Nintendo has announced that Punch Out is coming to the Wii on May 18th.
Not a lot of details have been announced aside from the date and this little blurb from a Nintendo rep:
"It will be interesting to see too how gamers react. I think they're going to react great to the motion control capabilities of the Wii with that game because you're used to hitting buttons and doing your blocks and your throws and kind of dodging out of the way, but now you can do all that with your own body, so it's going to feel you're right there as a boxer." - Charlie Scibetta, Senior Dir. of Corporate Communications, Nintendo of America
So it sounds like they're opting for more of a Wii Boxing style rather than the traditional controls from the NES and SNES. I hope that they do a good job, as I was never 100% impressed with the boxing controls on Wii Sports.
Also the following boxers have been mentioned or shown in previews:
Glass Joe
Von Kaiser
King Hippo
Soda Popinski
No word has been mentioned if any new boxers are showing up, but I really hope so. Half the fun of Punch-Out was seeing what insane boxer was next. But if it's all the same let's just leave Don Flamenco retired.
I was in the GS forums and someone ruined the big surprise. It's kind of.....shitty.'
I made it to Don Flamenco and he is so much tougher than the original. The challenge is near perfect in this game, it slowly increases but not to impossible levels.
Finally made it to Sandman this evening. This son of a bitch is relentless. No surprise there I suppose, but man oh man is he one mean bastard.
I took a break after a few losses and did the Glass Joe challenges. Unfortunately that didn't do a damn thing to make the next rematches any easier.
Looking forward to facing him again. I'm looking foward to all of them.
Finally finished up with Sandman. Took me literally 20 matches before I finally beat him. He's a tough bastard. But not as tough as the new and improved Glass Joe!!
This title defense mode is going to be nasty. Totally looking forward to it.
I just finished Don Flamenco. It took five tries before I could beat him and my record is destroyed.
Now is when the similarities to the old Punchout games end. You need completely different strategies to finish these guys and they can be pretty tough.
Just read what Robio had to say about Sandman and it sounds exciting. If you guys who played the original over an over again are worried about a challenge, don't be. It ramps up after King Hippo, but not enough to make it so frustrating that you bite your controller. I'm having a hard time finding a flaw. Maybe that there is no online play, but besides that, nada.
That was pretty much my thoughts on the matter. I'd been playing the NES Punchout for weeks in preparation for this and I thought I'd breeze through it. Nope. There are certainly similarities between the old boxers and their updated counterparts but don't count on any of the other strategies. They have a large variety of punches now, and every time you knock them down they'll break out a new surprise for you that you'll have to contend with.
As far as title defense mode goes it's really good. Amazing how much fun it is. All of the boxers have fairly dramatic changes. It's not just "Glass Joe with Headgear." They have new defenses, new punches, and in most cases new attitudes. Von Kaiser has pretty much gone insane and is pretty funny now. But make no mistake about it, it's harder than hell. I've spent almost as much time in title defense mode now as I did in the first mode - but I've yet to get out of the minor circuit. I'm currently fighting King Hippo and getting my butt handed to me.
Wait till you see Disco Kid. They completely change him to "Flaming Homosexual Kid" complete with impressive buldge.
You knew it was coming.
Finally got it, it is nostalgia overload. It has all the music from the original, it is such a huge homage to that game, I had a huge smile on my face the whole time I was playing. I gave the motion control all of 2 minutes then went right to classic mode, IMO the only way to play.
What can I say about the game, it IS Punch-Out. Nothing has changed about the forumla, if you have played the original you know what to expect from this game. I flew by the first circuit, got passed Hippo without dying and then hit Great Tiger and lost. This is so sweet cause Great Tiger in the original is also the spot where the game really ramps up in difficulty. His moves are presented differently so it took time to finish him. Then came Don Flamenco, lost a bunch of times, mostly cause I was trying to get stars. I love seeing how all the fighters and their moves translated to this game. It's almost all there, all the tricks you learned, all the super moves, so cool to see it with such great animation.
I tried some exhibition mode, this mode is going to be so sweet, might be what I play the most. It really challenges you to play each fighter a different way.
But you know what, I am glad I rented it, I love it cause its Punch-Out but Punch-Out is a really simple game and so is this one. Punch-Out isnt the type of game you play non stop for a week or two, you play it for a few hours, this game is much larger so probably for a weekend and then take a break from it. For me right now its not the type of game I can afford to own. I am really glad they had the balls to make a game like this though, I truely believe there is a place for these simple arcade style games that pay homage to the types of games we used to play. That mix of classic games reborn with huge epic games is what is making this generation so cool.