As you all know I was very exited about getting a chance to re-visit my glory days of gaming this weekend and tearing into Wii Punch-Out!!  After dealing with some advertising problems, I took Hanzo’s advice to rent the game this weekend, and then possibly buy it on Amazon, which would get me at the retail price of $49.99 for the combined price, but if I didn’t like it, I’d only be out the rental fee.

Well, as I’ve heard a good bit of you also played this weekend, the game is definately worth a play.

I started up in “career” mode, which is the same game play you’ll remember from the original MTPO game for NES.  Here, you play as Little Mac fighting his way through three circuits of fighters to become the heavyweight champion of the world.  There are 13 fighters you need to get past.  Many are familiar old faces.  And some are knew.  I never played “Super Punch Out,” so Bear Hugger and Aran Ryan were new foes for me to face…and the game also features a new fighter in the Disco Kid.  According to NintendoLife.com, there is also a mysterious 14th fighter you can get to, but I didn’t make it that far.  Apparently after you win the title, you go back and face all of the fighters again to defend your title.  But this time, they have learned from your previous beat down and present a whole new set of challenges.

The game play is pretty much the same as it was before.  You can opt to use the Wii-mote like the original NES controller to play, or you can hook up a nunchuck and swing away as you fight.  I opted for the nunchuck method and found it pretty entertaining and intuitive to use.  You apparently can also use the balance board to dodge punches, but I didn’t have time to test this functionality.

Most of the fighters have the same fighting styles as before, so you’ll easily fall into form as you face off Glass Joe or Don Flamingo.  Some of them have gotten a bit better…like Great Tiger (that Indian Dude that teleports)…He’s a beast.

Also, I found that some of the trick punches I used to use against players weren’t quite working like they used to.  I got creamed by Bald Bull by trying to punch him in the stomach during his bull charge.  Perhaps my timing is off?

One definate change in the game play is that now you can continue to progress in Career mode no matter how many losses you incur.  In the original MTPO, if you lost, you got a couple of rematches, and then were sent packing down the ranks to fight your way back to the opponent that you couldn’t beat.  This is not the case in the Wii reboot.  I’m not saying that I’m complaining, but I ended up squaring off against Super Macho Man with a record of 11-30.  Yeah, I got whipped 30 times.  What?

Speaking of getting whipped 30 times, it wasn’t until after I was whipped 27 times that I realized once you beat an opponent and unlock the next, you can go to practice mode and fight holograms of the fighters for practice.  This will help you learn more about how to attack them before officially stepping into the ring against them, and destroying your record like I did.

All in all, this game rocks.  I won’t have a chance to play it again before I have to return it to the rental store, but I’ll definately be making another title charge after I pick it up from AMAZON over the next week or so.

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