Punch Out!!

• Published by: Nintendo

• Developed by: Nintendo IRD

• Designer: Genyo Takeda

• Platform: Arcade/Game & Watch

• Year Released: 1984

• Significant Contributors to Game Development:

• Genre: Sports

• Other Games in Series: "Super Punch Out!!" "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!"

History

One of the early sports games during the 80's created by Nintendo. While one of the many sports, it's one of the more successful genres to date with a tight control that required not only good timing, but a good level of strategy against the multiple opponents. Created back in 1984 by one Genyo Takeda, he developed a boxing game for the masses with unique (but very stereotypical) characters.

Game Design Elements

Gameplay

The gameplay mechanic is equivalent to that of normal boxing: Beat you opponent and wait ten seconds. If either you or your opponent don't get up within those ten seconds, the last one standing is the winner. However, each opponent have different strength and weakness, meaning there is a different strategy to defeating the opponent. While most games revolve around standing on the offensive side, Punch Out requires the player to stand on the defensive in order to achieve victory, and multiple play through until a strategy is formed into winning.

Controls

The controls are very simple, with a one player mechanic consisting of a joy stick to move in four directions (left, right, up, and down) and three buttons (right punch, left punch, and uppercut). The controls are easy, but to figure out the correct strategy, in that lies the challenge to the player, because the opponent have different patterns, weaknesses, and strength.

Plot

The plot isn't deep or complex, very much like most sports games currently. Instead, it is more about you, the player, are a new boxer ready to take on opponents in order to become the best boxer in the world, and in order to achieve that, you need to go through a series of boxing competitions in order to achieve the rank of "Top Boxer".

Characters

The main character (the player) is a green wire man (in that literal sense) so that way the opposing enemy could be seen (a first in a 3rd person point a view from the back). Each opponent is unique and stereotyped heavily of their nationality (something that continued in the later through out the game's history)

Glass Joe - The first opponent and the weakest. With little defense and not that much strenght, this makes Joe the easiest opponent to beat. His gangly frame also shows as means of how weak Joe is.

Von Kaiser - A German boxer who has a weird habit of shaking his head before throwing a punch, he usually comes after Glass Joe making him a bit of a challenge but still easy to beat thanks to his weird habit.

Piston Honda - A stereotypical Asian boxer from Japan who is proud of his country, usually comes after Kaiser and appears twice as a challenge in the game. One of the few characters to reappear in remakes of "Punch Out!"

Don Flamenco - A Spaniard boxer who is easy in the first round, but proves to be a challenge in later rounds. He looks at himself as a beautiful fighter.

King Hippo - A familiar face to the "Punch Out" franchise, King Hippo is not only the strangest opponent, but he has a very strong defense, but once his mouth opens, it becomes his weakness, making him penetrable for a beating. King Hippo is one of the few characters to make a constant reappearance in "Punch Out!"

Great Tiger - A stereotypical Hindu with an unnatrual ability to teleport to wherever he wants in the ring, making him hard to hit. But hitting him while he's mid-teleporting will cause him to become dizzy, and also become an easy target.

Soda Popinkski - A stereotypical Russian who drinks Soda (in the arcade version, he's known as a Vodka Drunkinski) who loves to drink as much as boxing.

Bald Bull - Perhaps even more famous than King Hippo, The Turkish boxer, Bald Bull, appeared in all the Punch Out remakes and is considered to be a fan favorite. His move, Raging Bull, while is the strongest, it is also the opening of his weakness.

Mr. Sandman - The most normal opponent (in terms of boxing style), and also another classic fighter to appear in all the Punch Out franchise. He's also one of the more harder opponents in the sense that he's ill-tempered and will focus all his strength on eliminating the player.