves a fighter from being knocked out. There is also a selection of music featured in both arcade mode and Boxer's Road mode to choose from.
Tournament[]
In tournament mode, the player is given the opportunity to create a single elimination style bracket of boxers unlocked in arcade mode and Boxer's Road mode. These brackets can range from four to sixteen boxers, and can have different rules for each section of the bracket (e.g. semi finals can be set to 8 rounds and 3 knockdown rule, finals can be set to 10 rounds and no knockdown rule). Tournaments by default are open weight, but can be set to have a weight class. This mode allows up to four players, and requires at least one. The rest of the boxers will be CPUs.
Playable Characters[]
There are 42 playable characters in Hajime no Ippo 2: Victorious Road. These are all characters featured in arcade mode, and can be used in exhibition mode once they have been unlocked. Characters like Eiji Date, Ricardo Martinez, and Brian Hawk are not featured in arcade mode and must be unlocked in Boxer's Road mode.
Featherweights[]
| Hajime no Ippo 2: Victorious Road | |
|---|---|
|
Featherweight Characters | |
| |
Non-featherweights[]
| Hajime no Ippo 2: Victorious Road | |
|---|---|
|
Non-featherweight Characters | |
Trivia[]
- While the game was released only in Japan and Korea, guides do exist for English-speaking fans.
- Some bugs do exist in Boxer's Road mode, like the American IBF glitch. This allows any American boxer to compete for the IBF championship after only a few professional fights, not needing to beat the national or international champions to earn a world rating.
- Real-life boxer Manabu Fukushima can be found as a green name in the Japanese rankings. He is listed as being from JB Sports gym.
- Due to developer oversight, there are items that are impossible to unlock without cheats. Among these items includes Takamura's sunglasses, Mashiba's purple gear, and Date's blue gear.
- Mexico was originally planned to be a playable country, with the player being able to train in the same gym as Ricardo Martinez, but was scrapped in development. It is possible to play in this gym using cheats, and even features Bill Stewart as the gym's coach.