As my cheesy "talking about a video game and making it somewhat informative by adding real world information" posts continue, its time to hit a new low - substituting one fictional character for another.
The action, the rising stakes, the heart, and the stings are fantastic.
Since I started playing Fight Night Champion I've been trying to figure out an expy for each of Honey Roy's ten opponents and fight them in a "Gauntlet."
After several years of experimenting, I have concluded...
I cannot.
The skill levels and drive of the boxers in that movie are all over the place, there's no way to simulate multiple fights in sequence in the game mechanics, and there are less ways to simulate the various advantages and chicanery Palmer's associates pull when proving "Actually, I believe it goes: Never con a con-man, especially one who's better than you are."
Luckily, I had another Gauntlet to test Honey Roy on:
The one I've made a standard of my weekend night activities, facing all of the Rocky opponents in a row. It also was a closer fill in for trying it with the unavailable young George Foreman, since Honey-Roy Palmer was inspired by Foreman's comeback, but the benefit of being a fictional character is Roy was quicker and had more energy than a real fighter in their forties would.
I got better at remembering to take photos of the fight record, which is good, because my ability to remember how many rounds these things went is negligible.
Rocky Balboa
Balboa was always tough, but the version I have is from the early films as opposed to the inhumanly unstoppable beast he became later. The Italian Stallion put up a good show, but never took the lead after the first, and fell to his own method of shattering body blows in the fifth.
Apollo Creed
In the films and the game, Apollo Creed is based on Ali. The main difference in both is he throws far more hooks, as he's shown trying to match Balboa. In the game, like most movie fighters, he tends to be less intelligent about conserving his energy for later rounds. He landed more blows and dodged more than Rocky managed, but only lasted a round longer against the greatest could have been but never was.
Clubber Lang
For the power hook throwing, but easily spent, Clubber Lang, the prediction was "pain."
His pain, that is.
Clubber went down but not out early in the first round. Constantly having his lethal hooks either slipped or blocked and then countered by his older, wiser opponent sent him to the canvas for good in the second.
Ivan Drago
Good old Ivan Drago, always the toughest fight. However, against a character with more plot based abilities for a change, the Siberian Express was on the way to an almost never seen loss by points. Honey Roy turned things around five rounds into the bout by sticking and moving out of range, knowing when to mix it up, and when to duck and run. All that Soviet Science behind him couldn't stand up to a man who knocks people unconscious with a single blow (who should be considered dangerous at any age). Many of those types of blows kept landing. Drago dropped once in each of the last four rounds from those blows, but only got up three times.
Tommy "Gunn"
A sign that Palmer is older than the real fighters in the game... or possibly that I was tired after the long Drago fight. The "Street Fight" with Tommy (Morrison) Gunn stretched to an amazing three rounds. Yes, Tommy did kiss the canvas in all three of those rounds, and its possible that Honey Roy was going more for an impressive looking finish than a quick one.
Mason Dixon
A true age versus youth battle...but Honey Roy Palmer in Diggstown was in far more impressive shape than Rocky was in Rocky Balboa. Still, "The Line" stayed in the fight for two rounds longer than the great Apollo Creed, without getting knocked down at all in the first six rounds, and proved he had heart and stamina. He also proved the dangers of picking a fight with an old man, (to mangle anther well known quote) because when the old man gets tired of fighting, he'll just beat you to the ground and finish things.
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