Super Punch-Out!! by Nintendo For the Super Nintendo, 16 Megabits Review by Jer Horwitz [The Bottom Line:] With a slight touch of humor and a group of off-beat yet powerful boxers, Super Punch-Out!! is a classic (and unduplicated) design with new graphics and sounds. Following its own set of surrealistic "boxing" rules, it's highly recommended for fans of the original and boxing fans in general and recommended strongly for players of all ages. A completely different type of artificial intelligence will challenge even Street Fighter fans, but gives even younger players an opportunity to learn the ropes. Nintendo's Punch-Out!! series, for some time, had the most advanced boxing graphics in arcades. Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! featured a unique idea - two huge boxers filled the screen, one of whom (your character) was represented by a green wire-frame outline so that you might see your opponent's body. Hard-hitting and visually superb even by today's standards for boxing, Punch-Out!! characters were powerful opponents who each had a weak spot or set of weak spots by which they could be defeated. Unless players located the weak spot, which was more than locating a place on the head or the body -- it was a process of making the character stop defending their weak spot -- their opponents would drop them to the canvas in less than a round. When a home translation came out for the NES, it was visually great for a home boxing game but nothing close to the arcade original... but that didn't stop it from being popular. Kids around the country spoke of that one fabled match when they fought Mike Tyson, the reigning heavyweight champion at the time, and defeated him only after three hard-fought rounds. Magazines printed tips and techniques on how to get to Tyson -- no easy feat -- and how to re-charge your strength meter enough to withstand his punches.Many people still speak of those Punch-Out!! days with fond memories. Years have passed since Punch-Out!! debuted in arcades (1982 or '84) and at home (1987), but companies somehow never tried to duplicate the style of quirky artificial intelligence that made Nintendo's boxing series so unique. Thus Super Punch-Out!! (SPO) seems both familiar and fresh as you work your way through four circuits of boxers, with new characters and challenges adding spice to an old idea. Like its NES counterpart, SPO is still not the aesthetic rival of the Punch-Out!! arcade games (which unfortunately says a lot about home technology in the 1990s) but is every bit as fun and challenging as its predecessors. "You've come back for another spanking, eh?" Boxing is a sport of personalities, and Super Punch-Out!! would be nothing if its characters were just a bunch of generic racial groups with strong arms and honed reflexes. From the Canadian Bear Hugger to Hong Kong's Dragon Chan To Italy's Mad Clown, the character designs are full of both physical and national caricatures. The "boxers" themselves are a bunch of crazed, unorthodox or steroid-powered rejects who formed their own championship circuits after being forced out of standard leagues. Gabby Jay, the game's first opponent, is a washed-out old man who begs you before the fight for one final taste of victory. The fighters following Jay let their fists do the talking. SPO's perspective shows your opponent in the center of the ring, facing you straight-on. You see your character's back for the majority of the game, but he stays a translucent green shade for the majority of the fight so you can see through him a la the arcade Punch-Out!! games (though whenever your character sustains damage, his body becomes opaque and fleshy again). Four meters on screen need to be paid attention to: your lifebar and that of your opponent, the clock, and your knock-out power meter. Of course, you're attempting to keep your lifebar high while depleting that of your opponent, and the knock-out power meter helps you quickly achieve your goal. Point bonuses are awarded based on the types of punches you throw and how quickly you knock your opponent out (or alternatively knock him down three times in a single round). Each punch you throw adds a little energy to your power meter, and each time your opponent hits you the power meter loses energy. Essentially, you hit your opponent with average strength left and right punches (using one button for each hand) while blocking his punches and building the knock-out meter up; when the meter is filled, you can use a third button to throw devastating super uppercuts and body bruisers which take off roughly a fifth or quarter of his lifebar at once. The meter only stops powering you up when you're hit. Notably, the game's artificial intelligence (AI) is of a very different design than the type used in Street Fighter 2 and the current fighting game clones filling the marketplace. Whereas the opponents in SF2 are highly randomized and come at you based on a skill level set in an options menu, the SPO opponents rely on the aforementioned Achilles' Heel concept to provide their difficulty and there is no skill level to set. In a Super Punch-Out!! match, you'll be pummelled if you can't figure out your opponents' isolated weakness(es); in a SF2 fight, you have a greater chance of randomly running at your opponent and doing damage. SPO boxers taunt you and fake; SF2 clones sometimes have taunts, but there's nothing vaguely similar to Mad Clown's deadly backhand, where you dodge his moving arm only to find it coming back at you from the opposite direction. As a result of the two genres' alternative approaches to AI, you'll find that defeating a SF2-type opponent (unless they're on a really low skill level) takes a general knowledge of *your* special moves and SPO opponents require knowledge of your opponents' moves. All that technical gibberish begs a question: is the game fun? Oh yeah. The sense of humor is light, non-offensive and well-timed, even down to the high voice of Mexico's bulging Masked Muscle. The boxing action is fast, so don't expect to spend three rounds fighting opponents like you did in the NES Punch-Out!! -- you'll be able to knock out some opponents in substantially less than a minute if you practice fighting them several times and know their weak spots. By the same token, they're not push-overs either, so don't expect to breeze through the game. The first opponent lets you get your moves down, and from there your mastery of the controller and the play mechanics is tested in each fight. Figuring out each person's weak spot is a great challenge, but a fun one. The artwork is cartoony and reasonably animated, with a nice looking crowd, original character designs and an easy-to-understand overall visual interface. The sound effects are quite good, including clear digitized names of boxers, typical punching sounds and a few phrases for your character. The music is pretty good but not great, featuring a set of somewhat generic anthems for the boxers and nice in-game music that changes as you advance from circuit to circuit. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Donkey Kong Country, but it's hard to hear F-Zero type tunes again after hearing the system blast drumbeats in stereo. The strength of Super Punch-Out!! is the play engine, not the aesthetics, as is normally the case with Nintendo titles. The graphics in SPO are far superior to the NES version of Punch-Out!! but not the arcade Punch-Out!! games, and it doesn't come close in appearence to ElectroBrain's masterpiece boxing game Legends of the Ring. By the same token, Legends of the Ring plays a long-winded and repetitive game of boxing while Super Punch-Out!! is a faster and more enjoyable experience. I'd pick SPO any day over Legends of the Ring primarily because true simulations get boring whereas arcade-style boxing matches can take some great liberties with the sport. (Though I can't say Dragon Chan's off-the-ropes kick should be sanctioned by the WBA...) Of note: the challengers don't start to get really hard until the World Circuit, so older players will find the following paragraph explanatory of why the game is a little more difficult than they might think. A battery backup feature allows eight games to be simultaneously saved, and certain rules in SPO might make you actually use more than a single save slot. To advance to the fourth and final circuit, you need to have perfect 4-0 records in the preceding three circuits, and the game indeed keeps track of every match you've ever fought. Though you can go back and fight a circuit over again to go undefeated in that circuit, your permanent record will still keep the original losses on record. Additionally, the battery stores the top ten clocked knockout times for each opponent, and the cartridge starts out with Nintendo staff scores including those of Minoru Arakawa (Mr. A) and Howard Lincoln among others. Once you've defeated a circuit, you're allowed to choose "Time Attack Mode" to best your former times. For once, a nicely implemented battery backup with some interesting features. Overall, Super Punch-Out!! has a lot going for it: great characters, very solid play mechanics and unique design. If you've never played Punch-Out!!, it's worth giving SPO a try, and if you liked Punch-Out!!, the sequel is even better. Bring on Ultra-64 Punch-Out any day! Strategy Guide with Spoilers: General advice: BE EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE -- go for punches that have a chance of hitting, unless you know your opponent has a tendency to counter that type of attack. Whenever your opponent falls to the canvas, hit your punch buttons over and over while shaking the joypad up and down or left and right to re-build your lifebar. Additionally, the longer *you* stay on the canvas, the less life returns to you when you stand up, so get up as quickly as possible. You can almost always get up in under 6 seconds. Left and right combinations work quite well. Read the instruction manual's advice on the strength of various punches -- you might be surprised by the strongest standard punch listed. Also, one strong super uppercut is more powerful than a couple of super flurry punches, so be precise in hitting buttons to set up your knock-out punches. Experiment with ducking and dodging when you're getting hit too often, and don't forget that blocking your upper chest is automatic, your face requires an "up" push on your controller, and you can't block a body blow... you have to dodge it. Defeating the Minor League: Gabby Jay Use head shots mixed with body shots. He's a human punching bag. If you can't win, it's time to turn off the game and go back to Final Fantasy 3. Bear Hugger Learn his double handed head blow; when you see him gear up for it, duck. He also throws other strong punches with left and right hands separately -- dodge left or right and hit him in the face. Piston Hurricane Use head shots primarily with a few to the body. When he sets up for the Hurricane Rush, establish a dodging left pattern and smack him in the head once for every punch he throws at you. At first, you'll take a few hits, but as you learn the timing, you can hit him in the head repeatedly. He won't stop until he throws two uppercuts, dodge both. Hit his head after the first if you want, but he'll follow up with a second every time. Use the second as a knock-out possibility with lots of head shots. Super Uppercuts help on him a lot. Bald Bull Avoid his Bull Rush with a well-timed duck. He can knock you down from a full life bar of energy to nil if he hits, so be prepared to duck a few times in a row. His strong uppercuts and cross punches take off a lot more life than yours, so be aware that five of your punches won't hurt as much as one of his. Use his crosses and uppercuts as opportunities to counter to his head. Defeating the Major Circuit: Bob Charlie Strong but predictable uppercuts and a "shuck and jive" jamaican typhoon uppercut where he either comes from the ropes with a triple full-body uppercut swing or sets up for one and doesn't deliver. He fakes a lot to set you up for other punches, but he's still very vulnerable. He has a great dodge but not the best stamina in the world. Like Gabby Jay with a few good moves, wear him down with steady attacks and dodge his offensive punches. Body blows are useful here. Don't be surprised to see him counter your super uppercuts... and don't get so wrapped up in punching that you neglect to see him duck and wind up for a punch. Dragon Chan Extremely strong arms and confusing punch locations make him hard to psyche out. His off-the-ropes kick is devastating. How do you beat the man who seems like an invincible Bruce Lee with boxing gloves? Well, his off-the-ropes kick is always the same: he flies from one side to the other, then attacks on the next jump. Duck when he starts that jump and he'll miss you -- dodging doesn't work. His transparent image-shifting is a hint that he's about to recharge his energy -- a head shot will stop him from getting his lifebar back. When his corner-man yells in Chinese, he's about to do a series of three dragon kicks. To avoid them, figure out if he's moving left or right and dodge in the opposite direction. A strong gameplan: provoke him with a punch, which will be blocked and will make him throw a strong retorting punch in a few seconds. Use this punch as an opening to hit him four times, then back off and repeat the pattern. Use the above hints to avoid his other strong attacks and you'll win. Masked Muscle An incredible offensive machine with great stamina, he also spits in your face, stopping you from punching. He has a mean cross and an even meaner uppercut, and his jabs are more like cannonballs. That rushing 2-hit headbutt seems to knock the ol' mouthpiece onto the canvas more than its fair share of times. "Cheater? I don't know what you're talking about, Amigo." Is this boxing or WWF wrestling? Though he's ultra powerful, almost all of his attacks can be countered by a proper dodge and well-timed punches. Fighting Masked Muscle is a war of attrition involving more dodging and counterpunching than you've needed in any of your last two matches combined. Luckily, punching Masky in the muscles around his belt area seems to be an effective way to keep his arms flailing, and you can dodge his blinding saliva pretty easily. Winning: Follow his saliva with head shots, hit him twice to make him punch at you (his deep uppercuts are best), then counter them by dodging and punching to wear him down. Two consecutive body blows often creates an uppercut on his side; use that knowledge to your advantage. If you get hit by his spit, keep on dodging until its effects wear off. He fakes by shaking a hand he's not about to throw at you -- dodge appropriately. He's not as tough as he seems. Mr. Sandman Easier than Masked Muscle by far, Mr. Sandman's fighting style is comparatively sleepy. He claims he doesn't like to hold back on using his full power, but his cornerman always waits until Sandman's second knock-down to let him unleash his killer force. In other words, if you knock him down twice (by using simple dodge and punch techniques to build up for multiple super uppercuts), getting the third knockdown is just a matter of avoiding his powerful attacks. Sandman's first two knockdowns are easy -- he has standard counterable punches. After the second knockdown, his cornerman tells him to let you have it, and his only frightening attack is a series of two uncounterable deep uppercuts with a third counterable one. Simply realize that -- after two knockdowns -- his deep uppercuts will come three-in-a-row, dodge three times and follow his third punch with a series of strong blows to the head. You'll build up your power meter in no time and can knock him down for a deep sleep. Defeating the World Circuit... up to Mad Clown: Aran Ryan The strongest of the lowest-ranked boxers thus far, Aran's no pushover, but he isn't Masked Muscle, either. With a haircut straight out of a street gang and an energy-sapping clench hold, Aran's face and shoulders are more frightening than his fists. By grabbing you, Aran saps your energy and your power bar until you shake him off. As he says himself once you've been defeated, he wins as long as he keeps you from using KO punches. Winning: If he sets up to grab you, punch him in the stomach in the direction he's leaning towards. You can get several body blows in, and hopefully knock him down with a super body shot. He's not hard to beat, but his grabbing power is frightening -- if you can't prevent the grab, shake it off quickly and start hitting him again. He'll follow a successful grab with an uppercut. His other frightening move is his charge attack -- you need perfect timing to stop it, but it works: he throws fast and furious punches BODY FACE BODY FACE BODY FACE, continuing until you've successfully blocked six times in a row. To defend, press nothing when he throws his first punch, quickly up to defend his second, let go to defend his third, up to defend his fourth, let go, press up, and then dodge left or right so he doesn't hit you with his uppercut. Typical uppercut counters will work on him, and several re-matches will teach you his pacing. Heike Kagero A Japanese boxer with a deadly mane of Kabuki-theater hair and a Ninja's mirage attack, Heike is easy to defeat if you simply dodge his infrequent hair attacks and attempt a body blow the second he finishes using his mirage dance. Though you won't hit him every time he mirror-images, you won't need to -- by this point, your other skills will easily win the bout for you. Be prepared for a slightly swifter pace to the fight. His hair-whipping attack can be dodged on the first strike and ducked on the second. Mad Clown Mad? This clown is pissed. When he's finished whipping juggling balls at you or delivering a warm Bear Hugger-style jolt to the head, he hits you with strong punches or teases with charging backhands. He's the master of the fake, more powerful overall than past opponents and possessing of Bear Hugger style attacks. He will goad you to hit him in the face, then dodge and punch you back. Attacks: Juggling-to-double smack manuever: He attacks three times with sets of two red balls. There are three possible directions a ball can go in -- straight, left, or right. You'll be hurt by a ball unless you dodge left or right depending on which of the three directions is all clear. Once he finishes throwing balls, he does a body-tuck spin and proceeds to smack you in the head. Duck to avoid the smack. Forearm fake: It looks almost as if he's going to punch you or hit you with a forearm, but he waits just a split second (enough for you to dodge and come back) and then backhands you. Wait a second and then duck, you'll survive it. Charging uppercut: He'll dash to one side of the ring and smack you from that direction unless you quickly dodge. The camera shift is confusing, dodge in the direction opposite from his position. Kiddie Squeezer: He'll pinch your cheeks until your life is drained. Shake out of it. Show time: This is heralded by a cornerman calling out to him after his second knockdown. Expect three hit punching combos. Super Macho Man Fast dodges and responses. He has three exercise regiments and a series of deep uppercuts... apply the techniques you've learned properly and you'll beat him!