Punch-Out is latest boxing game for the Wii
22 May 2009
The Wii is waning. It hasn’t had a big hit since Super Mario Galaxy in 2007, Wii Music was a disaster, and while Microsoft and Sony have been working on modernising their online download set-ups, Nintendo insists on sticking with the useless Nintendo Club and its confusing star system.
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Punch Out is the latest version of the boxing sim that first appeared in arcades back in the 80s. It’s fun, silly and instantly playable – but hardly the killer title needed to boost the system’s profile. You play rookie slugger Little Mac, using the Wiimote and Nunchuk to punch, duck and weave through an increasingly hardy bunch of comedy national stereotypes (the Canadian boxer is a fat lumberjack, the French fella is weak and surrender-prone, and the Russian bloke is called Vodka Drunkenski).
The gameplay is simple, sly and strategic – dodge the fighters’ individually telegraphed attacks, wail on ’em with left/right body and head blows and build up superpowered star punches by landing counter-hits. As Joe Calzaghe has shown in the ads, the Wii Balance Board can be used to duck and weave, but it’s a bit woolly compared to the standard control.
A perky jab or two, then, but no knockout. Punch Out doesn’t do much more than the boxing game in Wii Sports (now three years old) and, in terms of one-on-one complexity, it’s no Street Fighter 4. Sure, retro lovers will swoon over the old-arcade feel, but Nintendo needs to quickly get into the habit of moving forward rather than looking back.
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