Prize Fighter on the Sega CD was an interesting release. It was Full Motion Video, and it was a sports title. Boxing. You may be wondering, how can they reproduce the excitement of a boxing match using the EXTREMELY limited Full Motion Video of the time. Very carefully. I was a late adopter of the Sega CD, when the local EB was beginning to discount them to just get rid of it. I had 5 to 8 games before I had a Genesis, let alone a Sega CD (I ended up with a JVC X’Eye that I got for $100 new at that same EB). Prize Fighter made me a fan of boxing games. Then I heard that there was an upgraded edition coming to the Sega Saturn and I was excited. I was deflated slightly when the Dreamcast came out and still no Prize Fighter on Sega Saturn though.
Doing What Nintendon’t
The Sega CD may be viewed as a mistake now but back in the early to mid-90’s, yeah, it was still viewed as a mistake. Ultimately, I blame Sega’s over investing in FMV with a state-of-the-art studio among other things rather than just making good games on Sega CD. That trap would later get the 3DO, which I remember reading Trip Hawkens stating in an interview that he was surprised so few companies just made games in general for the 3DO.
Prize Fighter Heavyweight Edition on Sega Saturn is obviously better looking than the Sega CD edition. It is black and white and is first person.
How This Came To Be
The former owner of Limited Run Games, Josh Fairhurst was able to acquire the rights to Digital Pictures products via his company, Screaming Villains. Prize Fighter Heavyweight Edition was a prototype that was discovered and made playable.
Fans can grab Prize Fighter Heavyweight Edition on Archive.org for free.
For the more detailed story on how this prototype found its way out, check out Sega Saturn Shiro.com.