TGS '07: K-1 World Grand Prix Hands-On

TOKYO--For the past few years, mixed martial arts fighting has become increasingly popular with television viewers. One of the longest-running combat sports series is the K-1 series, which combines elements of kickboxing and boxing as well as techniques from tae kwon do and karate. Like UFC in America, K-1 is huge in Japan and, as a result, D3 Publishing is bringing to the Nintendo DS a K-1 series fighting game called K1 World Grand Prix. We had a chance to take this game on for a few rounds on the floor of the 2007 Tokyo Game Show.

The upper screen in K-1 will feature the in-ring action between the two fighters; the lower screen will feature a detailed look at each fighter's condition across all parts of his body. Each major portion of a fighter's body is color-coded to indicate the amount of damage taken during the fight. Should you favor one particular hand or foot when fighting, you'll eventually take damage on that appendage; it's a clever way of ensuring that you mix things up when delivering a beatdown on your foe.

The controls of K-1 are completely straightforward. The four face buttons on the DS are tied to your fighter's limbs--the X and Y buttons are used for left or right punches, and the A and B buttons will control left- or right-leg kicks. You can mix in the directional pad for low and high kicks. Holding down the left button will let you duck and dodge your opponent's blows by mixing in the directional pad. When ducking, you can also attack with body blows.

One of the interesting aspects of K-1 is the radical size difference between opponents. We played one match in which we were up against an opponent who was at least a foot taller than us. As a result, any high kicks we attempted had to be jumping kicks in order to make contact with the bigger man's face. Beyond the exhibition match that we played during our hands-on time with the game, K-1 will also include a championship road, World GP mode, wireless play that lets you take on a friend, and a practice mode where you can work on your best one-two combos.

The character models look pretty good considering that this is a DS game, and K-1 fans might even recognize their favorite fighters just by looking at them onscreen; the roster includes K-1 fighters such as Glaube Feitosa, Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge, and the reigning K-1 champion for two years running, Semmy Schilt. In addition, the pace of the fights seems to be pretty good, especially when trading multiple blows in the corners. There doesn't seem to be any blood effect, which is sort of a shame, but the impact of the punches and kicks is noticeable otherwise. We're not sure if K1 World Grand Prix will ever make it stateside, but if mixed martial arts continue in popularity with American fans, anything is possible.