While the original arcade titles weren’t anything to write home about for the most part, the adaptation of the original game that was made for the NES, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, was a definite improvement in many ways. Sure, it didn’t look or sound as good as its arcade counterpart, but it was still fast and fun, had great music, fun visuals for the fighters, addictive gameplay, and it keeps you coming back for more even if you face defeat, making you want to learn the patterns of your challengers so that you can knock them on their ass and claim that sweet belt for yourself. It is hands down the best boxing game on the NES, and it may also be the best sports game on that system as a whole, so naturally, since that alteration managed to do so well, Nintendo figured that there would be no harm in doing it once again. Naturally though, this next adaptation would be released for the hottest thing at the time, the SNES, and rather then taking the original arcade game as its basis, it would use its direct “sequel” instead, which would then lead to the release of the Super Punch-Out!! for the SNES.
Out of all of the Punch-Out!! games that have been released over the years (not including the arcade titles), this is the one that I had zero experience with whatsoever before going into it. Sure, I had played the original NES game long before finally beating it, and I have spent time with the Wii game for an afternoon or so, but in terms of this game, I had never really played it at all, nor even seen too many videos on it. However, given that this was Punch-Out!! that we are talking about, I wasn’t expecting this game to be anything I hadn’t seen before, so I was able to jump into it straight away with little to no trouble whatsoever. Now that I have beaten the game, I can safely say that, out of all the Punch-Out!! games that had been released at this point, this one is definitely the best, with no contest. Sure, it doesn’t add that much at all to the formula to make it stand out from its predecessors, but it manages to deliver the most fun, energy, and content out of all the games so far, to where it was wonderful to finally check out after so long.
The graphics are incredible for what it is, not only looking really great for the system and having wonderful sprites and animations for all the fighters, but it also looks just as good, if not BETTER than the original arcade title it is based on, which is something to admire, the music is great, definitely not being as memorable or iconic as the NES game’s tunes, but still providing the right amount of energy that should go right alongside one of these boxing matches, and it is great to hear, along with all the voice acting for all the different boxers and other characters, the controls are about the same as the NES game, but they do feel just as responsive and tight as ever to where you can jump in right away with no problems whatsoever, and the gameplay is also about the same as the previous games in the series, but it is fine tuned to being the best it has ever been.
The game is a boxing game, where you take control of Little Mac once again, now sporting a brand new look which includes a disgusting new haircut, go through four different circuits each with four opponents for you to fight, throw plenty of different kicks in varying directions to deliver the smackdown onto your opponent swiftly and painfully, make sure to avoid as many attacks as you can, while counter attacking at the right time to get the upper hand on your opponent, and stand victorious amongst all that fell before you as you raise that championship belt high for the crowd to see. It is all what you have come to expect from a Punch-Out!! game, and it all feels like it fits right at home here, providing a very similar, yet much faster and satisfying experience through and through, which was great to experience again after so long.
One big change that was brought back in was in the form of the Power Meter from the arcade games. No longer do you have to punch opponents at specific times in the hopes of getting a star, for now, whenever you build this meter up fully (without getting hit, of course), you are able to throw out devastating attacks to your opponent to deal massive damage, such as with hard-hitting uppercuts or with fast-flying rapid punches. These don’t feel as satisfying to pull off as the Star Punches from the NES game, unfortunately, but the fact that you can have an infinite amount of these to use as long as you don’t get hit is a fair tradeoff, and it does feel great to successfully nail that hit, and just watch as your opponent gets pelted by plenty of punches that knock down their stamina bit by bit. Aside from that though, there isn’t anything else that’s really new to see when it comes to the main gameplay, but that doesn’t bother me here in the slightest, as it still manages to provide the fun, snappy, and fast gameplay that I have come to expect with this series.
Aside from the main circuits, there are additional modes that you can try out in the game, such as a Time Attack mode, where you can see how quickly you can knock down your opponent and try to beat your fastest times, and a Records View Mode, just in case you wanna admire how good or terrible you are in comparison to all of the other fake records that are on display. Not only that, but you can also access a multiplayer mode by inputting a cheat code in the game, where you can duke it out with a pal and see who is the best boxer of them all that entered the ring…………… which many people didn’t know you could do for the longest time. Yeah, this mode was only discovered recently back in 2022, so the fact that there was no clue towards this being a thing from both Nintendo Power or Nintendo themselves beforehand is kinda surprising. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to beat the shit out of your friends like this?
With all that being said though, there isn’t much else to be seen within this installment. It is about as straightforward as you can get for a Punch-Out!! title, which could potentially turn away new players who are hoping for a little more variety and additional gameplay mechanics from this series. Then again, given how it is a boxing title, I’m not sure what else one could possibly hope to expect from these games. All they need to do at the end of the day is provide a fun, fast, and charming experience full of lovable racial stereotypes, and we got that in spades here, including returning characters like Bear Hugger and Dragon Chan, and even new faces to punch such as Aran Ryan and… Bob Charlie. The subtlety of that character hit me about as hard as a sledgehammer to the skull, let me tell ya.
Overall, despite a lack of major change, Super Punch-Out!! managed to take the fun and addicting gameplay of the original NES title and amplify it to new heights, featuring plenty of fun visuals, lovable characters, and fast and intense gameplay that makes me wanna come back for more even as I am typing this right now. I would highly recommend it for those who loved the NES Punch-Out!! game, or for those who are big fans of the Punch-Out!! series in general, because while this isn’t the best game in the series by a long shot, it still shows off what this series can do at its best, and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just a shame that after this, we never did see another Punch-Out!! title for 15 years. Yeah, I get it, perfection takes time, and it was well worth the wait, but still, they could’ve sped it up a little bit.
Game #498
Out of all of the Punch-Out!! games that have been released over the years (not including the arcade titles), this is the one that I had zero experience with whatsoever before going into it. Sure, I had played the original NES game long before finally beating it, and I have spent time with the Wii game for an afternoon or so, but in terms of this game, I had never really played it at all, nor even seen too many videos on it. However, given that this was Punch-Out!! that we are talking about, I wasn’t expecting this game to be anything I hadn’t seen before, so I was able to jump into it straight away with little to no trouble whatsoever. Now that I have beaten the game, I can safely say that, out of all the Punch-Out!! games that had been released at this point, this one is definitely the best, with no contest. Sure, it doesn’t add that much at all to the formula to make it stand out from its predecessors, but it manages to deliver the most fun, energy, and content out of all the games so far, to where it was wonderful to finally check out after so long.
The graphics are incredible for what it is, not only looking really great for the system and having wonderful sprites and animations for all the fighters, but it also looks just as good, if not BETTER than the original arcade title it is based on, which is something to admire, the music is great, definitely not being as memorable or iconic as the NES game’s tunes, but still providing the right amount of energy that should go right alongside one of these boxing matches, and it is great to hear, along with all the voice acting for all the different boxers and other characters, the controls are about the same as the NES game, but they do feel just as responsive and tight as ever to where you can jump in right away with no problems whatsoever, and the gameplay is also about the same as the previous games in the series, but it is fine tuned to being the best it has ever been.
The game is a boxing game, where you take control of Little Mac once again, now sporting a brand new look which includes a disgusting new haircut, go through four different circuits each with four opponents for you to fight, throw plenty of different kicks in varying directions to deliver the smackdown onto your opponent swiftly and painfully, make sure to avoid as many attacks as you can, while counter attacking at the right time to get the upper hand on your opponent, and stand victorious amongst all that fell before you as you raise that championship belt high for the crowd to see. It is all what you have come to expect from a Punch-Out!! game, and it all feels like it fits right at home here, providing a very similar, yet much faster and satisfying experience through and through, which was great to experience again after so long.
One big change that was brought back in was in the form of the Power Meter from the arcade games. No longer do you have to punch opponents at specific times in the hopes of getting a star, for now, whenever you build this meter up fully (without getting hit, of course), you are able to throw out devastating attacks to your opponent to deal massive damage, such as with hard-hitting uppercuts or with fast-flying rapid punches. These don’t feel as satisfying to pull off as the Star Punches from the NES game, unfortunately, but the fact that you can have an infinite amount of these to use as long as you don’t get hit is a fair tradeoff, and it does feel great to successfully nail that hit, and just watch as your opponent gets pelted by plenty of punches that knock down their stamina bit by bit. Aside from that though, there isn’t anything else that’s really new to see when it comes to the main gameplay, but that doesn’t bother me here in the slightest, as it still manages to provide the fun, snappy, and fast gameplay that I have come to expect with this series.
Aside from the main circuits, there are additional modes that you can try out in the game, such as a Time Attack mode, where you can see how quickly you can knock down your opponent and try to beat your fastest times, and a Records View Mode, just in case you wanna admire how good or terrible you are in comparison to all of the other fake records that are on display. Not only that, but you can also access a multiplayer mode by inputting a cheat code in the game, where you can duke it out with a pal and see who is the best boxer of them all that entered the ring…………… which many people didn’t know you could do for the longest time. Yeah, this mode was only discovered recently back in 2022, so the fact that there was no clue towards this being a thing from both Nintendo Power or Nintendo themselves beforehand is kinda surprising. Why wouldn’t you want to be able to beat the shit out of your friends like this?
With all that being said though, there isn’t much else to be seen within this installment. It is about as straightforward as you can get for a Punch-Out!! title, which could potentially turn away new players who are hoping for a little more variety and additional gameplay mechanics from this series. Then again, given how it is a boxing title, I’m not sure what else one could possibly hope to expect from these games. All they need to do at the end of the day is provide a fun, fast, and charming experience full of lovable racial stereotypes, and we got that in spades here, including returning characters like Bear Hugger and Dragon Chan, and even new faces to punch such as Aran Ryan and… Bob Charlie. The subtlety of that character hit me about as hard as a sledgehammer to the skull, let me tell ya.
Overall, despite a lack of major change, Super Punch-Out!! managed to take the fun and addicting gameplay of the original NES title and amplify it to new heights, featuring plenty of fun visuals, lovable characters, and fast and intense gameplay that makes me wanna come back for more even as I am typing this right now. I would highly recommend it for those who loved the NES Punch-Out!! game, or for those who are big fans of the Punch-Out!! series in general, because while this isn’t the best game in the series by a long shot, it still shows off what this series can do at its best, and there is nothing wrong with that. It’s just a shame that after this, we never did see another Punch-Out!! title for 15 years. Yeah, I get it, perfection takes time, and it was well worth the wait, but still, they could’ve sped it up a little bit.
Game #498
BobOnTheKebab
2 months ago