Dropping Bald Bull on his face once again.
Little Mac is an up and coming boxer who has winning on his mind. He seeks to end the unbeaten streak of the heavy weight champion Nick Bruiser. However, before he can meet him, he has to fight his way through 4 divisions of fighters with many different styles of boxing. To include, these guys are not afraid to completely break the rules. -summary
Super Punch Out! for the SNES was a game I had no knowledge of during the Super Nintendo's heyday. I played it for the first time well after its release in 1999, even though it was released in the states 5 years earlier; and like the many Punch Out games before it. It became an instant hit with me.
Game Play:
Super Punch Out! follows the style of the original Punch Out! games of the arcade series from back in the 80's. The player controls Mac from a third person perspective and his body is translucent during the fight. This is to make it possible for the player to see every move that the opponent makes, and this is necessary indeed because your opponents at times can be some sneaky bastards.
The objective of the game is to beat four opponents across four different divisions winning the titles in the process. The opponents are a motley crew the likes of a hillbilly, psychotic clown, and kung fu fighters. The character roster meshes some of the most popular fighters from the first two arcade games. You will see familiar faces like Bald Bull, Mr. Sandman, Piston Hurricane, Dragon Chan, Bear Hugger, and Super Macho Man. There are also some brand new faces too.
I really like the style of Super Punch Out! due to its complete lack of realism. It's completely done in a cartoony way and it's not meant to be taken seriously. The fighters will use any means necessary to win, such as a Mexican boxer who will spit in your eyes and then attack with head butts, the Japanese fighters who will either throw kicks, use the Mirror Image technique, or even a vicious hair attack. Other boxers later in the game who act as bosses have the ability to numb one of your hands during the fight. The enemies can have some very creative twist to them which adds to the overall enjoyment.
When fighting your opponents, Mac really doesn't have too much at his disposable, but what he does have makes him very dangerous. Mac of course throws lefts and rights to the face, as well as to the body; but his most dangerous move is his uppercut that can be used repeatedly until he takes a solid blow, when the punch gauge is full. He can also throw the blow to the body for a sharp hook, or counter with a very fast 1 - 2 combo.
The matches are only 1 round with a 3 minute time limit. Once the time runs out, you lose automatically, which is totally different from Mike Tyson's Punch Out!. The player also begins with a certain amount of continues and once they're out, you'll have to begin that division you lost in all over again. Thankfully, the game does have an automatic save, so you can just quit altogether if you're frustrated, and believe me you're going to get mad several times because you're going to lose a lot.
Super Punch Out! begins very easy in the beginning, with the first character pretty much being a punching bag for the player to get accustomed to the controls. After that, the challenge begins to pick up and the fighters will be very tough to get through. Now even though the game can be very challenging and fun, the fighters do follow some type of pattern, in addition, they'll either take up a certain stance or flinch alerting you that they're going for something heavy. The game forces you to heavily rely on eye coordination and memory. This is your basic trial and error type of game, but once you learn these signs the game will be a cake walk. It's very possible to make it through the entire game without taking a single punch.
Controls:
The game performs fantastic. There really isn't much of a learning curve to it and the controls are very responsive. Ducking, dodging, along with blocking high or low is a snap, and throwing face and body blows are very simple too, by the time the third fight comes around you will have mastered everything you could possibly need.
Graphics/Sound/Music:
I like the character designs of the game despite them following certain stereotypes. I find them to be very funny. They feature very skinny Jamaican guys with dreads, a bucktooth Japanese guy, and overly muscle-bound wrestling types. One character named Super Macho Man who loves to pose leaves me cracking up quite a bit. Now even though the fighters personalities and styles may change, Nintendo reuses the same sprites, therefore some of the characters will have the exact same movements, from punches to going down for the count. I can't exactly say much about the sound effects, since nothing really caught my ear. The music fits very well with the style of the game, and each character has their own entrance theme.
Replay:
This is the only area where the game really suffers. Once you master it there really isn't much to it. You will probably be looking for something else to play.
Final Thoughts:
The game features a time trial mode, but after the main game is over there's very little reason to continue further. Once you know the characters then that's pretty much it. Still, I consider this game to be among the better wacky boxing games out there. I recommend this to anyone who may have missed it or enjoys fighting games.
Overall rating: 7/10
Pros: Easy to get into, Challenging at first, Great controls and characters
Cons: Little replay once you know the fighters