I can now cross an item off the list of Nintendo franchises I’ve never played.
Punch-Out!! has a special place in the hearts of many Nintendo fans, in spite of being a fairly small franchise. After a modest start with a couple games in arcades, it was eventually ported for Nintendo’s Game & Watch, and then on their home consoles, with its content adjusted for the more child-friendly platforms. We got Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out for the NES, featuring Mike Tyson as the final boss; Super Punch-Out for the SNES; and this game for the Wii, made by Next Level Games and released in North America on May 18th, 2009.
The franchise’s concept has appeal: You are Little Mac, an up-and-coming boxer trained by Doc Louis, an ex-heavyweight champion, and you are going up the ranks of the boxing world. Your adversaries are walking, talking national stereotypes with comical quirks, but they also have their own attacks that you must learn and defend yourself against. It’s not about unleashing a flurry of punches on them without thinking; it’s about studying them, spotting the telegraphing of their attacks, and reacting accordingly with proper timing. Dodge and/or punch back, and if it’s been done correctly, the opposing boxer is left stunned and open for attacks.
Will I fare well on my first experience? Let’s see.
Upon starting the game, we have five options: Career, Exhibition and Head-to-Head are the more important ones, though we do have Options and Gallery. In the Options, you can change the controls for the game. It’s normally played with the Wii remote and Nunchuk, and you flick one to punch with the associated fist (Nunchuk for left, Wii remote for right, with the joystick on the Nunchuk to dodge left and right, duck with Down, and guard or throw a hook punch with Up). It’s possible to change the controls to use only the Wii remote, with buttons 1 and 2 for attacks, instead of using the other method, as that one can get very tiring for the arms. There's even an option to add the Wii Balance Board to the mix!
For those who know nothing about boxing (like me before I started playing this title), a jab hits forward and a hook usually aims for the jaw. Since everyone else is bigger than Little Mac, his jabs hit the opponent in the chest area, and a hook goes for their face.
When the opponent goes red, you'd better be quick to avoid his attack. But hey... it's Glass Joe. How tough could he possibly be? By the way, big thanks to WhiteKhakis' playthrough on YouTube. |
If you time right using your Star Punches, you can even KO your opponents in perfect fashion. (Seen here with Mac hitting Von Kaiser.) |
A 3-star punch WILL destroy your opponent. Almost guaranteed knockdown. The tough part is getting those damn three stars. |
You also have a heart meter separate from your life bar, which depletes when you’re hit, and when your attack either missed or gets blocked. If that meter hits zero, Mac turns purple and can’t attack for a moment. That heart meter’s level varies between battles.
Okay, Disco Kid is gay, and proud of it. Wear that pride, buddy! Keep fighting! ...Actually, keep training, you could do better as a boxer. |
One of the most awesome elements is that, if you’re about to be knocked out by the current opponent, if you’ve been doing well enough so far, Mac might regain balance before falling and he will then come back into the fight, regaining some HP. This can make a world of difference if you’re close to victory. Yep; DETERMINATION is a gameplay mechanic! It works only once in a fight, though – your next knockdown will be an instant KO. But when it happens, it is glorious.
I CAN DO THIS! |
Keep protecting yourself, Hippo. In a bit, you won't be defending much more. |
Halfway there... did I see a twitch? No! Stay down. Stay! Down! |
The game requires some pretty crazy reflexes, you aren’t given a lot of reaction time when the opponent is about to attack. The boss battles only get tougher and less forgiving as time goes on, with particularly ruthless attacks chopping huge blocks off Mac’s health if you don’t respond fast enough.
An angry Canadian? Impossible! |
Come at me with this sort of advice, Doc. I feel like I'm going to need them. |
"HAVE YA GOT CHEEZEBURGERS IN THOSE GLOVES MAC?" "Shut up Aran." |
Don't you dare shake your bottle at me! |
He's gonna put you to sleep by the sheer strength of his fists. |
By the way, if you want to re-fight any of these at any point, head over to the second mode, called Exhibition. You can rematch the thirteen opponents at will here. However, each fight also comes with three achievements that you can try to obtain. Best of luck, though – those are very difficult to get. But in this game? That’s not the least bit surprising. Getting all three of a boxer’s achievements unlocks their Sound Test (voice clips, etc.) in the Gallery. Exhibition Mode also offers Training against the next opponent you haven't defeated yet; Doc boots up a hologram so you can learn an opponent's attacks and how to react to them.
If even Glass Joe is so tough in Title Defense, imagine later bosses like Bald Bull! |
Super Macho Man looks... old Must be the white hair. He's just 27! |
That said, if you keep going long enough in the Last Stand, you’ll eventually fight against a bonus boss who was never seen previously and has tactics you aren’t prepared for – Donkey Kong, the great ape himself. Yeah, good luck with that one… At least, the famous Nintendo character is having an absolute blast on the ring.
This is but our first encounter. See you in Smash 4 in 2014! |
Following his defeat during the Last Stand, Mac is now renowned as a champion, and Doc Louis regularly visits his protégé’s aisle at the museum. Roll credits.
Mac even gets a museum aisle all to himself? That's a Wayne Gretzky level of honors! |
I think the base idea was brought well to 3D, with each fighter’s personality shining through their design, and all of them able to dip into a pool of varied attacks. The animated segments before a fight and during pauses between rounds serve to further showcase these characters. The taunts and other battle techniques unique to each enhance these encounters. I do like that they were given their language of origin instead of speaking some sort of heavily-accented English. As a bonus, it allowed the devs to slip in a handful of lines that wouldn’t have been accepted any other way.
There is a multiplayer mode attached to the game, in which you and a friend both play as Little Macs trying to one-up each other. It feels a bit lackluster, to say the least. Oh, I’m not outright expecting a mode in which all of the opponents are playable. That would be awesome, but a pain and a half to program, especially considering none of these opponents are made to fight fair.
Besides Career mode, in which you fight each opponent once as a Contender and then once more to defend your title, I like the inclusion in Exhibition Mode. It’s not that the fights over there are any easier, but at least they don’t matter plot-wise. That secondary mode offers the possibility to fight against a “hologram” of the next opponent so you can prepare against the next challenge, as well as achievements to obtain by achieving precise things against all 13 enemy boxers, in both their Contender and Title Defense forms.
I can’t complain about the difficulty, I knew what I was getting myself into – but isn’t it part of the (admittedly small) franchise’s charm? The upside is that, if you tire your arms out swinging left and right against these colorful and powerful characters, you can switch from the Wii remote/Nunchuk mode to a plain controller-only mode. Also, hey, this means that you have options if you don’t want to swing your arms at all. On top of that, the Wii remote only has the 1 and 2 buttons on the right. It almost feels like how the NES game played!
Should you try it? If you’re intrigued by the franchise (in part due to Mac’s appearance in Smash 4 onwards), then I definitely recommend it. I’d suggest trying the original one on the NES, but this one, while tough, is a little more lenient for gamers who are new to the franchise and its battle system. If you’re looking for a challenge on the Wii, though? This will sate your thirst. And if you wish to take a risk and feel like a proper boxer, try your luck with the motion detection controls…
Next week… Hey, the year has been tough on everyone – let’s end this with some laughter.
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