Mocap Boxing is the
second of
Konami's
Arcade releases to include their
unique motion capture technology. (That's what the
Mocap stands for). The first
title to include the
sensors was
Police 24/7, released in early
2001.
As with all great ideas, the Motion Capture
hardware is actually quite
simple. An
array of sensors on the metal
framework at the top of the
game tracks the position of the player's
head as they move around in front of the
machine.
Once the game
knows where your head is, it can then readjust the
view on the
screen as you move around, so your actual real
movements in front of the
cabinet become part of the game itself.
This is
obviously quite a
natural style of
game play to apply to
boxing. Basically, your onscreen
opponent launches
punches at you head, and if you don't move it out of the way
in time, he hits you.
Simple, huh?
"Aha, but how do we hit back, then?" we hear you
cry. Well, that's where Mocap Boxing's special
gloves come into play. The machine can also
track their
position too, so when you get a chance you can
jab back at your opponent's
vulnerable spots.
The Cabinet
Mocap Boxing's main cabinet is standard size, however the nature of the game requires that there is plenty of room in front of and to the sides of the machine to allow the player to take evasive action.
Main cabinet
width = 750
mm
Width (including sensor frame and mat) = 1200
mm
Main cabinet
depth = 1595
Depth (including sensor
frame and
mat) = 2236
mm
Height = 2290
Total
weight = 300
kg approx. (excluding mat).
Power Consumption = 300 W 230 V
How to Play
Stick on the
special gloves attached to the front of the
machine, place your feet
squarely on the
mat and you're ready to play
Mocap Boxing.
The game
features special motion capture hardware, so unless you want to get knocked right out you'd better
keep on your toes and avoid your opponent's
jabs,
crosses and
uppercuts.
Each time your opponent takes a
shot at you, he will leave himself
vulnerable to
counter-attack. A
target will appear on his
body or
jaw for you to take a jab at. Time your punch well and watch him
flinch back in
pain.
The
target also contains a
number that shows you how many punches you can
land, depending on how open your opponent leaves himself and how
fast your
hands are. When the
opposition is on his last legs, you will see the "
Rush" target appear, and you can land 15, 30 or even 50 punches in one
savage combination to put him on the
deck.
Sounds
exhausting, doesn't it? Well, it's all good
exercise. However, there is also another way to floor the bad guy while
minimizing the number of punches you make: watch the
punch power gauge in the
bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Your power
increases with the more punches you
dodge, until it reaches a level when you can floor or even
knock out an opponent in one go.
Be careful with this tactic, however. Your
adversary only needs to land one punch on you to reset you punch power to
nothing, and you'll soon find yourself lying on your
back and staring at the pretty lights if he connects with too many.
Bouts are decided on the basis of first to three
knockdowns. However, they also run against the
clock, so be careful not to take
too long about it.