Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

The Good
Any sense of realism is quickly abandoned the second you beat Glass Joe and you are set up against the most stereotypical German ever, followed by a guy from Japan who can only speak in words like "Honda" "Kamikaze" and a few car brands. I don't like realism, so it's funny to see a game throw it overboard like this and sailing away on the S.S. Sillyness (why isn't sillyness a word?!?). The stereotypes just keep flying at you and the game reaches it's top when you have to fight against an Arabian magician.

The controls are really fluent and fast with only the special ability been bound to the start button (why in the world would you choose start for this?), aside from that one stupid choice you will easily learn how to dodge and attack while fighting Glass Joe (no tutorial needed). It feels pretty awesome to successfully dodge somebody and then give them the uppercut and the best thing is that you don't need any weird combo moves to pull such a thing off.

The graphics absolutely blow my mind every time I see them, seriously just play Super Mario Bros. for a few minutes and then switch to this game, it looks like you just jumped eight bits forward. Characters look awesome, there is a crowd in the back and it has a cut-scene where Little Mac jogs through New York City and you can see the statue of liberty on the background. That is just amazing, I can't even begin to imagine how they managed to fit this on a NES-cartridge.

The Bad
Opponents never stay the down, they always climb back to their feet and the only way I ever beat them was through TKO (taking them down three times in just one round). It doesn't bother me too much since I still made it to the magician guy and almost beyond, but it just feels off that somebody still stands up within ten seconds after he got punched down eight times in just a few minutes. It gets a little problematic when fighting the characters who require a special tactic because you can't really take them down fast enough most of the time.

The Bottom Line
Punch-Out!! is a funny game with a lot of character to it, realism is keelhauled several seconds in, the graphics are breathtaking and the gameplay works perfect, so I don't know who wouldn't enjoy this game. The only people I can't recommend this game to are the ones who are looking for something casual and easy to play because this game tends to be very hard and requires multiple sessions in order to get past certain parts. If you can handle a little challenge, then this game is definitely worth checking out.