PN Review: Punch Out! (WiiU VC)

At first I thought it was a little silly to rerelease Wii games on the WiiU Eshop, seeing as it is backwards compatible. But I can’t complain after seeing the choice of games, the 3 that were recently added to the Eshop are great! The original ‘Punch Out!’ an arcade game (remember those places!) was “As close to the ring as you can get, without going through the ropes”. It won the hearts of many gamers and its now one of Nintendo’s most memorable series. Now on the WiiU you can relive the most recent installment in the series, ‘Punch Out!!’ originally released on the Wii in 2009. You take on the role of the determined and now, very well-known (Thanks to Super Smash Bros) Little Mac.

Little Mac is lookin good

If you’ve ever played the ‘Wii Sports’ boxing game, ‘Punch Out!” is very similar to that. Using your Wiimote and nunchuck along with the joystick, you can dodge and punch out your opponents like never before (And it’s a darn good arm workout). If you don’t want to use the motion controls you can play it the classic way with just the Wiimote, which uses the d-pad and other buttons to fight instead. Either way I found I liked both control types, I thought the game responded pretty well to my movements, I will say that I have the Wiimote with the motion plus attachment so that might have had something to do with it. But it was nice being able to choose between the two depending on my mood.

The art style in the game is really cool, sticking to a cartoony, cel shaded look for everything. It reminded me a little bit of a comic book. Also everyone’s favorite trainer Doc Louis is back to help little Mac on his journey to victory and he’s just as enthusiastic as ever. You’ll also recognize a lot of the fighters from past games as well as new ones. Each Opponent has their own crazy style and fight strategy’s so you’ll have to try and find each of their weak points. I really like the way everything looks, it’s a semi serious boxing game with a lot of comic relief.

There are 3 different game modes to choose from when you start the game. Ofcourse you have Career Mode where you will fight you way to the top, taking out numerous wacky characters and becoming world champ! Then there’s Exhibition mode where you can fight boxers you’ve previously fought in career mode, but with different difficulties and challenges than before. Also in exhibition mode you can choose to brush up on your skills a bit with a practice match. Last but not least you can finally take on your friends in Head to Head mode, which was a first for the Punch Out series and an awesome addition.

2 Player mode

This game was an absolutely perfect remake and a great idea for the use of the Wii’s motion controls so a big thumbs up to Next Level games for the great job they did. I’m glad to add this game to my collection as it really is one of the must haves if you enjoy the Punch Out!! series. So “dance like a fly, bite like a mosquito” and become a CHAMP! Checkout Punch Out!! on the WiiU eshop for $19.99. And don’t forget to “Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!”