Punch-Out!! (Wii) Review
It’s a little bit strange to see Nintendo producing a title that not only hasn’t seen a new release in a whole thirteen years, but one that stays true to its roots at the same time. That being said, Nintendo have contracted Next Level Games, the rather revered developers of Mario Strikers Charged, to develop Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Wii, a very faithful resurrection of the series that can quite easily stand on its own without leaning on any nostalgia at all.
The game is largely similar to previous Punch-Out games, where players take the role of Little Mac, a young and upcoming boxer, in his career to become the champion and, furthermore, defend his title. Little Mac will face a very diverse (and culturally insensitive) range of characters including a very unexpected character from another Nintendo franchise.
The first thing I noticed about Punch-Out!! was that the artistic direction for the game is well suited to the Wii and really matches the game’s cartoony style. All of the characters are rendered with a technique similar to cel-shading with thin black outlines smoothing out their appearance.
It’s a very nice technique that ensures Punch-Out!!’s graphical integrity will probably be upheld throughout the years. In addition to the character models looking great, they animate brilliantly too, with each characters’ personality brimming through the character models with some very outlandish facial animations and expressions (especially when they appear bruised and injured towards the end of a long, arduous fight). The artwork presented to establish each opponents back-story and country of origin between fights are also nicely drawn and serve as a suitable substitute for fully animated video.
Punch-Out!! has three distinct control schemes—one of which supports the Wii Balance Board and two which don’t. Punches are naturally linked to movements made with your Nunchuck and Remote, with the Nunchuck corresponding to your left hand and the Wii Remote to your right. The kind of punch thrown is affected not only by the direction you wave the Wii Remote, but also by which direction you are holding on the Nunchuck’s analog stick. There are quite a few decent combinations of moves that players can string together to gain the upper hand, and this is key to Punch-Out!!’s gameplay. In addition to this, players will also have to dodge their opponents’ moves, and in order to dodge you have two possible options. Finally, for those Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! enthusiasts, the Wii Remote can be used on its side for a classic NES-like configuration.
The first is using the Nunchuck, while the second is a little bit more interesting—using the Balance Board. On one hand, the Balance Board is great; squatting makes Little Mac duck, while moving from left to right makes Little Mac move, well, from left to right… for the most part. While the Balance Board is great at picking up when you place extreme pressure on its surface (namely through ducking), its inaccuracy in leaning from left to right can leave players quite frustrated. That being said, I may just be a bit of an “abnormal leaner” in a manner that I never actually triggered the Wii Balance Board while a normal person could, but I am fairly confident that I lean normally >_>. For the most part though, the controls are remarkably accurate in detecting just where you pull your swings from, even more so considering that this product isn’t MotionPlus-compatible at all.
Punch-Out!!’s main mode is the Career Mode and is the place you’ll probably be spending most of your time. In this mode, Little Mac progresses through the different tiered tourneys and twelve boxers, most of which you’ll recognise from the older games. In each battle, both boxers have a health bar, a Star Meter and a stamina meter. The health bar is rather self explanatory, while the Star Meter can be used to pull off a Star Uppercut, which is a more powerful attack. Finally, in an effort to deter players from waggling mindlessly, every hit that is blocked by Little Mac’s opponent will fill a meter, and when that meter is filled, Mac will be stunned and take extra damage. Each battle acts as a sort of puzzle, with Little Mac not always having to pummel, but rather working out specific patterns. In addition, fulfilling specific conditions (i.e. punching an opponent during a certain move) yields Stars that can be used to power Little Mac’s Star Uppercuts to gain an edge over his opponents.
As you progress through the tourney and up to the different tiers, it becomes an almost essential act to look for weaknesses and exploit them rather than just hammering and waggling like crazy (and this’ll reduce your stamina too, meaning Little Mac will be beaten much faster). It’s this kind of gameplay that makes Punch-Out!! a rather enjoyable game and it never really feels boring and or deteriorates into a mindless waggle-fest. Throughout the whole tourney and its tiers, you’ll recognise most of the characters from the original games and there’ll probably be a great deal of nostalgia to go with it. But as I said previously, the best thing about Punch-Out!! is that anyone can play, and enjoy it without needing to play the previous games in the series.
Upon completion of the Career Mode, Little Mac wins the title and is proclaimed the champion; however, there is a lot more to do for players upon completion of the Career Mode. Title Defence mode is a mode in which players can compete against their opponents again, but with some major improvements. For example, King Hippo’s weakness is his belly button in the standard Career mode, but not only does he become more aggressive in Title Defence, he also prevents people from hitting his belly button through extra armour, forcing players to change their strategy. This adds some nice replayability to the title as this mode is much more harder than the original Career mode.
Finally, completing the Title Defence Mode yields yet another new mode, Last Stand Mode, a somewhat “super-hard” mode that encourages, well, winning, so much so that it will lock you out of Career Mode if you lose, a somewhat perplexing decision on the developers part but regardless its something extra for players to dig into. And while most of the modes I’ve talked about will keep you busy for quite some time, there’s not a whole lot I’ve spoken about that you can jump into with your friends. Luckily, Punch-Out!! has a very enjoyable Multiplayer mode for two players, albeit a little simple in terms of options and customisation. Both players take on the role of Little Mac and, with enough punches, one of them turns into Giga Mac (a larger and more intimidating version of Little Mac). Giga Mac cannot block moves like Little Mac can, but instead can inflict massive amounts of damage in small amounts of time, making it rather tempting for both players to race each other to the transformation in order to become the victor. While Multiplayer mode does lack a lot of depth, there is a lot of fun to be had here and that more than makes up for it.
Thankfully, whenever a developer aims to revive a storied franchise like the Punch-Out!! franchise, it’s important that the sound design stays close to its roots while still doing something new. For the most part, Punch-Out!!’s soundtrack is a very eclectic mix of remixes from the previous games, making fans smile in nostalgia while also providing a very appropriate back drop for newcomers. In addition, each character has unique voice tracks which perfectly suit their characters (no matter how culturally insensitive they are) and despite the, well, goofy nature of the game’s character design, the voiced lines are delivered quite well.
All in all, Punch-Out!! is probably the most fun I’ve had with my Wii for a long time but, as with most killer Wii titles, it’s missing one thing—online play. A perplexing decision considering that Next Level’s pedigree includes Mario Strikers Online, but either way, the game is still rather enjoyable with a lot of content that is sure to please both old and new fans alike. Probably one of the games that you should look at investing in, even if it’s available at only one retailer here.
A successful revival of a very reputable franchise that combines brilliant graphics with intriguing gameplay to create one of the very best gaming experiences on the Wii. Do not question whether this game will be good or notevery Wii owner should have this gem in their collection.
Graphics 8.5
A very goofy art style combines with a very well suited rendering style on the Wii to provide some very nicely displayed graphics that are sure to NOT age as time goes by.
Gameplay 8.5
While it is easy for a game like this to become a waggle-fest, Punch-Out!! feels more like an intelligent puzzle game than a mindless brawler. Knock the difficulty down a bit and youll get that too, though.
Sound 7.0
A nice mix of remixed tracks from the old games and superb voice acting deliver an experience like no other.
Tilt 7.0
Theres heaps of offline content to play around with here, and an interesting and fast-paced Multiplayer mode too. Its just a little bit of a shame we dont have online play, considering the developers history.
Value 9.9
Probably one of the most fun games Ive ever played on the Nintendo Wii.
