Punch-Out!!! Wii Review
Punch-Out may have begun as an arcade game, but it was Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on the Nintendo Entertainment System that brought the attention of thousands of gamers. It was this game that introduced video games to my family over twenty years ago and began an entire household’s love of gaming. Now, after fifteen years of silence since the release of Super Punch-Out on the Super Nintendo, Little Mac is back in the ring, ready to box his way to the top and take on a variety of oddball fighters along the way. Introducing a few new features but retaining many classic boxers, Punch-Out for the Wii brings back all the quick reflex requiring, pattern memorizing, frantic boxing fun to Nintendo’s popular home console. Get ready for a challenge, this one is a contender.
Punch-Out has never had a complex story, and this modern Wii rendition is no exception. Little Mac is the underdog boxer, young and full of energy, making his way up the boxing ladder until he becomes champ. Each fighter is crazy and exaggerated, from the constantly dancing Disco Kid to the gargantuan King Hippo. Before each fight, there is a short background show on the fighter you are facing, shown in a series of still images. It’s a little disappointing that these are not animated, but they are still colorful and amusing little stories. Nothing terribly gripping or interesting, but then you don’t play Punch-Out for the story, you play for the action.
Glass Joe is back, and he’s still a pushover.
Old fans will quickly recognize the familiar gameplay, and new fans will soon realize that this isn’t a standard boxing or sports game. The key to defeating opponents is learning their patterns which repeat in an easily predictable way–in many ways, this is more of a puzzle game and less of a sports simulator. Each opponent has their own unique quirks, though, whether it’s a fierce series of uppercuts or a two-fisted overhead smash. Dodge, duck, or block their attacks, then counter with your own flurry of punches. With well-timed punches you can earn stars, allowing you to unleash powerful star punches that take off significantly more energy. Just like the original game, you won’t be waltzing through to the championship match; there’s plenty of difficulty here, and it only gets harder as you keep progressing. It’s tedious at times, but immensely rewarding when you see a difficult opponent get knocked out. The premise is as fun as it was in the 80s, and veteran players are in for a few treats. After taking the championship belt for himself, Little Mac has to defend his title against every opponent once more, but this time they are stronger, faster, and many are wise to their own weaknesses. Glass Joe, for example, wears head gear that protects his fragile jaw, and most opponents are even sillier than their original personas. It may sound tedious to fight each boxer again, but it’s like a whole new game in Title Defense Mode, and the difficulty ramps up quite a bit. Even weaklings from the Minor Circuit could give you trouble, so it behooves you to practice against them until you know when to dodge, when to duck, and when to deliver a devastating star punch.
That’s not all that has been added to Punch-Out, though. After defeating an opponent during Career Mode, you can replay them at any time in Exhibition Mode. To further entice you to keep fighting, each match has three challenges with various objectives to complete, such as TKO an opponent in only three punches, or win the match in the first round. Some are easier than others, and most will require a few tries, so you’re guaranteed to keep playing for a while if you pursue these challenges. No matter how long it takes you to finish Career Mode, there is plenty of replay value in this game. Additionally, the Title Defense version of each opponent has three challenges as well, meaning there are over seventy challenges to complete in total. When you do finish all three challenges for an opponent, you unlock his audio gallery, which includes his background music during the fight (themed to the fighter’s ethnicity or origin, of course) as well as the various lines that they say before the fight or in between rounds. It’s a nice little reward for finishing the challenges, but you probably won’t miss them if you don’t complete all challenges.
King Hippo is massive, and so is the damage he deals. Duck those crushing blows!
A first for the Punch-Out series, the Wii version sports a multiplayer mode, where two players can duke it out. The game feels completely different when playing a human opponent–there’s no set pattern to memorize (unless your friends are utterly predictable), missing a punch leaves you paused for a second and wide open to counter-attacks, and the most impressive difference has to be the introduction of Giga Mac. After building up enough power (indicated by a blue meter over your character’s profile image), you can enter giga mode, where Little Mac becomes huge, and his strength increases with his size. Your opponent will have to pummel you to get you back down to normal size, but there are ways of extending your stay as Giga Mac. For Punch-Out fans who have been waiting to beat down their friends since the days of the NES, this is a great inclusion to the game. Aside from again lengthening replay value, it’s devilishly fun to crush your friends as Giga Mac, or come up with your own effective combos. The only disappointment is that you cannot select other characters–you’re both always Little Mac, one player with a different color palette–but otherwise multiplayer is a welcome addition to Punch-Out, and another incentive to keep your boxing gloves handy.
Boxing would seem to be a natural fit for the Wii remote and nunchuk, but the motion controls feel a little gimmicky. They simply do not provide the kind of precision that is needed for Punch-Out, and you will most likely abandon them quickly when you get to the more intense matches of the game. Even more bothersome is that there is no left-handed option, giving lefties little reason to explore this control mode. Thankfully, the game does provide a classic control method with a horizontal Wii remote. Dodge, duck, and block with the D-pad, punch left and right with the 1 and 2 buttons, respectively, and unleash star punches with A. It’s hard to go wrong with such a simple and easy control layout, but the one problem is that to navigate the menus, you still have to point to the screen and use the Wii remote’s IR functionality. It’s a minor quibble in an otherwise ideal control scheme, but it is still noticeable.
Giga Mac is fast and powerful. You’ll have to be quick to beat him down to normal size.
Unsurprisingly, the graphics have had a complete overhaul from the original 80s title, and they look fantastic. Opponents generally have cartoonish exaggerations about them which look great in cel-shaded 3D, and the game runs perfectly smooth. It’s great to see little touches on the fighters, like bruises on their stomachs after you’ve delivered a number of hooks, or puffed and blackened eyes when they finally fall in the ring. Additionally, the still images that appear before each fighter are beautifully done and again, cartoonishly exaggerated to give them a playful air. The music is top notch as well, with each fighter sporting his own theme, but you’ll probably be too busy concentrating on the fight to notice the soundtrack until you unlock it through completed challenges.
Without a new entry in the series since the SNES, Punch-Out was ready to make a comeback in a big way, and the new Wii title fulfills that role and more. Old fans and new are sure to love all the boxing action, though it’ll take some dedication to make it through all of the various game modes that Punch-Out provides. With so much to do, you’re sure to get addicted to mastering each opponent’s patterns, and make your way to the championship belt. Sharpen your reflexes and get ready to reenter the ring, Little Mac is back.
8/10
~Eliwood
