The Thrill of the Fight – Difficulty, Customization, and AI Stats
Difficulty Levels
Each bout can be fought with the option of several different difficulty levels. By default, all unlocked opponents can be fought on Easy and Normal difficulty. Defeating an opponent on Normal will unlock the Endurance mode for that opponent, and defeating an opponent on Endurance will unlock an Outclassed mode.
Easy mode reduces the opponent’s Chin / Toughness, Power, Fist Speed, and Aggression stats. This results in an opponent that can be taken down more easily and poses less threat to the player.
Normal mode is the primary mode the game is balanced around and should be an enjoyable fight for most players.
Endurance mode increases the opponent’s Chin / Toughness, Power, and Aggression stats. The increased toughness of the opponent will make them harder to take down, while their increased power and aggression should keep the player focusing more on defense than they normally would. This combination is intended to result in longer matches that are more likely to go to the scorecards.
Outclassed mode increases all of the opponent’s stats and is intentionally an unfair challenge. Do not play on this mode just because you have real-world experience, as the opponents will feel far too hard to take down and will take you down much more easily than they should in real life.
The number and length of rounds vary by the opponent and are not determined by the difficulty level chosen.
Customization
After you have defeated an opponent, a new option appears on the difficulty menu that allows you to define custom difficulty and match options. You can use this menu to adjust the opponent’s stats, choose a venue, change the number and length of rounds and breaks, and change a few extra miscellaneous options.
The Custom menu will remember the settings you picked between opponents and play sessions. It is not specific to each opponent, and no values are changed as you change opponents.
The stats shown in the Custom menu are relative to the opponent’s base stats and do not overwrite them. Therefore, Duke Bell (who has an inherently higher base Power value) will be stronger than “Ugly” Joe Nasato, even if you use a 100% Power value for both in Custom mode.
Blue preset buttons are present under the Opponent Options section and allow you to quickly reset all the stats and miscellaneous options to the defaults for each difficulty.
Stats
Chin / Toughness determines how much damage the opponent takes from your punches. Increasing this stat will decrease the damage they take, while decreasing it will increase the damage they take. Note that this slider applies to hits to both the opponent’s head and body.
Power determines how much damage the opponent inflicts on you when they hit you. Increasing this stat increases the amount of damage they inflict while decreasing it decreases the amount of damage.
Fist Speed determines how quickly the opponent can move their hands when they punch.
Block Speed determines how quickly the opponent can move their hands when they raise their guard to block.
Dodge Speed determines how quickly the opponent can move their head out of the way when they dodge a punch.
Aggression determines how eager an opponent is to close the distance on you so that they can throw more damaging close-up punches like hooks and uppercuts. This stat also influences the length of opponents’ combos, how likely they will lunge at you, and how long they’ll try to attack you before backing off.