Punch-Out!! is a fantastic revival of one of Nintendo's most cherished franchises.
You play as Little Mac, a scrawny 17 year old from Bronx, N.Y. rising up the ranks to try and become the world champion with the help of his coach and the former world champion, Doc Louis. The gameplay is very simple. You get put in the ring with another fighter and box until either scores a knockout, a TKO, or wins by decision. There are 3 rounds in each fight with 3 minutes each round. Between every round, you'll likely get advice from Doc Louis, but sometimes he won't say anything helpful. During the fight, Little Mac becomes slightly transparent so that you can the opponent's arms but at the same time, you can still see Little Mac. Each opponent telegraphs when they are going to attack by such methods as saying a phrase, winking their eye, raising their eyebrow, or simply stepping back to punch. They also flash red for a split second when they are going to attack indicating that you need to dodge or duck.
Dodging and ducking in this game is essential to this game. You're not going to get very far if you don't. If you dodge an attack, you can counterattack by alternating left and right punches until they become unstunned. Where you can punch depends on the character. If you're playing against someone like Glass Joe, you can punch him in the stomach and the head when he's stunned. If you're fighting against Mr. Sandman or King Hippo, you have to dodge, counterpunch once in the head, and then go for the stomach the rest.
Sometimes the enemy will taunt you somehow. That's your chance to punch them and earn a star. When you earn a star, you can execute a powerful uppercut called the star punch which gets more powerful the more stars you have (the max is 3). You also have a heart meter which is basically your stamina. You start the fight with often a good amount of hearts such as 40 but sometimes you get very little such as 7. If your punch gets blocked, a heart goes away. If you get hit, 3 hearts go away. If all of your hearts go away, Little Mac will become exhausted, turn pink, and not be able to attack for a while. However, if you dodge an attack, your hearts will come back.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. Punch-Out!! for the Wii mimics the style of the NES game. Most of the characters from the original return, as well as 2 from the SNES game (Aran Ryan and Bear Hugger), and an entirely new character called Disco Kid. All of the characters are based off of different stereotypes based on their nationalities. For example, Glass Joe, being French, is weak and cowardly. Piston Hondo, who is Japanese, has a high sense of honor and an obsession with sushi. Great Tiger, who is Indian, rides on magic carpets, wears a turban, and has magic powers. The list goes on and on. Every character is just as memorable as they were before, especially since there are voice actors that speak their native languages. As a result, the game oozes personality.
But this isn't same old Punch-Out!!. No way. After many attempts of trying to beat the world champion (who, in this case, is Mr. Sandman) and finally beating him, you have to defend your world champion title against the entire roster again with new moves, stronger defenses, better agility, and in some cases, weak spots are covered. For example, Glass Joe examines his weak chin, so in the title defense fight, he wears headgear and tries to fake you out by delaying some of his hooks. How sad is it that after you beat Sandman, you get your ass handed to you by Glass freaking Joe?
After that, you unlock the Last Stand mode, which is like an elimination mode. In this mode, you fight against randomly selected opponents (title defense fights) and if you lose three times, you will retire, in which career mode becomes unplayable unless you start a new file. There's no way to end or restart fights either so the only way to end the game, is through the HOME menu. You do get sent back to the career menu when the fight ends and you still haven't lost 3 times, but other than that, the HOME menu is the only way out. If you win 10 last stand matches, you unlock Champions mode, which can be played via Exhibition mode.
Exhibition mode lets you pick a fighter you've fought, either contender or title defense, and fight them with the option to complete challenges. You may have to knock someone out in 5 punches, win by TKO, and so on. Champions mode is basically the same except anyone can knock you down in 1 hit.
There's also, for the first time ever in a Punch-Out!! game, multiplayer. The multiplayer is a bit modified from the rest of the game, mainly because Punch-Out!! is a single player formula, but Next Level came up with some good ideas. In this mode, the attacks are delayed so it will give players a chance to dodge. As you fight, you have a gauge that will fill up as you hit the other player. If your gauge fills up, you will turn into an oversized monster called Giga Mac. The game will then retain the single player formula, with you controlling to viewable opponent. The mode is fun, but not a selling point. And it is a little baffling that the game doesn't support online, since it would've been a good idea, as split screen does not seem right for this kind of game. The developer did do a lot of work on the online for its last Wii game, Mario Strikers Charged, so why not put it in this game as well? No online doesn't ruin the game by any means, but it could've been added.
The visuals are clever and over-the-top. The two frame animation style of the original Punch-Out!! has been swapped for a 3D cel shaded style that oozes personality. The various animations for the characters, whether they are entering the ring or winning the fight, are spot on to their character, and not to mention downright clever and sometimes funny. There are detailed painted-like pictures for cutscenes introducing the fighters that, while they feel a bit rushed, are certainly not bad.
The music is brilliant. All of the classic themes are back with some awesome remixes, some of which are redone in a style suiting the opponent's nationality or personality when you're fighting. Von Kaiser's fighting music sounds like a big war band. Disco Kid's music sounds like a disco. There is also voice acting which is superb. Every voice sounds fitting for the character and every character speaks their native languages. My only problem with the voice acting is that Little Mac doesn't have any full-on dialogue. He only has a few grunts. This is a shame because the voice acting made every character come to life, even Doc Louis. Mac just seems lifeless.
The quality of the controls depend on what setup you use. The game allows you to use the Wii remote alone, the remote and nunchuck combination, or the Wii balance board in combination with either of the previously mentioned options. The balance board is bad. Really bad. It's supposed to be used for ducking and dodging, some of the most important functions of the game. It won't register any of your movements and is overall horrible. The remote and nunchuck are ok, but the motion controlled punches don't feel that fast. So, since the game mimics the NES design, the game is best played with the remote by itself, held sideways like an NES controller. The 1 and 2 buttons are used to punch left and right, respectively, left and right on the D-pad dodges, down on the D-pad ducks, up on the D-pad blocks, and holding up on the D-pad while punching punches in the face. The remote controls are very good and feel fast and responsive, especially since this is a game that requires very fast reflexes and almost split second response on the controller. Just don't waste your time with any of the other options as they don't work as well as the remote alone.
Punch-Out!! on the Wii is a fantastic revival of one of Nintendo's most cherished franchises. The game oozes personality, the visuals are amazingly clever, the music rocks, the voice acting is superb, the controls (remote) are excellent, and the gameplay is still fast and exciting. And not only is the game insanely challenging, but there are a lot of modes to blast through as well as the enjoyment of refighting every character, so this game will keep you busy for awhile. This game is essential to any Wii owner. In short, buy it.