Editor’s note: My younger sister isn’t a gamer, but her love for Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out is just as strong as my feelings toward my favorite games. How did this love affair begin? Did the new Punch-Out for the Wii rekindle the flame? You’ll have to read her story to find out. – Aaron
I am not a gamer, partially because I hate the word gamer, but mostly because I just don’t play games. I have never won at checkers and I have never finished a game of Monopoly. My brother once told me if I beat Super Mario Bros. he’d buy me an Olive Garden. I came close, but I can’t beat the final castle.
But even though I don’t consider myself a gamer, I love Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out in a way that doesn’t make sense. It isn’t because it’s a fighting game; I teach yoga, I’m not a fighter. I’ve never hit anybody before in my life. I don’t love the game because it’s easy, either. I can’t beat Punch-Out, but I will play it until I get Nintendo Thumb and even then I’ll keep playing.
I have been enthralled with Punch-Out since the first time I ever played it. The first time I really remember playing was when my younger brother had a birthday party and a second TV was brought downstairs and the Nintendo was hooked up for entertainment. The Nintendo wasn’t mine and I’d have to wait to be able to play. While my brother and his classmates were eating cake, I was… losing to Glass Joe.
But then I beat Glass Joe and then pretty easily beat Don Flamenco. Oh it was on. I was hooked. The music, the very digital looking graphics, Mario almost inaudibly awarding me my TKO’s, which I thought for a while meant “Total Knock Out.” I still think that’s what it should stand for; it just sounds better.
Each knock out was an accomplishment; learning each boxer’s pattern of moves required intense study. I could beat King Hippo, but then I couldn’t beat Great Tiger. Eventually I put him on the mat. Crap, next I had to fight Piston Honda for the second time. But he was easy to get stars off of, so I figured he wouldn’t be too bad.
Sometimes I’d go years without playing the game, but I always found my way back. When I went to visit my brother in San Francisco, he was working for GameSpot. He took me to his office for three reasons: the building is orange (my favorite color), it was “Bagel Day,” and there was a free yoga class. Turns out it was also “Peanut Butter Day,” which meant there was a spread of bread, about ten different types of peanut butter and a couple choices of jelly. Mixing all the peanut butter together would have made a sandwich with Fear Factor potential, but I think we went pretty basic that day.
Armed with snacks, my brother took me over to his desk, where he had three TV’s and computer. Three. He told me I could play Punch-Out as long as I promised not to make a lot of noise. Noise didn’t seem to be a factor as one of his co-workers was playing a shooting game, apparently not verywell because every now and then a curse word would arise from his corner of the office. My brother was playing a golf game in which creating a realistic avatar seemed to be the highlight. They’re all playing the newest consoles and I’m stoked because my brother has a Nintendo that doesn’t need a second game to hold the first one in place and we don’t need to blow into the cartridge to make it work.
I took control of Little Mac, easily made it to the title bout, and continued to move on. A co-worker walked by and said, “Aaron, your sister’s playing Punch-Out?” The way the guy said it was like “Man, I wish I was playing something as basic as Punch-Out.” I got to Soda Popinski and he took me down as he always does. I can’t hang with him long enough to learn his moves, but I won’t stop trying.
You’d think that I’d love Super Punch-Out, but the thing of it is, is that I am a bit of a purist. When the Super Nintendo came out and Punch-Out was released with new characters, I found it difficult and thought the new opponents were annoying, Bear Hugger? Really? The perspective had changed and it threw everything off.
But when my brother sent me the trailer for Punch-Out for the Wii, I thought it had potential. Modern graphics, but mostly fighters from the original game? Maybe…
First I had to borrow a Wii and then I had to find a video store that actually had the game. Eventually I found it. I was stoked, even though I had to drive to another city. And then, I had to open a new membership at the video store because it had been so long since I’d been there. Just when I thought I was in the clear, I had to stop for gas. All I wanted to do was get home and fight, but it seemed that I was never going to get home.
I finally got home and had to figure out how to hook up the Wii. I set the sensor up on top of the TV, matched the plugs with their colors, and got picture AND sound on the first try.
I’m ready.
The Wii-mote turned sideways actually has a similar feeling to the original Nintendo controls. The familiar boxing glove in the title screen comes forward and asks me what I want to do. I set myself up in fight mode. The music starts playing and I am once again Little Mac, and I’m ready to fight.
It’s on.