Joystick Ventures is at PAX East 2024 to showcase some games from its booth and one of the titles I got to try was Big Boy Boxing by Soupmasters.

Big Boy Boxing is an arcade boxing game with some gameplay elements from the Souls genre. With its 16-bit pixel look, the beautiful animation looks flawless when you’re battling opponents.

Drawing inspiration from Punch-Out and Cuphead, Big Boy Boxing challenges players to fight an opponent without taking 3 hits and getting the Game Over screen.

I had a few minutes with Joystick Ventures Project Manager Andrea Alvarez to talk about the game and more.

Ed: Can you tell me what was the inspiration for the developers to create Big Boy Boxing?

Andrea: Big Boy Boxing was super inspired by Punch-Out and Cuphead. It’s an arcade, boss rush game. It’s super fun. You don’t need to know a lot to play it. What makes it interesting is the game is all hand-animated.

REALLY?

Yes! 

No wonder because while I was playing the demo, the animation looked smooth.

It is superfluid. The studio was very keen on it. The developers Soup Masters, spent a lot of time perfecting it. Every pixel has to be perfect for the animation to look super smooth. It’s one of the reasons that it is taking a long time in the development of the game. Since the game is very slapstick, The bosses’ reactions are very funny. Since every boss has a different personality, each boss has to react in a way that reflects that personality. It was a priority for them to have this superfluid look for the game.

The boss that I fought was named Trigger Happy.

Oh, Trigger Happy (laughs).

She’s cute but then she brings out this big weapon that has a huge pink ball at the end of it with a death skull on it. How did they come up with creating these characters?

The thing with the bosses is that they have an archetype to them. So Trigger Happy is cute but gets super mad when she is hit or when she attacks. She is one of the hardest I played against. I fought her many times and couldn’t beat her (laughs).

Same (laughs)

There’s another character named Freezy Boy who does everything to win and gets upset when he doesn’t. Another one is three little characters disguised as a full adult. Characters like that make the boss roster stand out. Just like Punch-Out, the bosses in that game have a quirkiness to them. These odd and difficult characters help Big Boy Boxing stand out.

I noticed this game has a mixture of Punch-Out and Dark Souls. I was curious if that is intended to make the player better by replaying fights.

Yes. The more difficult the bosses become, the more harder it is to defeat them. The great thing is that they do have weaknesses and it is up to you to find them and take advantage of them in the ring. So you have to create a strategy to defeat them. For example, in this demo, you do have a thunder punch, but in the complete game, you’re going to have more special attacks to overcome those weaknesses.

What I find fascinating is that sometimes, you can’t outsmart the A.I. If they see you not paying attention or reacting too early, they will hit you fast and hard. While I was fighting Trigger Happy, I was getting ready to dodge her attack and was moving too early. She noticed and attacked me quickly, which resulted in me losing energy or losing the round. What do you think of the A.I. being that smart?

I think it’s necessary to have. As you said, the replayability of this game is very important. What’s fun about the game is how the match will play out. If you just exploit the weakness with the same moves with no challenge, it doesn’t make the match fun. 

This game has a Konami feel with its The Simpson Arcade sprite design look to it. Were there any movies or animated films that also inspired the game?

Not really. The team was going for that retro look and feel of the game. It has an arcade sheen to it.

It gives you that, ‘Let me put another token in or one more continue I am about to use’ era of gaming. 

That is what they are trying to recreate with this game. They want players to experience that feeling if they haven’t had it yet or if they want to feel that “I’m not giving up” determination. It has this excitement of friends hyping you up to give it another go and when you do succeed and beat the boss, everyone has this rush of excitement.

If our readers want to try out this game, can they play a demo somewhere?

Yes. You can try a different demo on Steam that isn’t the same here at PAX. When the release date gets closer, you’ll be able to hear more information about the game. You can wishlist this game and follow up for updates on X @realsoupmaster.

I would love to see this game in a Nintendo Direct or a Nindie Direct in the future. Is that something they would love to see happen?

Oh yes! A lot of people who have tried out and tested the game say they would love to see this on Nintendo Switch but at this time, we are working hard on the game and getting it ready for PC.

My final question is what is one of your favorite snack or meal?

I’m from Mexico City so here in America, I do like Chipotle.

I DO TOO! (laughs)

I will say that when I am at home in Mexico City, nothing is better than the tacos. There’s just something special and delicious about them.

Mmmm that sounds good right about now.

I know!

Well, thank you Andrea for this interview about Big Boy Boxing.

Thank you for having me.

You can check out Big Boy Boxing on Steam and download the demo to see how the game plays. Visit their website for more information.

Feature Image: Soupmasters

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