Punch Out!!, Nintendo's first successful boxing arcade game was released in 1984. Original cabinets used large red handles which were manipulated like boxing gloves -- later machines used a joystick and three buttons (left punch, right punch and knock out punch). The cabinet housed two monitors -- the topmost one displayed round information (opponent's name, score, match number, etc.) while the lower one displayed only the ring and your boxer's power meter.

Your character the Challenger (by default nameless, one can enter three characters as his name before the first match) initially wears green boxing gloves to match his green hair. Similar to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System console game Super Punch-Out!!, only the main character's head and boxing gloves are solid -- the rest is wireframe.

The referee (which unlike Mike Tyson's Punchout, isn't Mario) has a limited vocabulary but does indeed speak -- he counts, introduces fighters ("Ladies and Gentlemen, Glass Joe!") as well as providing a very limited play-by-play ("Hook! Body blow! Uppercut! Uppercut! He's down for the count!")

Unlike either of the the Nintendo console versions, one only has a single three minute round to defeat your opponent. Matches do not go to decision.

Challenger

As part of the World Video Boxing Association-sanctioned event, your character must defeat each of the following opponents to gain the title:

Glass Joe -- Paris, France
Piston Hurricane -- Cuba
Bald Bull -- Istanbul, Turkey
Kid Quick -- Brooklyn, New York
Pizza Pasta -- Napoli, Italy
Mr. Sandman -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Champion of the World

The game doesn't end after defeating the champ -- now you must face each of your opponents again as the 'Champion of the World'. Opponents (wearing blue accessories instead of red) appear in this order:

Glass Joe
Piston Hurricane
Bald Bull
Pizza Pasta
Mr. Sandman

After defending your title against each of these strangely familiar Top Ranked challengers, you go on to do so again against each of these boxers indefinitely -- as far as this noder can tell, there is no end to this game:

Piston Hurricane
Bald Bull
Glass Joe
Mr. Sandman

This game's sequel, Super Punch-Out!! appeared shortly after.

"Punch-Out! Featuring Mr. Dream" was the second version of the famous Punch-Out game made by Nintendo in 1990.

Your player is the famous Little Mac. Little Macs boxing trainer is Doc Louis. Doc Louis is the black guy who appears with Little Mac. In addition the referee might look familiar because its Mario. Mario is only appears when a knock down occurs and the begining of the round and is a little different looking but he is in Punch-Out.

There is the normal progression of fourteen fighters, which is the same as in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out except for the final boxer. The list is as follows

  1. Glass Joe
  2. Von Kaiser
  3. Piston Honda
  4. Don Flamenco
  5. King Hippo
  6. Great Tiger
  7. Bald Bull
  8. Piston Honda
  9. Soda Popinski
  10. Bald Bull Rematch
  11. Don Flamenco Rematch
  12. Mr. Sandman
  13. Super Macho Man
  14. Mr Dream

The game play for Punch-out is simple. The B button throws a left punch, and the A button throws the right punch. If the player gets a star they can throw an uppercut. The player can also dodge left and right and duck with the down button. There is also the ability to throw your punches to the face instead of body blows by pressing the up button.

The game was remade either after Mike Tyson lost his championship or after a few sexual assault accusations. The remade version is surprisingly similar to the original game. There is mainly only a couple differences. First the final fighter is no longer Mike Tyson but Mr. Dream. Then the game obviously no longer carries Mike Tyson's name at all. Most of the other differences are simplistic in nature. There is a new winning screen. The first Bald Bull is a little harder and Super Macho Man is accepts unlimited uppercuts.

The best site to see the differences are http://people.freenet.de/tomspunchout/versions.html which shows many of the various differences.

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