heck, it is so satisfying to finally beat a game you never got around to beating, right? anyway i remember getting this for the nes and being astonished at how "realistic" the graphics were. really goes to show you how far things have come. the gameplay is still incredibly fun even today. this holds up in basically every way except for the truly awful racist/nationalist stereotyping of all the boxers.
A game that can be really hard and frustrating to get into. It's very pattern-based, and fast reflexes help an awful lot. Fights that seem very daunting can very quickly become a piece of cake after a little trial and error. It's REAL annoying when you make it far, run out of lives, then have to do a bunch of fights all over again, but it is satisfying to succeed.