K-1 isn’t really well known outside of Japan. It’s a mixed martial-arts promotion, like UFC, except the focus is more on a kick-boxing style of striking than the takedowns and submissions that you’d see in UFC. So, why a K-1 game was released in North America on the Playstation (actually, two were released on the Playstation out here) is beyond me...Especially since, at that time, mixed martial-arts wasn’t really all that popular out here. But anyway, K-1 Grand Prix was released on North American shores and many gamers who had never heard of K-1 stars like Andy Hug still had never heard of them after the game was released...It didn’t sell. In fact, the game is pretty hard to come by now. So, did a lot of North American gamers miss out on a fun experience, or did this game deserve to be ignored like it was? Well, let’s find out.
The game has basic modes like exhibition, versus, and tournament, where you can battle a computer or a friend. If you’re really into K-1 and want to simulate matches, you can watch a computer vs. computer match, too. However, the real meat of the game is in career mode where you create a fighter (granted, with a very limited and poor create mode), choose their style and a pair of trainers out of a large list, and then train specific aspects of your fighting style inbetween fights. As you advance in the mode, you can purchase new moves to assign to your character to make him even more deadly. However, there is one flaw in this mode...The difficulty. There isn’t a tutorial or anything, so you’re kind of guessing what you should be training to improve your fighter...And in the beginning, you’ll feel as if you’re doing everything correctly as you’ll win fight after fight....And then you’ll join the K-1 promotion and get absolutely murdered. I lost my first K-1 fight in two punches...eventhough my previous, non-K-1 fight had me winning the fight in less than thirty seconds. Obviously, I did the training wrong...But even after four more attempts at the mode, I wasn’t able to build my character up even close to the level of the majority of the K-1 fighters. There really is no explanation in the manual or in-game as to how they recommend you train, so it’s kind of frustrating spending so much time using trial-and-error just so you stand a chance later on in the mode.
The gameplay is pretty simple, the four main buttons on the controller control the right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg of the fighter you choose. Hitting them alone or with directional buttons will change the type of attack you do...Like hitting a button by itself may have your fighter execute a jab, but if you hold the back button while hitting that same button, he’ll do a spinning back fist instead. Knowing the moves your fighter has, what the reach and damage of a move is, and the right time to execute them is a big part of the gameplay. The game is kind of slow, though. If you execute a combo, your fighter will generally pop it off quickly...But the rest of the action is pretty slow-paced. I think the pace could be a little bit faster, but as it is, it’s still pretty playable. However, since a lot of punches and kicks have a little delay in them, it’s kind of nice that the game is paced as slow as it is because the controls are not always as responsive as you’d want them to be...Especially when on defense. The slow pace of the game can sometimes help you out when you’re trying to block...But forget about if if your opponent hits goes for a combo...Especially a high-low one, you may get lucky and block a shot or two, but you’re still going to get hit...So, just hope that the one that lands isn’t a knock-out blow.
Graphically, K-1 is alright looking. Most of the models are smooth, but you can still see some polygons if you try to. The fighters themselves only slightly resemble their real-life counterparts, though...Some of them even look a little distorted with larger facial features than they have in real-life. In the audio department, K-1 does alright. The ring announcing can be set to either Japanese or English and both are done alright...Though the English guy really likes to scream out the winner’s name; it’s pretty amusing. The sound effects of the punches don’t sound cheesy, they sound fairly realistic, so that’s a plus, too. The only real downside is the background music...It’s not really annoying or anything, but when I played, I felt like it just plain didn’t belong. More specifically, it didn’t sound like music that should be playing while I’m kicking someone’s nose in. But, it never made me want to reach for the mute button, so I suppose it’s really not all that bad.
In the end, K-1 Grand Prix is a passable game. It’s got a pretty deep career mode that you can spend hours in, but is lacking in an explanation as to how you should strategize your training so that you won’t get destroyed after being brought up into the K-1 promotion. The unresponsiveness while you’re on defense during fights also hurts the game a bit...Especially in career mode, when you’re fighting someone much stronger than you...You need precise defense, not a 50/50 chance of successfully blocking a punch. However, even with its shortcomings, K-1 Grand Prix is still pretty fun...And with a small selection of kick boxing titles out in the video game world, this one may be worth your while if you’re really looking to get into a virtual kick boxing ring. With tighter controls and some sort of clues or explanation as to how to do well in career mode, K-1 Grand Prix could have been a contender on the Playstation...But with its flaws, K-1 Grand Prix is amongst the undercard fighting games for the system. - Ape
January 25, 2000
September 30, 1999
