Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Didnt he try to beat mike tyson on game spot on the spot once and failed hard?

That backwards glance the opponents shoot you as they get off the mat remains one of my favorite small touches is gaming.

@gbrading said:

Yeah, they pretty much replicated the AI patterns exactly, right down to which punches you can interrupt, how you get stars for your star punches, how you can one-hit knockdown certain boxers, etc.

However, once you beat everybody once, then you fight everybody again, and the second fights are all pretty much original stuff. Glass Joe has a boxing helmet, King Hippo has a manhole cover on his belly, Soda Popinski drinks some kind of radioactive supersoda that supercharges him.

Shit is crazy, and awesome.

Yeah, that's Don Flamenco the first time. You dodge the uppercut and then 1-2 punch him (left-right-left-...) till he falls. Alex actually did that in the video. As for Piston Honda, I too was talking to the screen telling him to catch him coming in after the dance. But you only *have* to hit him in the body the 2nd time. The first time you can catch him on the chin as well.

Sandman was tough mostly because by the time you got to him, you were already a bit fatigued. And it took me a few bouts to realize that you didnt have to left-right-left dodge his "Dream Punch" uppercut-combo; a simple left-left-left dodge would do.

Super Macho Man (SMM) was hard for me because of the unpredictability of his 'Airplane Spin Punch' (forgot the in-game name). Sometimes he'd only throw one, sometimes he'd throw as many as at least eleven. You need to be in a good rhythm to dodge those, but if you dodge too many, you can miss your chance to counter. Dodge too few and "You got knocked the fuck out!" Again, fatigue (and sweaty palms) played a role as those Sandman matches always were tense. I wish there was a password for starting right at SMM so I could have just concentrated on beating him.

While I made it to Tyson a bunch, I never beat him. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever made it to the second round. I know I made it (at least one, maybe *only* once) past his initial flurry of "Dynamite Punch" uppercuts, but was never able to lay into him right.

Little Mac: "He's hurt me Doc!"

Doc: "Join the Nintendo Fun Club!"

BASTAGE!

This was fan-fucking-tastic, Alex. Nice work.

Nice run Alex! I never got into Punch-Out, but I ALWAYS got a kick from watching my buddy play it back in the day. He'd play it in the morning before school and when he had to leave, he'd leave the NES on while he was at school and come back home and resume playing.

Checkpoints? BAH!!!

I could TKO Tyson, but not KO him.

I wish there was a wrestling podcast/ feature/ video thing with Alex.

nice job Alex that was much fun to watch.

@hostyl1: I meant hitting the boxer while they were crouched to do the uppercut and they stayed crouched, but I could be misremembering things, it was about 2 decades ago that I played the game.

I love this game.

Great Bombastica! I second the motion for a wrestling spinoff podcast. Would also love a Breaking Brad style series with Alex playing Punch Out until he beats Mike Tyson.

I really really enjoyed this. Thanks Alex! Solid effort and good show!

This is easily my favorite Bombastica yet. Great job Alex.

That was a real impressive run. Even if you remember a lot of the patterns you still gotta nail the timing and also not choke.

That was fun to watch and took me back some many years. I beat this game never getting hit, including Tyson. Used to think I was pro, now... 39th birthday coming... not so much. Better than Alex though... ;) When you got to Sandman I was like "Face! Stomach, stomach, stomach!"

Over two decades later and this music is still ingrained into my brain. Definitely one of the best NES games of all time. I could never beat it all the way but I've lost hours to this game for sure. Thanks for the video Alex. Now please never bring up modern wrestlers ever again...

Re: Alex's comment about a 17 year old fighting pro:

so, as someone who boxes at the amateur level: If a person is serious about boxing they usually start training between 8 and 12. They will spend their teen years boxing amateur and, if they are good enough win national or international tournaments.

The olympics is usually seen as a stepping stone to the Pros, as are the myriad golden glove tournaments. And yeah, a lot of times you could be 16 or 17 when this happens, so it is not uncommon for a person to box pro at that age.

Not that weird when you consider most boxers are spent at around their mid thirties (though some do box well past their prime)

Also, fun facts about the game:

At the time they were making the home port of the arcade game Punch-Out!!, nintendo of america was based in NY. During this time is when Mike Tyson was boxing as an amateur in the NYS boxing scene and was the most dominant amateur ever, breaking all sorts of records. When they drew up a contract for Tyson, he was still an amateur, meaning they got him signed before he was a champ and thus for much cheaper. His rise was so fast that by the time the game came out he was the biggest name in pro boxing.

Also: they made Punch out with Mr. Dream not because the contract had expired, but because Tyson was accused of domestic assault. He was also spiraling into madness, even trying to kill himself in a car crash This did not sit well with nintendo's family friendly image and they immediately replaced existing stock of MT: Punch-Out!! with regular punch out sans mike tyson.

AWESOME. the only person I ever saw beat Mike Tyson was my dad. He used to stay up late on Sat. night's playing this. The first time he ever beat Tyson he woke me up (probably around midnight) to show me the screen. I can get to Tyson, but I've never beat him.

This is my favorite Bombastica because Alex was skilled enough to add some dramatic tension to the whole thing that made it more than just a look back at video game history.

great game. great show making it all the way to sandman

I like how Alex equates everything with pro rasslin'.

I have never played this. Am I a bad person?

The first time I played Punch-Out!!, I got knocked out by Glass Joe because I had no idea how to play. That was one of the low points in my life.

This is one of my favorite games of all time. Still never beat Tyson, never will.

Alex, I totally understand your joy at remembering the Bald Bull timing. I played the game myself in the last few weeks and felt the same way when I pulled it off.

Awesome video, always loved this game.

This game is a genuine classic and I'm proud to say I did beat Mike Tyson and I also beat the second circuit mode where all the enemies from beginning to end are even harder. You get access to it after beating the game the first time.

Alex's best video ever. I found myself really rooting for him

I was rooting for Alex hard, just like a lot of people. There really was some tension! I don't even usually like Alex's brand of snark, but his bombastica's are great and a fresh air after Patrick's last ones..

My favorite bombastica. Love this game. Thanks Alex!

@Alex thanks for the bombastica! My first exposure to the series was Super on the SNES, so it was cool to see where it originated. Great commentary too!

Oh man, this brings back memories of the golden age for me. SMB3 often takes all the glory for the NES era, but Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! is right up there for me. My friend down the street was the only one who had an NES for the first couple years it was out. Hanging out playing Contra, Dusty Diamond Softball, and of course trying to go long on Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! to see who could get farthest were some of the most fun and frustrating memories for me as a kid. It's funny how something so simple as modest sound effects and 8-bit theme music can bring you back...

This game really is one I always go back to that I feel the same appreciation and general "heck yeah" satisfaction that comes from beating each character as I did when I was 7 years old playing it for the first time and trying out different hints everyone at school suggested for different characters. I have to say though that Super Punch Out was also quite awesome and even the Wii version, I enjoyed them all.

Good stuff as always!

I love when they play NES/SNES games because it's the only time I can be the snobby "heh . . . you know you could've won if you would've . . . " I fell off once games went 3D.

When I was a kid my grandad used to take me out on Saturdays. We'd usually play a round of crazy golf and then head to the arcade. I remember I always used to head straight for the New Zealand Story machine because I'd seen another older kid beating the pink whale boss by hammering on the fire button as fast as he could with two fingers, Track & Field style, and I thought it was the shit lol!

I remember being aware that the machine behind me was some sort of boxing game with a see-through green dude and a distinctive song playing on loop, but it wasn't until years later when I heard the music again that I realized it must have been a Punch-Out!! machine!

Fun fact: If you're really good at this game, and I do mean really fucking good, it is possible to knock Tyson out in the first round.

Here is Sinister1's world record single segment speed run of this game. It is one of the most technical, and infuriatingly RNG* dependent, speed runs.

*- RNG is ai behaviour derived by random number generation; some patterns the opponents do are slower than others, and unfortunately there isn't always a way to force a good fast pattern.

Need to get my hands on Frank Bruno's Boxing!

This is just golden. What a great game, I need to fire up both the wii and the nes version I have on 3ds now.

Indeed, do not get punched in the face.

Alex really pulled a reverse Brad on this one. Well done!

Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!

You've got to love Alex look of unbridled inner joy when he counters the bull charge. This is a good run and Bombastica because the matches are NOT speedrun style so we get to see more of the AI patterns and between round banter.

Great run @alex! Enjoyed hearing about your history with the game as a kid. Curious, are you playing this on an emulator or nes with the proper pad?

Also, I've heard that it's near impossible to beat Tyson using a "modern" TV. Sounds dumb, but the latency makes enough of a difference. I remember hearing that from Aaron (?) from the GS crew years ago as he beats the game annually per tradition.

I could watch Alex play Punch Out all day. Nice Kylesa t-shirt btw ;)

I found it!!!!!!

Alex trying to beat punch out on gamespot the video don't have all of it though.