You know, usually when I review a sports game on this website, I would usually completely dismiss the game altogether, and make up some random story where I personify the sports into real people for some reason, but I can’t do that for this game. The simple reason why I am now actually properly reviewing a sports game is because now I actually GIVE A SHIT. Whenever people think about the Punch-Out franchise, most primarily think about the console games, which is fair, given that those are the best games in the series. However, there were several other Punch-Out games released before that, primarily for arcade systems, starting of course with the original “Punch-Out!!”.
Obviously, I have a bias towards the NES Punch-Out, as it is an adaptation of this game, and is generally better in many ways, but the original arcade game still holds up really well. Yes, it does have some issues that do hinder it a little bit, but for 1984, and for starting out this series, it did a pretty great job for being a simple boxing game.
The graphics are extremely well done, and they have aged extremely well after almost 40 years, although not perfectly, the music, while not having too many tracks to listen to, is very catchy and iconic all the same, the control is simple, yet kind of awkward, which I will get more into in a bit, and the gameplay is very simple, but still fun and engaging.
The gameplay is… well, it’s a boxing game. You face many opponents in the ring, throwing different kinds of punches, until they get KO’d, and that’s all she wrote. In terms of the overall gameplay, it doesn’t really do anything to reinvent the sport or make it too exciting. You can either punch the face or the body of your opponents, and when you build a K.O. meter up, you can also get the chance to perform new moves that don’t change up much, but they are very useful to have. What does make all of this exciting though, and as to one of the reasons why the games are so memorable, is the presentation.
The game feels so alive overall, with many different noises, sound effects, voice lines, and pieces of music played to make the game feel as engaging as possible, and it works extremely well, getting you sucked into the game without even having so much as thrown a punch yet. Not to mention, all of the fighters you take on are very distinct and have a lot of character to them, making them all identifiable amongst each other and very memorable, with very goofy names to accompany them to make them even more memorable, such as Glass Joe, Piston Hurricane, Pizza Pasta… yeah, you know what, that last one probably didn’t age all that well.
Now, I’m not saying the presentation is perfect. A good amount of the sound and graphics have aged pretty badly, such as several sounds that sound like a dog that just got shot, as well as the character you play as himself being one of the ugliest and most terrifying humans I have ever seen in my life. But once again, keep in mind, this was 1984, and having these kinds of visuals, sounds, and voice clips in a game at this time was very impressive. Not on the same level of technical prowess as Dragon’s Lair, obviously, but this was probably one of, if not THE best looking and sounding game that Nintendo had ever made at that time.
With all that said, it does have several flaws that make it inferior to, say, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, which would release only a few years later. For one thing, the game is EXTREMELY SHORT, where you are able to beat all of the opponents at least once in under 10 minutes if you are skilled enough. Sure, there are several challenge runs after you beat the last opponent, where you refight all the challengers again, except they are now a lot tougher, which can provide more gametime for you if you wish, but if you are wanting just a one-and-done session, then it probably won’t last you that long. Although, given how difficult the game initially is, you could be at it for a lot longer than 10 minutes, even if that artificial way of game lengthening isn’t my preferred way of doing so.
In addition, the controls feel really awkward, at least, compared to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. In that game, you just had to hold down a direction on the D-Pad, and then press one of the buttons to throw a punch, and it was that simple, but in this game, you have to switch in between the stances that either hit the face or the body, while pressing the corresponding buttons to do so. It may not sound like much, but it does take a good while to get used to, and even now after playing through the game twice, I’m still not all that used to it. Now, I know it isn’t fair comparing the control scheme in this game to a later adaptation of the game for the NES, but let’s be honest here, most people have played that version over the arcade original, so going back to that one is gonna be a little bit of a learning hurdle. Not much of one, but a hurdle nonetheless.
Overall, despite the awkward controls and not too much substance, the original Punch-Out is still a pretty damn good start to the series, and one of the best boxing games out there. I would definitely recommend you at least checking it out if you are a fan of any of the other Punch-Out games, and wanted to see where this series truly began.
Game #190
Obviously, I have a bias towards the NES Punch-Out, as it is an adaptation of this game, and is generally better in many ways, but the original arcade game still holds up really well. Yes, it does have some issues that do hinder it a little bit, but for 1984, and for starting out this series, it did a pretty great job for being a simple boxing game.
The graphics are extremely well done, and they have aged extremely well after almost 40 years, although not perfectly, the music, while not having too many tracks to listen to, is very catchy and iconic all the same, the control is simple, yet kind of awkward, which I will get more into in a bit, and the gameplay is very simple, but still fun and engaging.
The gameplay is… well, it’s a boxing game. You face many opponents in the ring, throwing different kinds of punches, until they get KO’d, and that’s all she wrote. In terms of the overall gameplay, it doesn’t really do anything to reinvent the sport or make it too exciting. You can either punch the face or the body of your opponents, and when you build a K.O. meter up, you can also get the chance to perform new moves that don’t change up much, but they are very useful to have. What does make all of this exciting though, and as to one of the reasons why the games are so memorable, is the presentation.
The game feels so alive overall, with many different noises, sound effects, voice lines, and pieces of music played to make the game feel as engaging as possible, and it works extremely well, getting you sucked into the game without even having so much as thrown a punch yet. Not to mention, all of the fighters you take on are very distinct and have a lot of character to them, making them all identifiable amongst each other and very memorable, with very goofy names to accompany them to make them even more memorable, such as Glass Joe, Piston Hurricane, Pizza Pasta… yeah, you know what, that last one probably didn’t age all that well.
Now, I’m not saying the presentation is perfect. A good amount of the sound and graphics have aged pretty badly, such as several sounds that sound like a dog that just got shot, as well as the character you play as himself being one of the ugliest and most terrifying humans I have ever seen in my life. But once again, keep in mind, this was 1984, and having these kinds of visuals, sounds, and voice clips in a game at this time was very impressive. Not on the same level of technical prowess as Dragon’s Lair, obviously, but this was probably one of, if not THE best looking and sounding game that Nintendo had ever made at that time.
With all that said, it does have several flaws that make it inferior to, say, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, which would release only a few years later. For one thing, the game is EXTREMELY SHORT, where you are able to beat all of the opponents at least once in under 10 minutes if you are skilled enough. Sure, there are several challenge runs after you beat the last opponent, where you refight all the challengers again, except they are now a lot tougher, which can provide more gametime for you if you wish, but if you are wanting just a one-and-done session, then it probably won’t last you that long. Although, given how difficult the game initially is, you could be at it for a lot longer than 10 minutes, even if that artificial way of game lengthening isn’t my preferred way of doing so.
In addition, the controls feel really awkward, at least, compared to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. In that game, you just had to hold down a direction on the D-Pad, and then press one of the buttons to throw a punch, and it was that simple, but in this game, you have to switch in between the stances that either hit the face or the body, while pressing the corresponding buttons to do so. It may not sound like much, but it does take a good while to get used to, and even now after playing through the game twice, I’m still not all that used to it. Now, I know it isn’t fair comparing the control scheme in this game to a later adaptation of the game for the NES, but let’s be honest here, most people have played that version over the arcade original, so going back to that one is gonna be a little bit of a learning hurdle. Not much of one, but a hurdle nonetheless.
Overall, despite the awkward controls and not too much substance, the original Punch-Out is still a pretty damn good start to the series, and one of the best boxing games out there. I would definitely recommend you at least checking it out if you are a fan of any of the other Punch-Out games, and wanted to see where this series truly began.
Game #190