"Punch-Out!! Still holds the title after all these years"

Generally speaking, when you leave something out for 14 years it's not very good anymore. Thankfully, this is not the case with developer Next Level's remake/reimagining of NES fan favorite Punch-Out!!

The basics are all still here. You're Little Mac, a NY-based boxer of short stature who's on his way to become the World Video Boxing Association's (WVBA for short) champion. You have four basic attacks (left and right body blow, left and right face jab) and a super attack, and avoid attacks by dodging left or right, blocking or ducking. If you run out of hearts, which drain as you block attacks or get hit, you can't attack again until you dodge the next attack.

The only real difference from the original game is how your super works. At certain times (Some blatantly obvious, some not so much) you can attack your opponent off guard and get a star. Originally, each star would be one super attack, and you could have as many as you could get. Now you can collect up to three stars to use for one attack, each one making the attack more powerful.

What truly ‘makes' this game however is the simplicity of it all. Most gamers who will be reading this review are already aware that Punch-Out!! is not a boxing game so much as it is a puzzle game based around visual memory and reaction time. In the days of the arcade and NES, the technology simply wasn't there to create a boxing simulation in line of what we have now with games like Fight Night, so in a lot of ways the simple watch-and-react nature of the series was a mother of necessity. It's a simple format, but it's also addicting like Tetris or Peggle.

Don't think that you know what you're getting yourself into just because you're familiar with the controls and the fighters however. Next Level has done a fantastic job playing with your expectations. The first couple of fights play out much like the original game, introducing you to the basics of dodging blows and timing your counters. Soon after, the game comes into its own by throwing you off guard; old characters now have many new tricks up their sleeves designed to both challenge newcomers as well as throw veterans off their game.

While the list of challengers seems meager at 13 fighters, it's important to note that Punch-Out!! for Wii is a longer game than any of its former iterations. Most gamers will blow through the normal game in a couple of hours, much like the former games in the series, but that's really only half of the main game. After the credits run, Title Defense mode is unlocked, where all 13 challengers await rematches in order to claim Mac's belt. Fighting through the game again may seem to some as a cheap way to add artificial length, but each fight is completely different than before. Each fighter is outfitted with a new arsenal of moves, quicker reaction time and in some cases, new equipment and weapons.

For more replayability, exhibition mode allows you to fight any of your previous battles, or practice the one you're currently stuck at. With beaten battles, you are also given three challenges that you can try to accomplish such as finding all the different ways to get stars or knocking out an opponent early in order to unlock bonuses such as an audio gallery. What's more is that there are specific challenges not just for each fighter, but for their revved up title defense mode as well. Stack this on to two other unlockable modes (Mac's Last Stand, essentially survival mode from other fighting games, and Champion Mode where all fighters attacks are an instant knock down) a multiplayer option I haven't given a shot yet as well as a hidden 14th fighter to beat and earn challenges for, Punch-Out!! should have plenty of content to keep most gamers satisfied.

A special nod needs to be given out to the presentation of this game. True to their reputation with the Mario Strikers series, Next Level goes the extra mile in giving the fighters personality through amazing animation and sound work. Even with constantly repeated animations played over and over again, the bigger than life characters, cartoon style, superb animation and great voice over gives the impression of controlling an animated movie more than playing a video game. With a game as simple as Punch-Out!!, recreating the experience from the NES days with a few new tricks would have been enough; hell, it worked for Super Punch-Out on the SNES. It's this kind of effort that lets you know that not only to the developers ‘get' the series, they are adoring fans themselves.

For the curious, the motion controls work well enough. Since the game doesn't require realistic punching motions, there's a sort of visceral feeling watching Mac's arm extend with yours. The problem comes in the later stages when the game requires lightening fast reaction time, and your button pressing will always be faster than your hands. Still, it provides an extra challenge for some, and casual gamers within the Wii's target demographic are probably not the people who are going to worry too much about defeating Mr. Sandman in Title Defense mode.

14 years since the last game is a long time. In that time, video games have become more sophisticated pieces of hardware and our tastes have changed as well. Punch-Out!!'s success however is built upon a groundwork of simple design that has remained fun and has just been made more exciting thanks to new challenges Next Level's attention to detail. To put it simply, Punch-Out!! is a knock-out.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/22/09

Game Release: Punch-Out!! (US, 05/18/09)