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I’ll be honest – it didn’t take much time to decide on the topic for our inaugural article here at TimelessGamer.net. I know, I know, it’s a subject that’s been covered to death and sits well within low-hanging-fruit territory. Still, when asked what my favorite video game is, the answer time and time again is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, released for the NES in 1987.
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When any 80s or 90s kid reminisces about Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (yes, the exclamation points are stylized in the title), one topic that’s sure to arise is the extreme difficulty of the final boss, Iron Mike himself. The feat of taking him down is something that many kids on the playground claimed to do but few saw with their own eyes. His almost mandatory appearance on lists of the hardest video game bosses of all time is no coincidence. But he can’t really be that tough. Can he?
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When I was introduced to the game, I was around six years old. My older brother had a copy, but I honestly can’t tell you which of us played it more. I’ve never considered myself a boxing fan or even much of a sports fan. I had also never heard of, let alone played the original 1984 arcade version, Nintendo’s Punch-Out!!. None of that mattered! This game blew me away with its colorful characters, massive opponent sprites, and immensely satisfying gameplay. It didn’t hurt that they quietly added in Mario to referee each match. Though slightly off-model, it was a nice touch that provided immediate familiarity.
The game draws the player in early with an easy victory over the first opponent, Glass Joe. As things progress, it doesn’t take long to realize this is actually a rhythm/puzzle game with focus on timing, pattern memorization, and waiting for the just the right moment to strike! As the player makes their way through a mostly smooth difficulty curve, the last few opponents prove themselves to be quite tenacious. In what seems like it should be the final fight of the game, the protagonist (aptly named Little Mac) faces the tough-as-nails champion, Super Macho Man. Just as the title is claimed and the game seems to be celebrating Mac’s victory, the player is presented with “The Dream Fight”, in which Mac squares off against none other than Mike Tyson.
If you’re a player preparing to face Tyson for the first time, don’t expect much – you’ll almost certainly lose within seconds. Don’t feel bad – that’s how it goes. For the first 90 (albeit sped up) seconds, of the round, each hit he lands is an instant knock down. Hits which are exceptionally difficult to dodge! Three of those hits, and its TKO for Little Mac. Much like the previous opponents in the game, the trick taking Mike down is largely memorizing patterns and waiting for the right time to squeeze in a punch. However, his patterns can be much trickier to predict, and the timing required to land a hit requires remarkable precision. Windows of opportunity are extremely tight and feel even tighter when playing on modern televisions due to inherent input lag. Fortunately, there’s a secret way to skip ahead and fight him any time you wish by entering the famed code: 007-373-5963. This code was not given away at any point in the game itself, so kids were known to pass it around at school and to friends. Many had it memorized, and some can still cite it today with no hesitation!
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Part of the reason Tyson was coded to be such a royal pain-in-the-ass is that he wasn’t originally planned to be in the game at all. Seriously! The arcade game had no real-life boxers, and the NES port was intended to follow suit. That all changed when Nintendo’s president at the time, Minoru Arakawa happened to attend one of Mike Tyson’s early legendary matches. He was highly impressed with the young boxer and thought his endorsement could increase sales in the US. This ended up being a very good move for Nintendo as Tyson went on to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, a feat that conveniently occurred between the deal’s signing and the game’s release. Developers tacked him on as a new final boss, so of course the logical decision was to make him more difficult than the previously planned boss, Super Macho Man.
In 1990, the licensing agreement between Nintendo and Mike Tyson had expired. This didn’t stop Nintendo from continuing to produce the game with Tyson excluded from the character roster. All other opponents were untouched, but Mike Tyson was replaced with the fictional Mr. Dream, and the game was once again known simply as Punch-Out!!. The exact same schematics were used for Mr. Dream’s move-set, making him just as tough to beat, but the new sprite had no likeness to Mike Tyson. This may have turned out in Nintendo’s best interest since Tyson’s undefeated streak had recently come to an end, and his highly publicized legal troubles were didn’t exactly fit the company’s family-friendly image. In all subsequent re-releases of the game, “The Dream Fight” is fought against Mr. Dream, but it’s hard to deny that Mike Tyson has remained the more memorable of the two.
Image by Justin Casey / Timeless Gamer
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His known status as a brutally tough boss is well-earned. As a gamer, saying you’ve taken down Mike Tyson is a bragging right that most peers will understand and respect. The success of Punch-Out!! led to sequels on both Super NES and Wii. While undoubtedly worthy followups, neither managed to recapture the success of the NES game, nor did they leave us with an opponent worth talking about for decades to come.
Image by Justin Casey / Timeless Gamer
http://www.timelessgamer.net
Freaking awesome you’re doing this dude.