Like most Way Back Wednesday games there’s often a theme or a reason why I picked what I’m playing. I picked Ultimate Fighting Championship on the Sega Dreamcast because this past weekend Ronda Rousey put on a quick and amazing fight, so I decided to play a UFC game. Keeping with the theme of playing older games, I remember playing this one at a friends house. I don’t remember who I picked when I played him, but I remember winning with just kicks.
When I played the game this time I was torn between three fighters to play as. I had narrowed my choice to Bas Rutten, Tito Ortiz or Chuck Liddell. For some reason I was thinking of Grand Theft Auto earlier so I picked Bas Rutten. Pedro Rizzo was my first opponent on my way to becoming the Ultimate Fighting Champion, I didn’t remember any of the moves or have a manual so I just resorted to pushing buttons. I landed a few good strikes and ended up taking him to the ground, it was then where I dominated with some heavy hands to the face and watched as pixelated blood sprayed out. I went from being in a full mount to being rolled over and being in full guard. I must have hit something right, because I rolled back over to a mount and then punched until I received the KO. The second fight wasn’t as glorious, Tito Ortiz landed some quick strikes and I was knocked out while standing.
Looking back at this game, I remember how amazing it was to see full motion video in a game. It was like a mini movie played before I enjoyed the game. The reality also set in when the game started it everyone was disproportionate, with heads being to big or chests being curved the wrong way. The audience also didn’t help keeping you in the story as some of the crowd was literally just a picture of someone against a black background, and you could clearly see the black borders of the picture. The sound was a little off and you could tell that Bruce Buffer read these in a booth with hardly any emotion.
This game really doesn’t hold up as well, but it’s a lot less glitchy than current UFC games. The nostalgia factor did set in and I did enjoy winning my one fight in the first round, but I wasn’t a big fan of losing the second fight. At least I lost to a local fighter, so I guess it’s not that bad.