» DREAMCAST » 2000 » ANCHOR Can you have too much of a good thing? I love fighting games and the Dreamcast certainly has no shortage of great ones, but that became a problem when I binged on them and ended up craving something different from the standard fare. Unfortunately, it’s not the strongest console for wrestling games, and that’s how I ended up turning to Ultimate Fighting Championship – the very first licensed game based on the world’s biggest mixed martial arts promotion, and my first exposure to the sport.
It’s easy to forget now that UFC has a turnover of over $1 billion, but at the turn of the century the promotion was just emerging from the underground, after US politicians had campaigned to ban it. Edge’s 4/10 review said that “the real-life championship thrives on a vicious bloodlust” and described the game as being based on “shaky” moral ground. That reputation was all I had to go on and the game certainly delivered on the violence. As my friend James and I familiarised ourselves with the moves, we encountered some wince-inducing submission holds and saw blood splattered all over the mat thanks to some powerful punches.
However, the game offered much more than the sight of mountainous, meaty men – highly detailed ones, for the time – flattening faces on foot. Takedown techniques are a key part of MMA, so fighters have to be proficient in fighting from their backs and regaining positional advantage once the fight has gone to the ground, and simulating that aspect of the sport allowed the game’s approach to man-on-man combat to feel refreshing. James and I were soon engrossed in applying arm bars and thwarting heel hooks, and we only stopped to go online and seek out clips of fighters like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and my personal favourite, Dutch kickboxer Bas Rutten. We’d never have done that without this game, so it performed one heck of a reputational rehab.