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The noble art of boxing comes tothe BBC Micro courtesy of Tynesoft. Trade blows with eight mean opponents on your way to The Big KO.

On loading you are presented with a very comprehensive menu. You can have a one or two player game using either joystick or keyboard and options are also there for sound on or off, user defined keys, load or save the high score table and load a new boxer.

You have to press three keys to throw a punch - a combination of left/right, head/body and punch. Using this system, and a little skill, you can launch a flurry of different blows to penetrate your opponent's guard.

A punch which lands on target is registered with a thud and a visible response from the other fighter - either a flinch or, in the case of Sippo the clown, a nose which lights up.

Before the bout begins your four punches are listed in order of power, so too are those of your opponent. This information can be used to formulate a plan of attack - which can be surprisingly effective.

In the first bout you face Heap Big Nose, a redskin with a tendency to stick his chin out too far. Lefts and rights to the head will soon leave him with reservations.

While fighting you will see two horizontal bars above the fighters. The green one represents strength so don't let this fall to zero or you'll be powerless to defend yourself.

The blue bar is the KO meter and once this has reached 100 percent your opponent will go down.

After much sweating, shouting and keyboard bashing, I had fought my way through to the fourth bruiser.

Handsome Devil, as he is known to his fans, is a rather robust chap with the complexion of a lobster and some suspiciously pointed ears.

My best result so far against this beast is taking him to the third round before losing.

The Big KO is one of the best boxing games I have played on any computer. It requires, skill, concentration, cunning and - most of all - a cast iron chin.

Jon Revis