Virtual View

Teleroboxer Review

Behold the Virtual Boy’s only fighting game. Think of Mike Tyson’s Punch-out!! but in first person view and with robots. Also this was one of two Virtual Boy games I got as a Xmas gift along with the well praised Virtual Boy Wario Land.

Story

It’s the 22nd century, and a new technology called Telerobotics was created, allowing people to control robots to do tasks not normally doable by humans. The sport of Teleroboxing was created by Dr. Edward Maki Jr. You can even see Dr. Maki in the bottom right of introduction screen.

Also Teleroboxer’s original name was Teleroboxing and it was displayed during the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show. Also this game along with many others was previewed in Volume 75 of Nintendo Power.

Gameplay

Imagine Mike Tyson’s Punch Out in first person and with robots rather than human competitors and you’ll have Teleroboxer. You’ll be fighting against 9 opponents, but in order to fight against the ninth opponent you cannot lose a single match. A few of the creators of the robots are from other countries and one from a different planet and their designs show in the robots.

The rules for fighting are the same as any other fighting game; beat the crap out of the opponent until they don’t move (or in this case explode) and you have a limited amount of time in each round to defeat the other robot. You and your opponents have a variety of moves to perform using both D-pads and the L & R buttons: guards, dodges, ducking, jabs, body blows, hooks, and uppercuts. Each player also has their own specials moves, your robot, Harry, has special moves that all start with the words “Machine Gun”. With each opponent having their own special, learning to dodge or block each is crucial to victory. After the end of each round you and your opponent will be able to gain health back, but the amount you and the other get back is determined by how long you want it to take. Pressing START will end the break and return you to fight in the next round. When you get a game over, not only do you get KO’d but you hear the audience laughing at you while your opponent makes fun of you.

Difficulty

I SUCK at fighting games so I find the game to be super difficult. I’m at least able to get passed the first opponent with little trouble, but I can’t even beat the second opponent. I would imagine if you’re good at fighting games you’ll find this game a tad bit more easier.

Graphics

Even with the limitation of four colors, Teleroboxer looks amazing. Battle robots are huge and full of detail. They have various expressions and they show damage to their body as you lower their health. Once you win each match, and your opponents are destroyed, the person controlling them will react to the loss in a different way. Like Red Alarm, I really like the artwork Teleroboxer has and unlike Red Alarm the designs are faithfully translated into the game. The 3D effects are excellent in this game too.

Spokong, the second opponent’s manual artwork (left) and how he looks in the game (right).

Music

For a fighting game, I wasn’t expecting the music to be super important or great for that matter, but I have to admit, I love this games music. Teleroboxer has a total of 44 music tracks with every opponent getting their own theme. Of the themes I’ve heard so far, the title theme is my favorite.

Replayvalue

If you’re good at fighting games, then I’m sure you will enjoy this game, but complain about its length. Not being good at fighters, at all, I still found the game to be enjoyable and I notice myself getting a tiny bit better each time I play the game. Thankfully you don’t have to beat the game in one go since it has a save feature than not only saves which opponent you will be facing next, but also how many wins and loses you have. One thing that would’ve been sweet to have in this game is a 2 player mode.

Overall

If you’re looking for a unique fighting game then look no further than Teleroboxer. It may be short, but it has comfortable controls, easy to perform moves, excellent graphics, stellar sound, and a good difficulty although newcomers to fighting games may not enjoy this game as much due to the difficulty. You don’t have to own a Virtual Boy to experience this game since you can find an emulator and try it out for yourself.

Being one of the launch titles for the system, Teleroboxer shouldn’t cost you a lot of money. The average price of a copy on eBay is about $19. Teleroboxer scores an 8.5/10 (Above Great).

8 – Great: 8s are great games that have something holding them back from excellence, or some features aren’t as polished. They are still extremely worthy of playing, but may not be the most impressive.

Thanks for reading the review. Continuing on with the Virtual Boy coverage, next time I’ll be showcasing the Japanese Virtual Boy games. Till next time, see ya!