Boxing
Boxing is a video game interpretation of the sport of boxing, developed by programmer Bob Whitehead for the Atari VCS (later renamed to the Atari 2600). It was published by Activision in 1980 and is one of the first video games developed by Activision. The game is based on Boxer, an unreleased 1978 arcade game from Whitehead's previous employer, Atari, Inc.
Also recorded as Atari Boxing · 1980 Boxing
Boxing
- Date
- 1980.
- Genre
- boxing video game.
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Boxing is a video game interpretation of the sport of boxing, developed by programmer Bob Whitehead for the Atari VCS (later renamed to the Atari 2600). It was published by Activision in 1980 and is one of the first video games developed by Activision. The game is based on Boxer, an unreleased 1978 arcade game from Whitehead's previous employer, Atari, Inc.
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Boxer was written by Mike Albaugh who also wrote Drag Race for Atari, a game cloned by Activision as Dragster.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Boxing • Developer — Activision • Publisher — Activision • Designer — Bob Whitehead • Released — August 1980 • Genre — Fighting, sports • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Atari 2600
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — White is landing a punch on black. Boxing shows a top-down view of two boxers, one white and one black. When close enough, a boxer can hit his opponent with a punch (executed by pressing the fire button on the Atari joystick). This causes his opponent to reel back slightly. Long punches score one point, while closer punches (power punches, from the manual) score two. There are no knockdowns or rounds. A match is completed either when one player lands 100 punches (a "knockout") or two minutes have elapsed (a "decision"). In the case of a decision, the player with more landed punches is the winner. Ties are possible. While the gameplay is simple, there are subtleties, such as getting an opponent on the "ropes" and "juggling" him back and forth between alternate punches.
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United States.
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Boxing is associated with United States.
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Reception
Reception
Boxing was reviewed by Video magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was described as "demonstrat[ing] Activision's willingness to strike out boldly in new directions" and praised for keeping things from "becoming needlessly complex" by making automatic punch-type selection for the player.
Legacy
Legacy
Boxing was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service in 2010. In 2011, an extended academic version of the game, called Clever Boxer, was developed as a benchmark for game AI. Boxing was shown briefly being played in the Season 8 The Walking Dead episode The Big Scary U. Boxing was featured as an Easter egg minigame in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Atari VCS game release dates. Atari Archive. 2020.
- 2.Stilphen, Scott. Bob Whitehead Interview. The 2600 Connection. 2005.
- 3.Spicer, Dag. Mike Albaugh Interview. Computer History Museum. November 12, 2010.
- 4.Kunkel, Bill. Arcade Alley: A New Era Begins - Activision Exploits Atari's Success. Video. Reese Communications. 12 and 105. December 1980. 0147-8907.
- 5.Nasrinpour, Hamid Reza. Deploying Fuzzy Logic in a Boxing Game Network. 6th Annual International North-American Conference on AI and Simulation in Games (GameON-NA). Eurosis. September 2011. 10.13140/2.1.1110.3524.
- 6.Hague, James. The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers. 23 July 2025.
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