May 18, 2009, Developed by Next Level Games, Published by Nintendo
Fun fact, I have absolutely no interest in boxing. I think it is one of the most moronic sports out there. Two dudes get in a ring and punch the tar out of each other until one of them either gives up or passes out. Why would anyone do that? I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t care. So, then, you might be wondering, if I’m so apathetic towards the sport, why oh why is Punch-Out!! (Wii) [POW] one of my all time favorite games? Because it’s not actually a boxing game! It’s one of Nintendo’s best kept secrets, apparently, because even the Wikipedia page for this game labels it as a boxing/fighter/sports game. And to classify it as that would be doing the game a great disservice, not to mention, show a complete lack of understanding of the game’s true nature.
So, what is it? In it’s purest sense, POW is in fact a puzzle game, with a boxing/sports/fighter wrapper. It is a game that challenges players to learn specific patterns, and to test out their reflexes against said patterns. Each “fight” is actually a puzzle needing to be solved. And that is why it is so ingeniously cerebral. And it is why I love it so. It forces me to think, to learn, to re-learn, and to apply what I’ve learned until I’ve developed the skills to pass the test.
Okay, with that little soapbox moment out of the way, let’s get on to the actual analysis, eh?
POW marked the return of the long absent Nintendo series to critical acclaim. Instead of a sequel though, this seemed to be just a clean reboot. Which was the smartest move the devs could have made. POW is a gamer’s game, the less time bogged down in story and narrative and what have you, the better. In POW, players take control of Little Mac, a scrappy underdog from the Bronx, who takes on larger than life (sometimes literally…) fighters, in an attempt to become the World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) Champion. And that’s all you need to know about the story (actually, that’s probably more than you need to know).
The game plays out remarkably simple. Simple to learn, difficult to master, as they (usually) say. Because this game is wrapped up in a boxing aesthetic, the goal of each fight should be pretty obvious. The player must knock out their opponent enough times that they don’t get back up, in the time frame of three rounds (each lasting three minutes a piece).
This can be accomplished in a number of ways. If the player knocks out their opponent (by draining their health bar) three times within a single round, then it’s considered a TKO (Total Knock Out), and the player wins. I will note that instant TKO’s can also be accomplished through meeting very specific conditions (such as landing a three-star star punch on Von Kaiser when he cowers and says, “mommy”).
The player can also win by count. If an opponent has been knocked out several times over the course of multiple rounds, then there’s a chance that when they’re knocked out again, they simply won’t be able to get back to their feet by the count of ten.
Finally, there’s victory by decision. If neither the player or opponent has managed to win by KO or TKO by the end of the third round, the referee will declare a winner based on whoever performed best during the fight (got more knock outs, took fewer hits, etc.).
Of course, I should note that these rules only apply to the opponents. If Mac gets knocked out three times over the course of the match (even if not in a single round), he will lose the fight. On rare occasion, if the player mashes the punch buttons on the final knock out, Mac can rally, regaining a small portion of health. But if he gets knocked out again after that, then it’s really over for him.
Considering Little Mac is a boxer, his fighting repertoire is unsurprisingly limited. He can perform high punches (left and right), low punches (left and right), star punch (a bit more on that later), dodge (left and right), duck, and block. That said, it is shocking just how varied and unique the devs have managed to make each fight, when Mac’s options are so limited. But with constraint, breeds creativity, I suppose.
Like I said at the beginning, this is a puzzle game, above all else, and the fights are the puzzles. You see, every fighter has unique patterns, and they will always adhere to those patterns. This is why you can find videos online of freaks dedicated players who can play the games blindfolded. Because they’ve learned the patterns the fighters use, and even learned the timing to the patterns.
That’s not to say that POW is an easy game. Because, it is not, by any means. Some of the fighters can be extremely intimidating, especially in Title Defense mode (more on that later). But because they will always follow set patterns, they can be conquered if the player has enough patience to learn, adapt, and grow.
What’s more, the fighters will always telegraph their attacks through various means. It might be a visual cue, such as a fighter pulling back their arm, readying a punch. It might be an audio clue, like Mr. Sandman saying “night, night.” Or it could be (and often is) a combination of the two, for example, when Great Tiger is about to pull a quick jab, the jewel in his turban will flash, with an accompanying audible tone, letting the player know what to expect.
While telegraphing is certainly nothing new in the Punch-Out!! series, the enhanced graphical capabilities of the Wii (compared to the NES or arcade cabinets…) allowed the devs to pack in more cues than ever before. This not only made the game a heck of a lot juicier, but it made reading opponents a deeper experience. While additional cues certainly can be seen as a help, they can also be used to trip up the player if they’re not careful (such as Don Flamenco shouting something that sounds an awful lot like “duck,” when ducking is the one move that would result in getting hit by the attack).
Why are telegraphed attacks so crucial? Because that’s how you win a fight. Dodging and countering those attacks. More often than not, wildly flailing your fists at an enemy will result in you losing the match. The opponents will almost always block attacks that are sent their way, if the attack isn’t made after dodging one of their own attacks.
When a hit like this lands its mark, however, then the opponent will be stunned for a brief time, giving Little Mac a small (pun intended) window of opportunity to wail on the opponent.
If a player is particularly skilled or just feeling adventurous, they can elect to try to counter the attack, instead of dodging then countering. By attacking at just the right time with the exact right punch, players can stop the attack before it lands, with an attack of their own. If done exactly right, this will result in the player getting a star.
Mac can store up to three stars at a time. Just note that getting hit once, will cause Mac to lose any and all stars he has stored.
Stars are used for the eponymous star punch, a very powerful uppercut, which, when used properly, can even result in an instant TKO win.
The last aspect of the gameplay that I think is worth mentioning would be the endurance meter. This, to me, felt like an archaic relic held onto out of homage to the older games in the series, rather than a necessary addition to the current game.
Endurance is displayed via a heart above Mac’s health meter, with a number displayed within. Endurance marks the number of times Mac can hit a blocking opponent, block a hit himself, or get hit, before he becomes exhausted (i.e. when the number reaches zero). When exhausted (represented by Mac turning red/pink), Mac cannot block, or attack. He will instantly recover from exhaustion with a full meter again, the second he dodges a single attack.
It seems like an unnecessary mechanic, that gets all the more unnecessary when you consider the number of endurance you have varies from fight to fight. Now, I understand that higher endurance fights usually indicate that the player will be needing to block more often, but still. It just doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the game. Keep it simple. The simpler the better.
And it is simple. I already said, simple to learn, difficult to master. However, it is not so simple that it excuses the series long-running joke of a first character, Glass Joe.
Glass Joe’s record is 1-99. He is awful. He can’t do a dang thing. Which is why I dislike him so much. The first fight in the game should serve as the teacher. Consider the first level of Donkey Kong Country for example. A master class in how to teach the player how to play the game (without saying a thing). It intuitively teaches the player everything they need to know, without overwhelming the player.
Glass Joe, on the other hand, teaches virtually nothing. The player will probably figure out how to punch. They might learn that opponents will attack, and sometimes block. But that’s about it. Joe just doesn’t do anything useful for the player. He’s just there. There’s nothing to learn, and it sets the player up to expect a very different game than the one they’re about to play form the second fight on.
The game does have a “tutorial” accessible through the options menu, but it’s literally just a video teaching players how to use the completely optional motion controls. Side note: NEVER use the motion controls. Ever. Except of course, when trying to work the menus… for some reason, all UI control is done by way of a boxing glove cursor controlled by pointing the Wiimote at the screen. Thanks Wii motion controls… You just make everything you touch so, so magical…
So, moving on, the game itself has four different modes to play: Career, Exhibition, Head-to-Head, and Mac’s Last stand.
Let’s start with the meatiest mode, Career. Career mode is essentially the “story mode.” Mac must fight each opponent in turn, rising his way up through the three circuits (Minor, Major, and World). Each circuit has four opponents (except World, which has five). Beating the final opponent of each circuit makes Mac the champion said circuit. Once he has become the WVBA World Champion, however, he has the option to fight every opponent again in Title Defense mode.
Title Defense is an altogether different beast. The fighters move faster, hit harder, and, more often than not, have new tricks up their sleeves, the likes of which can sometimes feel a little on the cheap side. Even the joke of a character, Glass Joe, puts up a legitimate fight in Title Defense, just to give you an idea of how many notches they kicked things up in there.
Unlike in Punch-Out!!’s past, POW thankfully does not punish failure, by forcing the player to re-fight an opponent they’d already beaten, if they lose the fight they’re currently ranked on. They will simply have to play that fight until they can beat it. Same goes for title defense. If you lose a title defense, yes, you lose the belt, but you have an infinite number of tries to get it back. As a matter of fact, if you lose a total of one-hundred fights, the WVBA (devs) will take pity on you and gift you special headgear, which greatly reduces the damage you take (although, losing one-hundred fights is quite a feat, and it would take a frustratingly long time to get it).
Overall, it’s a fun mode, and Punch-Out!! at its best.
Moving on, Exhibition is a single one-on-one fight against the opponent of your choosing (assuming you’ve already beaten them in Career). In exhibition fights, players are given optional goals to make the fight a little more interesting (such as never dodge, or win in the first round, etc.). Each fight has three challenges to beat. Doing so will result in the minor reward of some soundtrack/sfx unlocks in the gallery. Nothing big, but it’s fun to have something to shoot for, aside from just normal victory.
If you haven’t yet beaten an opponent in Career mode, then you cannot fight them in Exhibition, except for the current opponent you’re facing in Career. If the opponent is giving you particular trouble, you can head over to Exhibition and, through the wonders of video game boxing technology, you can fight a hologram of the current fighter.
Holograms do no damage, and cannot exhaust Mac. Which gives the player ample opportunity to simply learn the fighter’s move sets and patterns. They can practice dodging and countering to their heart’s content.
Personally, I found this to be an ingenious idea on the devs part, giving less skilled players a risk free way of practicing to get better at the game.
Then there’s Head-to-Head… ugh. This is the game’s multiplayer mode. It is also proof as to why POW is not a fighter. Because in this mode, it is a fighting game, and it is not fun.
Players, both controlling their own Little Mac, simply try to beat the tar out of one another in split-screen action. There’s obviously no patterns to learn or puzzles to solve. Just two players mashing buttons, flailing their fists wildly at one another.
In case anyone reading plays a lot of Smash Bros. and was wondering, this mode is where Giga Mac came from…
And finally, there’s Mac’s Last Stand. This game mode can only be unlocked after completing Title Defense in Career mode. Mac will tell Doc Louis that he will fight all comers until he loses three times. After that, he’ll retire.
Essentially, this mode is just Title Defense set on shuffle. The opponents are completely random, and you might even face the same opponent more than once in a row. Their move sets haven’t changed. There’s very little reason to care about Mac’s Last Stand, except for one extremely juicy reason: Donkey Kong.
You heard me.
The main monkey himself has been making cameos in Punch-Out!! games since the original 1984 arcade game. But only in the audience. Infact, even in POW, you can sometimes spot the big gorilla’s silhouette in the stands while in the World/Title Defense Arena. But in Mac’s Last Stand, ol’ DK leaves the stands and gets in the ring for a fight with Little Mac. It is for this reason, and this reason alone that players should feel the need to try in Mac’s Last Stand, to access this rare, randomly occurring fight. Once you beat DK he becomes available to fight any time you wish in Exhibition.
Player be warned, though. Mac was serious when he said he would retire after three losses. If you lose three fights. That’s it. Mac’s Last Stand becomes unavailable for that player’s file, and then you’re treated to a sweet, short ending cutscene.
Needless to say the devs showed a lot of love for the series as a whole. They managed to bring classic, larger than life characters to life in a way never before seen. They’ve paid homage to the series with so many juicy, little touches (such as the Referee looking just like the Referee from the original arcade game). And they poured a ton of heart into all of it. But nowhere is this more apparent than with Mac’s trainer Doc Louis.
No matter how much I struggled, Doc was always there to pick me back up and give me words of encouragement. When I was struggling with a particularly tough opponent, Doc would give me (sometimes vague) advice on how to deal with them. And when I was just tearing through the competition, Doc was there to provide fun comedic relief. he could even refill my health between rounds if I pressed the secret button, which made him eat a chocolate bar… Hey it doesn’t have to make sense. It’s a video game about a tiny dude beating up maple syrup drinking Canadian lumberjacks and magic wielding Indian mystics.
I absolutely love this game. It is easily one of my all time favorites. It has its faults. It can be frustrating as all get out at times. But it, much like it’s protagonist, is full of heart. And that is something that just can’t be beat.
BONUS ANALYSIS!!!
October 27, 2009, Developed by Next Level Games, Published by Nintendo
Not quite a sequel, not quite DLC. Doc Louis’s Punch-Out!! was released as an exclusive reward for select Club Nintendo members in 2009. I consider myself extremely lucky to have gotten a copy as there is currently no actual way to get the game, what with Club Nintendo going the way of the dodo.
In this game, Mac spars with the titular trainer, Doc Louis, in three different levels of fights,with each fight getting more difficult. The game plays exactly like POW, except for the fact that you’re fighting the deceptively fast and strong Doc.
There’s not much to it, but more Punch-Out!! is always a good thing. And since this is the closest thing we’ve gotten to a sequel in the series in ten years, I’ll take what I can get. Even if it can’t technically be gotten any more…
