King Hippo Back in Effect in New Wii Punch-Out!!

Over the years, I've spent a lot of time thinking about why I and many other people remember the original Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! so fondly. There wasn't much to the gameplay at all--it was basically a matter of pattern memorization and recognition, knowing which way to dodge or block, and what punch to throw in response, based on the attack animation your opponent was displaying. It was also cheap as hell the closer you got to the end. I can count the number of people on one hand whom I know to even claim to have beaten Tyson, and I've never seen any of them actually do it.

On the upside, the cartoony, bigger-than-life opponents were all so darn memorable. Who could forget Glass Joe? King Hippo? Von Kaiser? Soda Popinski? And you had Mario as a referee! And most of all, the game--just like its scrawny little protagonist, Little Mac--had heart.

Nintendo's leveraging our inexplicable fondness for Little Mac and friends with a newly announced Punch-Out!! on the Wii, which will go a long way toward mollifying the vocal hardcore fan base that feels like Nintendo's forgetting about them. Clearly they are not forgetting, because someone made a point to add the correct number of exclamation points to the title there. Warm fuzzies!

Here, I'll let this new video do the talking.



Doesn't that vaguely mariachi-esque treatment of the original fight music get you totally jazzed? It really hits the nostalgia center in my brain. Cue big goofy grin, and some screens.

Note that there are no facial tattoos nor ear-biting to be seen so far in this one, so let's safely assume Iron Mike is not involved. Given that assumption, who would you want to see as the title-match final opponent? Hopefully someone with a little more personality than that sad also-ran Mr. Dream.

Do this new Punch-Out!! and the also-just-announced Sin & Punishment 2 make you feel like Nintendo's back on the right track and doing right by its hardcore fans?