Punch Out

Another amazing accomplishment in the history books:

My girlfriend Alyssa, my confidant B Lau, and myself, have beaten the Punch Out series.
That's right - the entire series.

Punch Out Wii came out recently. It's a redux of the 1997 NES game "Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!".

Punch-Out (1987)

In the series, you are Little Mac, an (apparently) 17 year old tiny boxer who takes on many colorful characters in the ring. Very simple gameplay - you have two buttons for punching (right and left fists), a directional pad (for dodging and aiming punches high or low) and a third button for a "Star Punch" (special attack that does more damage) - these controls apply to the original NES version, the SNES version, and the new Wii version.
Although a very very very simple set of controls, it based itself around your opponents and their different styles and attacks. Punch Out was one of the most popular Nintendo titles of all time. Super Punch Out was also very similar to the original game, with updated graphics and characters

Super Punch-Out (1994)

When Punch Out Wii was released last week, I played it, really enjoyed it, bought it (yes, bought it after) and got to the final opponent in the game. I then decided to beat Punch Out (NES) and Super Punch Out (SNES) with Alyssa and B Lau, and only THEN finally beat Punch Out Wii (Wii) and that we did.

Punch-Out Wii (2009)

All three games are amazingly tough. Like, surprisingly (and frustratingly) difficult, but one of my favorite series ever.
I will also point out that (besides the $2.99 copy of mini-game Link's Crossbow Training) this is the first game for Wii that I felt I should buy and own because of how much I enjoyed it.

New challenges in Punch Out? If I go back and beat Punch Out Wii all the way through AGAIN, I unlock Donkey Kong (who I'm sure will be near-impossible to beat).
Also - check out this weirdness: After the success of the original Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (1987)!!, another company intended to release an NES 'spiritual' sequel, calling it "Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch".
This follow-up was slated to star Mike Tyson, and not Little Mac as the protagonist.
The former heavyweight champion started to have public marital and personal problems, and was eventually arrested and brought to court for rape charges in 1991.
Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch never got released, apparently due to both licensing and quality issues.
Now, years and years later, a playable version of Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch has been made available for anyone to download and play, presumably with an NES emulator.
The story behind the rom's release began three weeks ago when Jason "DreamTR" Wilson -- known by many in video game collecting circles for his stockpile of rarities and prototypes -- notified the NintendoAge community that he would be willing to dump the data from his prototype cart of Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch for $2000.
Over 50 of NintendoAge.com's forum members raised that $1500, with a couple donating $100 or more, and others even selling games from their own collections to scrounge up contribution money.
The rom is now available for anyone to download - unfortunately, Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch is terrible. You can see footage of it here, recorded by NESguide:

- taken (in paraphrased form) from gamesetwatch.com

So I could do that too. Yeah. No.