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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Fighting Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo |
It is difficult to find anyone that owned the Nintendo Entertainment System that didn’t also own the original “Punch-Out!” The game is
held in high regard among gamers because of its intense challenge and satisfying game play. It is one of the most difficult fighting
games to master because of its dependence on recognizing patterns and split second responses. The franchise has been in
retirement for nearly 15 years; however the game has decided to come out of retirement for another shot at the title for fighting game
available to the Nintendo Wii.
“Punch-Out!” is essentially a rebooting of the classic NES game, a title inspired by the arcade version of the same name. In the game
players play as Little Mac, a fighter rising through the ranks of World Video Boxing Association. Each of the 13 fighters in the WVBA are
caricatures of cultures and regions of the world. The names of the fighters should sound familiar because they all come from past
games. This time around there is only one new fighter by the name of Disco Kid. Some players will find themselves wishing that more
new characters were included, but it is fun to see all of the old fighters again in a new light.
Anyone who has ever played any version of the game will know that game play is completely based off of counter attacks, reading what
the opponent does before he does it, getting out of the way and throwing a fury of punches at the fighter that is off guard. Every fighter
has their own style of fighting and attack patterns. As players work their way through these different fighters, they become harder and
harder to defeat, which is nothing new for any game ever released.
The game can be controlled in a number of different ways. Players can either fight with the nunchuk or without. Using the nunchuk
turns on motion controls, punching in the same way as in “Wii Sports” but dodging, blocking, ducking and changing high and low
attacks with the analog stick. Players can use the balance board to dodge and duck by leaning or thrusting downward to get out of the
way of an attack. Since the game mimics the NES design, it is best to play the game without the nunchuk and use the Wii Remote like
an NES controller using the 1 and 2 buttons for punches and the D-Pad for dodges and ducks, as well as the A button to activate Star
Punches.
After players have played through the game a bit, they will find that even though 13 fighters seems a little short, the fact that players will
face opponents a second time with different moves and strategies at a faster speed means that there is a good amount of game play to
work through. This isn’t including the Exhibition Mode that challenges players with specific goals for each opponent to unlock additional
content. Some of these challenges are fairly easy to accomplish and others are insanely difficult. One of the most difficult challenges
includes knocking the crown off of King Hippo’s head.
“Punch-Out!” has always been a single players gaming experience, but many gamers have wished for a versus mode for many years.
The developers of the latest release have answered the call with a Head-to-Head mode that is pretty clever in incorporating the
mechanics of the game that have always intended on being human versus computer. In this mode, each player controls Little Mac in a
split screen view. Players attack and dodge each other using the standard move set, trying to land a punch that in turn steals a bit of
power from the other player. When the meter fills up, Little Mac becomes Giga Mac, essentially an over the top opponent and the screen
shifts to a single view where the other play fights in the traditional fighting fashion seen in the single player mode.
The mysterious fact of the game is that it doesn’t have any sort of online mode. With the developers work on one of the first Wii games
to hit the internet, Mario Strikers Charged, players would think that it would apply that networking knowledge in getting the two player
component working over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Also, players will be a little bit disappointed that there is no support of
worldwide leader boards to let players show off their best times and knockouts against the different characters. This is yet another
huge opportunity that the developers missed out on. Any record that players earn in the game stay in the system that it was performed
on, and this is just a little disappointing that Nintendo decided to skip over any sort of online option in the Wii version of the game.
Players won’t want to let the lack of the online mode to ruin the overall experience of the game because “Punch-Out!” is a great
recreational Wii game that comes directly from the past NES version of the game. It retains every element that makes the game an
amazing challenge and extremely addictive. The Wii version of the game look fantastic, with animation that puts a level of attention to
character personality that is rarely seen in any Nintendo first party title. Players will be thrilled that the original formula has been
retained but they will wish there were more original characters added to the roster. Luckily, the second half of the game brings back that
sense of discovery with character upgrades that change things up a lot in the game. Fans of the game have nothing to worry about and
the game design holds up really well, even for players who aren’t familiar with the pattern focused game play. The game proves to be a
knockout hit for the Nintendo Wii.
held in high regard among gamers because of its intense challenge and satisfying game play. It is one of the most difficult fighting
games to master because of its dependence on recognizing patterns and split second responses. The franchise has been in
retirement for nearly 15 years; however the game has decided to come out of retirement for another shot at the title for fighting game
available to the Nintendo Wii.
“Punch-Out!” is essentially a rebooting of the classic NES game, a title inspired by the arcade version of the same name. In the game
players play as Little Mac, a fighter rising through the ranks of World Video Boxing Association. Each of the 13 fighters in the WVBA are
caricatures of cultures and regions of the world. The names of the fighters should sound familiar because they all come from past
games. This time around there is only one new fighter by the name of Disco Kid. Some players will find themselves wishing that more
new characters were included, but it is fun to see all of the old fighters again in a new light.
Anyone who has ever played any version of the game will know that game play is completely based off of counter attacks, reading what
the opponent does before he does it, getting out of the way and throwing a fury of punches at the fighter that is off guard. Every fighter
has their own style of fighting and attack patterns. As players work their way through these different fighters, they become harder and
harder to defeat, which is nothing new for any game ever released.
The game can be controlled in a number of different ways. Players can either fight with the nunchuk or without. Using the nunchuk
turns on motion controls, punching in the same way as in “Wii Sports” but dodging, blocking, ducking and changing high and low
attacks with the analog stick. Players can use the balance board to dodge and duck by leaning or thrusting downward to get out of the
way of an attack. Since the game mimics the NES design, it is best to play the game without the nunchuk and use the Wii Remote like
an NES controller using the 1 and 2 buttons for punches and the D-Pad for dodges and ducks, as well as the A button to activate Star
Punches.
After players have played through the game a bit, they will find that even though 13 fighters seems a little short, the fact that players will
face opponents a second time with different moves and strategies at a faster speed means that there is a good amount of game play to
work through. This isn’t including the Exhibition Mode that challenges players with specific goals for each opponent to unlock additional
content. Some of these challenges are fairly easy to accomplish and others are insanely difficult. One of the most difficult challenges
includes knocking the crown off of King Hippo’s head.
“Punch-Out!” has always been a single players gaming experience, but many gamers have wished for a versus mode for many years.
The developers of the latest release have answered the call with a Head-to-Head mode that is pretty clever in incorporating the
mechanics of the game that have always intended on being human versus computer. In this mode, each player controls Little Mac in a
split screen view. Players attack and dodge each other using the standard move set, trying to land a punch that in turn steals a bit of
power from the other player. When the meter fills up, Little Mac becomes Giga Mac, essentially an over the top opponent and the screen
shifts to a single view where the other play fights in the traditional fighting fashion seen in the single player mode.
The mysterious fact of the game is that it doesn’t have any sort of online mode. With the developers work on one of the first Wii games
to hit the internet, Mario Strikers Charged, players would think that it would apply that networking knowledge in getting the two player
component working over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Also, players will be a little bit disappointed that there is no support of
worldwide leader boards to let players show off their best times and knockouts against the different characters. This is yet another
huge opportunity that the developers missed out on. Any record that players earn in the game stay in the system that it was performed
on, and this is just a little disappointing that Nintendo decided to skip over any sort of online option in the Wii version of the game.
Players won’t want to let the lack of the online mode to ruin the overall experience of the game because “Punch-Out!” is a great
recreational Wii game that comes directly from the past NES version of the game. It retains every element that makes the game an
amazing challenge and extremely addictive. The Wii version of the game look fantastic, with animation that puts a level of attention to
character personality that is rarely seen in any Nintendo first party title. Players will be thrilled that the original formula has been
retained but they will wish there were more original characters added to the roster. Luckily, the second half of the game brings back that
sense of discovery with character upgrades that change things up a lot in the game. Fans of the game have nothing to worry about and
the game design holds up really well, even for players who aren’t familiar with the pattern focused game play. The game proves to be a
knockout hit for the Nintendo Wii.
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