Games of Decades Past: Punch-Out!!(Wii)

Games of Decades Past is a series celebrating the birthdays of games turning 10 years old. Whether you remember it like it was yesterday or it was so dated at launch that you thought it came out in 1997, I am determined to make you feel old with some retrospectives on a few of the best and worst games from a decade past.

When discussing Nintendo’s popular IPs, Punch-Out always seems to play second fiddle to bigger franchises like Super Mario, Pokemon, and Zelda. Even those with less representation like Metroid and F-Zero beat out the underrated cartoon boxing series. It’d be a shame if Nintendo thought any differently. In the last 10 years, the only representation the franchise has received since its Wii outing was its main character, Little Mac, making it into the Super Smash Bros. series, which as we’ve seen with Captain Falcon, doesn’t really mean anything for the future of the franchise.

The last Punch-Out game came out 10 years ago on the Wii, Nintendo’s best selling home console to date. It sold enough to become a Nintendo Select, faded into obscurity, and aside from a Wii U Virtual Console release, it hasn’t been seen since. It’s a damn shame too, because it remains one of the best games Nintendo has ever released.

I’ll just come out and say it, (Mike Tyson’s) Punch-Out!! is probably my favorite NES game. The visual style remains clean and entertaining to this day, the music is iconic, and the difficulty remains perfect for veterans and newcomers alike. Each fight is a puzzle, and it’s up to you to experiment with the game’s large cast of 14 iconic fighters, most of them featuring their own re-worked rematch fights. It was a flawless game that knew exactly what it was doing and rewarded the player for their ingenuity and resilience. 22 years later, Nintendo improved on perfection with the dreamlike Punch-Out!! on the Wii.

Is it a reboot? Is it a remake? Is it a sequel? Yes.

The immortal 17-year-old Little Mac returns in what could only be called the definitive Punch-Out!! game. Fan favorite characters such as Glass Joe and Bald Bull return, obscure classics like Bear Hugger and Aran Ryan get a new lease on life, and of course the forever iconic 500lb mass known as King Hippo makes his comeback to remind newcomers and veterans alike that this isn’t just some boxing game, this is Punch-Out!!.

Nintendo didn’t need any control tweaking when it came time to release a new Punch-Out. Just like the original games, you only have two jabs, two uppercuts, a block, and a duck. Maybe a star punch if you’re lucky (or just really good). Rather than reinvent the already stellar gameplay, Nintendo instead opted to completely revamp the presentation. Now characters had monologues, insults, and with the power of the Wii, a whole host of animations that could mean anything at any given moment. Despite the lower resolution of the aging Wii, this new direction for the series still feels as fresh as the day it dropped.

Taking down each fighter feels more empowering than ever. You learn these characters inside and out, either to simply survive to the next round or completely dominate them in the gentleman’s sport. Their prologues even have hints on how to fight them, lending even more to this amazing blend of characterization and gameplay that had rarely been seen before or since. When it comes time to defend your title and everyone comes back with new tricks up their sleeves, it feels like actual character progression.

Rather than being “the same fight but harder” as it’s always been, these characters come back feeling beaten. They have progressed since receiving their own personalized Little Mac ass whoopin’ and most have returned for flat-out revenge. Some characters are so angry they resort to cheating, one of them even bringing a makeshift flail to a boxing match. In a single game, Nintendo took the Punch-Out!! series from a quirky cartoon boxing game, to an endearing character driven experience.

I would go as far as to say that Punch-Out!! on the Wii is the peak of the series and will remain undefeated until the end of time. Any potential sequel has worlds to live up to, and as I’ve made clear, it surpasses the original games in every way. Even booting up to the Main Menu to see all the “lights” come on in preparation for a bout and to hear the flamboyant theme reminds you that this is the “new” Punch-Out!!, despite it now being a decade old.

Nintendo, I now speak to you directly. Consider this an open letter to Doug Bowser and all of his minions. Do not let Punch-Out!! die on the Wii. You’ll make two ports of Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, a port of Mario Kart 8 — you even brought Kirby’s Epic Yarn to the 3DS. Now is the time to stop being a bunch of cowards, and remaster Punch-Out!! for the Switch. It’s a modern masterpiece and has more worth than anything else you could bring over from the Wii right now. It became a Nintendo Classic, so you know the sales are there. Give the masses a way to play this masterpiece and you’ll never need to make another Punch-Out!! again.

Another 10 years, another timeless neglected Nintendo classic. I’ve really made Punch-Out!! out to be this perfect game, and I will gladly stand by that. Sure, it’s loaded with gimmicks, such as the balance board implementation and “punching” motion controls (thankfully both optional). And they haven’t really learned anything since the 80s when it comes to racial stereotypes. But if an Irish boxer isn’t putting horseshoes in his gloves for some of that good ol’ luck of the Irish, then I don’t want an Irish boxer in Punch-Out!!. To avoid bringing up the amount of flak a character like Great Tiger would get in 2019, I’ll move right on past that and simply say this: video games are fun, man.

There doesn’t always need to be a grand scale adventure and a twisty thought-provoking story to make a game worth your while, and simply playing to pass time or beat a high score isn’t all that appealing in today’s market. But Punch-Out!! on the Wii found its perfect balance of raw gameplay and stellar presentation that has stood the test of time as a game that can appeal to all kinds of gamers with its tight gameplay, sharp writing, and endearing art style.