Do you remember the 1987 Nintendo’s classic Punch-Out? IT was originally released in the states as Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out and it instantly became a hit. Thousands of copies were sold that year across the US and Europe.

Today, it’s available on Amazon, eBay, and other similar eCommerce websites where these things can be found.

Over the years, Punch-Out had numerous different re-releases and the Punch-Out characters changed significantly. One of the most important issues was the end of the contract that Mike Tyson had with Nintendo. After the defeat of Buster Douglas, the people from Nintendo thought his career is over so they didn’t really bother to extend the agreement.

What was in the game?

The main character in the game is Little Mac. The person who’s playing is in charge of this character. It is the one that is fighting and progressing through levels.

Each level was harder and harder, and both experts and players claim that this is one of the best progression made in history.

Through the levels, many notable characters left a non-erasable trace in the minds of kids growing up in the eighties and the nineties. Characters like Soda Popinski, King Hippo, Don Flamenco, Bald Bull, Piston Honda, and of course, Mike Tyson as the final level.

All of them were amazing in their own way. It was exciting playing against every one of them. Each level had a particular difficulty and the fighters were amazing at it. See all of them on this link.

The sequels

After this year, Nintendo realized that this is a hit and went on with post-production. They made some changes and went on by adjusting it for the modern audience. However, the original seemed to be impossible to touch.

The game had a grace period until 2007 when the new Nintendo Wii featured this game again. Since then, the new releases have kept improving, and the latest release happened in 2019 when players could get the new Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

However, just before the release, Mike Tyson wrote on Twitter about it. He complained that the company never contacted him about the new sequel. He wrote: “heard Nintendo was doing the new “Punch Out” without even contacting me. It won’t be the same. My knockouts made the game. That’s whack.”

This led to a number of people boycotting the new release. People urged to back Mike Tyson because they thought he had the right to it. However, the company producing it had nothing to do with Mike. They canceled the agreement a long time ago.

On the other hand, lots of Tyson’s fans are convinced that the success of the game is due to the success of Iron Mike. Without his tremendous nock-outs, the game wouldn’t have been such a success.

Legacy

Since the kids that used to play this game back in the 80s are now all grown up, they are happily remembering the time they used to fight against Tyson. Now, lots of them enjoy the modern version playing online or on their Wii. See about this one on the link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch-Out!!_(Wii).

Some are happy to have a poster of the game in their man caves or the walls of their kids’ rooms. There are even pieces in which the posters are signed by Tyson himself. They are all valuable and bring lots of joy to people owning them.

In the future, Nintendo might come up with an entirely new and different version, but it seems like it will never be as good as the original. No changes will replace the low-pixel interface and poor colors. Still, back in the day, this technology was out of this world.

Conclusion

In the ocean of games that date back to the 80s, no boxing or sporting game can match this one. Of course, way more sophisticated boxing games appeared in the future, with much more advanced technology, but nothing was as good as the low-pixel Punch-out.

Everyone who’s nostalgic about it can still find it online. If you feel like traveling back in time, this might the best way to do it. Make your subscription and enjoy the fight night.