Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

To set the tone for my review, I was introduced to the Punch-Out! series on the original NES years ago and loved the ridiculous characters and typical Nintendo colorfulness of it all.

It didnt really try to be a boxing game, which I felt benefits it greatly.

Later on I bought the Super NES version which I fealt was superior in a few ways. It seemed more responsive, the graphics and characters obviously were improved, and you had much more variety in your star punch moves ex: rapid punching.

And now we get to the Wii Punch-Out!. This version is mainly a remake of the original. Little Mac is wearing the same colored clothing and all of the enemy boxers except for Aryan Ryan, Bear Hugger, and Disco Kid are from the first game.

I feel they missed an opportunity to add a bit of depth to the roster and almost completely excluded the roster of the Super NES game. For the sake of completing the game casually, this will make it alot easier. But in buying a new 40-50 dollar game in 2011 there isnt much of an excuse for the lack of new content in this game.

I will list some pros and cons of this game to keep it a little more simple:


GOOD:

- The cel shaded look is a great homage to the old NES look.
- The slide show/cut scenes are always interesting and show some slight backstory to enemy boxers.
- The exhibition mode is a good addition because you WILL need to practice for a few tough fights.
- Many classic favorites return such as Bald Bull, King Hippo, Glass Joe.

BAD:

- Missed opportunity to expand fighter roster.
- The controls feel less precise than previous title.
- The star punches have lost the rapid punch ability.
- The fighters have even more cheap ridiculous moves such as hitting you while they fall to the mat on a KO.. which makes it feel very cheap and frustrating.
- Your punches hardly do any damage at all, while the enemy can sometimes put you down in 3-4 hits.
- Getting KO'd from only 2 knock downs was a horrible idea.


Overall, this title in the series seems to be a small step back besides stunning graphics. Theyve taken away more than they have added so take from that what you will. It is worth playing for sure. Just dont expect to remember this as fondly as the other ones. Nostalgia cant hide its shortcomings.