Punch out feels like an impossible game if you think about it.

It's the NES port of an arcade title that had to be drastically changed to its bones, so much so that the cardridges at the time had to receive extra space,

It starred one of the most influencal boxers ever, while still be able to portray its playstyle and personality despite the limitations of the NES.

It was able to take what where basically kinda racist caricatures like Glass Joe or Pitson Hondo and able to give them so much charm that are remembered to this day by thousands of people.

And it was able to take a game about boxing and make it so much more: each match and rematch feels like a monster hunter fight, where little mac goes against giants that can crush him in 2 hits.... but it is also a ryhthm game where you gotta tap and dodge to the bit, a series of puzzles where you gotta understand the way to open the enemy, and an endurance atch, both intimidating but addicting and thrilling..... it's sometimes also a propaganda where Doc Louis screams ad a dying Mac to join the nintendo fan club while he gets murdered by mr. Sandman.

Recently replayed on the NSO, and how much it is able to do I feel makes it stand up even to this day. An absolute classic that is still remembered and beloved form more than one reason.

This game has the most realistic boxing game mechanics as it involves getting punched in the face repeatedly, but you do get to dodge the punches to be able to punch the other guy in the face repeatedly till he gets punched in the face. Sometimes there is even a punching animation for one of the opponents. It's crazy. I think I am going to punch the screen now.

(Game is good up until you get to Super Macho Man and then it becomes bullshit. I guess it was the only way for you to beat up so many ethnicities back in the day, so people found charm in it or something.)

As good as they say and then some. I prefer Wii Punch-Out for my personal connection to the game, but don't take that as a slight on this one. The technical limitations of the NES versus the Arcade turned a very gimmicky proto-fighting game into a clever, carefully-designed series of puzzles for the player to solve with quick thinking, pattern-recognition, and reflexes (like actual boxing!). Even the purest expressions of the game's technical shortcomings - for example, reused sprite bases or the re-fights in the World Cup - do a lot to strengthen the overall game. And though you may know the tricks, it's a whole different experience being good enough to pull them off (still nothing so scary as overcoming the Dreamland Express).

Mr. Dream is a huge letdown compared to Mike Tyson, and not just for the obvious reason. Getting told that "MIKE IS WAITING FOR YOUR CHALLENGE!!" every time you start the game does a TON to sell the experience.

I never was that big of a fan of Punch-Out(!!) despite being a sorta-kinda fan of boxing as a teenager, which was mostly brought on by infatuation with Fight Night Round 4 on the Xbox 360... which was mostly brought on by my intense infatuation with physics simulations in games. I would talk about how cool that game was, but this is supposed to be a review for Punch-Out(!!) so let's focus.

The gameplay in this game is pretty straight-forward and has a decent bit of variety for an NES game. Dodge, block, and counter punch your way to victory in a series of fights against creative bosses that all have their own special moves... aside from a couple repeat fights with previous bosses that change their patterns up.

It's not a bad game and it's certainly a challenge, but somehow despite how everyone seems to feel about it, it never really gripped me. Maybe it was because I only finally sat down to play it at great length when I was already in my 20s instead of connecting with it as a kid and then revisiting it with nostalgia, but I think a large part of it too is just that the game is merely about pattern recognition and reflex instead of any kind of critical thinking (and the only time I really like that kind of game is when there's a catchy beat playing because it's a rhythm game).

It's kind of like Simon Says, except in this case Simon beats the crap out of you relentlessly while you struggle to get a handle on what it is Simon is about to say when he flashes on the screen. You're never really asked to put your mind to anything, just watch, learn, and react. Considering that's all there is to it, the game really drags on, and by the time I reached the hardest stages I was really wanting to be done with it, so my patience was running low.

By the way, if you don't want to have a really frustrating experience with this game, play it on a CRT with an NES, or at least turn on your Retroarch run-ahead feature, because otherwise the lag is going to make the last fight nearly impossible for someone who isn't already so well practiced at it that they know what to do instinctively. This game is hard enough already without adding lag frames.

I appreciate all the things (graphics, sound, fun character design...) that go into making Punch-Out(... !!) into the complete package that it is and so I'm willing to shake hands and say good match and give it a pretty good rating, but not admit it into my cabal of greatest games ever (the 4+ star crowd).

3.5 - Good: Good but still lacking something that propels it to greatness

geometric proof
1. boxing is cool
2. video games are cool
therefore
3. mike tyson's punch out is double fuckin' cool

The level of mastery you can achieve with this game is very fun. While the idea of basing the bosses on different nationalities is very archaic to say the least, the bosses still express a lot of personality even through the graphical limitations. The gameplay is very simple yet intuitive. It’s the type of game you will want to master and say you made it to the end. Whether you know the boss scripts by heart and want to speed your way through, or you turn every battle into a dramatic three-rounder decided right before the bell, this game is exhilarating. One of the NES’s greats.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out is everything that is right with retro gaming. It's a game that doesn't have a plot outside of "get to the top and win!" and honestly, it doesn't need anything more than that.

This is a game I walked into expecting to be a fairly unimaginative boxing game, one where the difficulty would continue to increase with not much else to focus on. Instead, Punch-Out grabs every positive aspect of third-generation gaming and places it front and foremost.

Gameplay: The NES controller is not a very complicated one, with only its two red buttons and control-pad, but Punch-Out makes sure to not only use every button and combination possible but to insure that it's useful in helping you fight and feel in control. The people you fight gradually increase in difficulty in ways that are unique to the character themselves. You know to watch out for Piston Honda's Piston Punch, and you learn how to prepare yourself for the Great Tiger's teleportation trick. Small tips and tricks in both the background and forefront add to the fun and make the seemingly too difficult to defeat enemies quickly switch to easy as pie once you learn their quirk. It's incredibly rewarding to do. Additionally, it was obvious to me once I started playing that Little Mac is "little" Mac specifically because it helps in the gameplay to more easily see the opponent without your own player's body blocking everything. Having Mac simply be a short underdog not only graphically works better than the see-through aspect of the original arcade Punch-Out, but adds a small bit of character to our protag that makes him more endearing.

Speaking of story...

Story + Character Design: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is a game that came out when systems were just learning how to juggle between arcade-like gameplay aspects and the ability to add more lore to the medium than ever before. For the first time, a game didn't need to jam-pack the manual in order for the player to get a story with their game, they could simply turn it on and have everything they needed. The screens in-between each fight give a background and personality for each fighter, which not only gives the added fun of identity to an enemy, but allows you to get hints of how to find their special weakness without it being blatantly spelled out for you. It can understandably be argued that the characters themselves are a bit offensive in stereotypes that only grew in uncomfortablity as time went on, but as a Mexican I can easily say I've never seen a proper stuck-up "head-up-their-own-ass" Spanish stereotype done as well in a video game as Don Flamenco was (haha).

It's an odd game to expect to give body positive kudos towards with the entire cast ranging from lighter to extremely obese fighters, though all can easily beat you to a pulp (except for Glass Joe-) if you don't learn their tricks. Even Little Mac himself is a positive representation that shorter men aren't something to immediately laugh at. Sure, King Hippo is the obvious "haha, look he's so fat," joke that seemed to pop up everywhere in the 80's, but the first time he's able to suck one on you, instantly depleting your health bar by half, you'll find you are no longer not taking him as a proper threat.

Mike Tyson not only being the final boss, but the actual title of the game, is one of the few examples where celebrity marketing made the game significantly BETTER. Everyone knew who Mike Tyson was, who didn't? The man was a BEAST, anyone who watched him in the ring would know that. Seeing him as the final boss with his name on the title of the game? That's all you needed to know that this game was going to kick your ass, and that he in the game successfully does that. Mike Tyson to this day continues to be listed as one of the most difficult to beat final bosses ever created, with his eventual replacement of Mr. Dream barely getting more than a fun-fact mention.

Overall, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is nothing less than a masterpiece, and one of the few retro games that I beg people to put aside the money and if possible purchase the physical copy in order to experience the game as it was intended.
The game was a perfect prize when it first came out in 1987 and it continues to hold the title of a 5 star game almost 30 years later.

The genesis of Punch-Out!! for the arcade is documented by the Iwata Asks interview: in essence, it should be remembered that the title was an ambitious technical project, the brainchild of several creators, who would become well-known figures amongst Nintendo: Takeda and Miyamoto. The technical audacity of the original opus is illustrated by the finesse of the animation and the use of two screens, which allow the action to be displayed in large scale. The NES port therefore faces particular difficulties, as the hardware cannot support the technique of the arcade version. In particular, we know that it was the impossibility of making the protagonist transparent that led to the adoption of a very vertical view and a character with a small build.

We thus play as Little Mac, on the road to the world title. Unlike many games of the time, the emphasis is on reflexes and learning patterns. Each opponent has his own range of moves, which can be countered in specific ways. Dodging a hook usually allows the player to unleash jabs, while some opponents require more creativity and more complex imput sequences. This reactive style of gameplay is underlined by the stamina gauge, which allow Little Mac to attack. If he connects a hit, it doesn't go down, but hitting into the guard or taking a blow lowers it, forcing more agile gameplay and pushing back the idea of ill-advised aggressive bursts. The important idea is that it is necessary to observe and learn. The modern video game – in the wake of Souls-like among others – has completely integrated this concept, but the idea was somewhat new in the 1980s. Indeed, communicating the important information clearly enough is a difficult task for the first consoles: in this respect, Punch-Out!! appears to be an archetypal example of what one can do with the NES and why creativity is needed to bypass technical limitations. In addition to the vivid animations, the game offers many audio and visual cues to help the player perfect their timing: enemies may glow briefly or a few elements in the audience help to react at the right moment. Of course, the more the matches progress, the more the game subverts its own grammar: the textbook example is of course the match against Mike Tyson. He doesn't hesitate to change his rhythm to catch the player off guard, forcing them to react rather than to blindly predict. The execution is quite skilful and has a real organic quality. While it is possible to learn the timeline of the various fights, there is always a rather magical adrenaline rush, that mimics well the sensations one can feel on the ring.

The game is not perfect though and suffers from a difficulty curve that some might find a little too extreme towards the end. Memory issues have also led to compromises – first and foremost the music. Finally, the cultural representation of the boxers remains obtuse: Takeda more or less justified himself by stressing that he was thinking above all of what would appeal to the American market. If he can't be completely wrong, we have to admit that certain archetypes are difficult to accept and are based on prejudices that are very badly considered today. Despite these issues, which Nintendo more or less addressed in the following opuses, Punch-Out!! remains a solid technical achievement, perfectly in line with Nintendo's game-design philosophy. It is a title that aims above all at the players' enjoyment, scorning more realistic approaches that would have made the game feel heavier and unpleasant; the port follows the same logic, since it chooses to modify some elements to use the NES hardware as efficiently as possible. Punch-Out remains thus a historical title that can still be enjoyed today.

Absolutely brilliant game, top shelf from the NES but of course it also can't escape at least one NES-ism, which is how a couple of the later enemies (cough cough Bald Bull) practically need a guide.

Huge shoutouts to /u/Nowhere, who booted it up after me, raced me, and embarrassed me by beating it the same day; relaying info to me about stuff like Bald Bull and Tyson.

And of course the bearded person and photographer in the crowd for letting me know when to OHKO Honda and Bull.

Mike Tyson is a terrible fight, that's all.

Beaten via Mesen core on RetroArch w/ 2 frames runahead and 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller (over 2.4G dongle). No save states except to skip Macho Man once I began perfecting him and fight Tyson.

YO ADRIAN, I DID IIIITTT

As a kid I desperately wanted to be good at this game but could never get past Bald Bull 1. Today I beat Tyson in one of those anticlimaxes where you do it on your first try of the day before your head's even really in it. I thought the fight was over and I was just warming up, but ended up fulfilling a childhood dream.

Tyson is such an anti-boss, punishing you for using the pattern recognition skills that defined the rest of the game. His utter disregard for the rules of his own game make him stand larger-than-life in our memories, and while that could definitely be considered asshole design...Super Macho Man works just as well as the proper final boss, with the dream fight just being a bonus. Maybe that's just how I justify it to myself, but regardless the result is endlessly satisfying. God bless this game.

Retro Yearly List #13 [1987: Punch-Out!!]

This franchise never caught my attention enough to try playing its games, and I never did until now, one nice example of why I'm challenging myself with these retro challenges, hence, now I've just discovered a very nice game.

Some people tend to compare this with Dark Souls, not just because of difficulty, but due to the pattern-learning style of gameplay to beat the opponents, others say that it's a puzzle game disguised as a boxing game. I agree with both definitions, it's more than a sports game, this is a "practice makes perfect" type of game, (or "almost perfect").
Every opponent requires different strategies and will have to learn the hard way: trying and failing, tuning your reflexes in the process, you will have to react fast and faster once you reach the final challenges.

It truly gave me a good time to challenge myself, I managed to beat everyone fairly but Tyson, which I saved mid-match to progress, but I'm willing to try him the right way in some time, considering playing this on emulators is far worse than the original hardware due to the input lag.
Overall, the difficulty is fair and the learning curve is fine, the only opponent that got really on my nerves was Super Macho Man, but I managed to learn his secrets as well.

I just think there is a layer of repetition with the opponents, some of them will return for rematches and others have their sprites reused, even on completely different boxers. But overall the game is pretty good and I now understand its popularity, and I'm glad I finally learned to play this properly.