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Wii Suck @ Video Games - Episode 25 - Punch-Out!

Poor Man's Pinball Podcast·podcast_episode·analyzed·Jun 12, 2024
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claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.018

TL;DR

Video game podcast reviews Wii Punch-Out!! with nostalgic enthusiasm and 9/10 rating.

Summary

This is a casual video game review podcast episode covering Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Wii (2009). The hosts discuss their nostalgia with the Punch-Out!! franchise, the game's cell-shaded art style, its heavy use of stereotypical character designs, and control mechanics. They give the game a 9/10 rating, comparing it favorably to the Metacritic average of 8.6. The episode is primarily nostalgic and entertainment-focused, with no pinball industry content.

Key Claims

  • Punch-Out!! for Wii was released May 18th, 2009

    high confidence · Host states this as a factual release date early in the episode

  • The speaker beat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! multiple times (3-4 times) in college, only when playing straight through without using continue codes

    high confidence · Personal anecdote from one of the hosts about his gaming history

  • The Wii Punch-Out!! uses cell-shading art style, unlike previous entries

    high confidence · Host explicitly discusses the visual style change when reviewing the game

  • There was no Switch port of Punch-Out!!, only a port of the original arcade game

    medium confidence · Hosts discuss game availability, though they express some uncertainty

  • Punch-Out!! characters are heavily stereotypical and might not be released in modern form due to cultural sensitivity concerns

    medium confidence · Hosts speculate about why no Switch version exists, citing concern about stereotypical character designs

  • Punch-Out!! for Wii is expensive in the current market

    medium confidence · Host notes they were surprised by pricing when looking it up online, mentions seeing $3.99 but context suggests confusion about actual price

Notable Quotes

  • “I can pop in any of the Punch-Out!!, literally, and just start going and laughing and having a great time. And even if I lose, I get a little frustrated. But it's still fun, you know.”

    Host (appears to be primary reviewer) @ ~37:00-37:30 — Expresses deep emotional connection to the Punch-Out!! franchise and explains why the game remains enjoyable despite difficulty

  • “It is literally the most stereotypical thing in the entire universe. That's who you're fighting, you know.”

    Host discussing character design @ ~23:00-23:30 — Directly addresses the controversial stereotypical character designs in Punch-Out!!

  • “this is nothing but the this is a theater of the absurd like like when you see the disco dancing guy and then like the the middle eastern guy and the japanese dude and then there's a canadian uh bear the lumberjack who's drinking maple syrup and snoring and stuff you're like this is fun this isn't like i don't believe i don't see it as making fun of things it's just hilarious you know”

    Host defending the character design choices @ ~24:00-25:00 — Host's perspective on how to interpret the stereotypical character designs, arguing they are absurdist humor rather than mockery

  • “I didn't remember like how stylized it is because it went to cell shaded”

    Host discussing visual style @ ~15:00 — Initial reaction to the Wii version's distinctive art direction compared to previous Punch-Out!! games

Entities

Poor Man's Pinball PodcastorganizationPunch-Out!!productPunch-Out!! (NES)productMike Tyson's Punch-Out!!productNintendocompanyNintendo WiiproductNintendo SwitchproductThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind WakerproductEpic MickeyproductKatamari DamacyproductSuper Mario Bros. 3product

Transcript

groq_whisper · $0.054

0:00
and we are back it's time for the one the only we suck at video games big show 25 my name is with me as always craft brew sally and we're here to drop knowledge y'all yes we are that's no we're not that's just the dumbest thing i've ever said sadly not even close but uh i'll keep trying folks what can i tell you uh i didn't try to think what games we've picked up recently and it's none it's zero yeah we've been getting some of those uh we've been getting some of the limited uh limited edition not limited run games for the switch and but uh yeah nothing for the wii as of late and that's kind of sad it is very sad i did turn over some of those i had some sealed ds games that i've had forever and i got it at the five below store about a million years ago and uh and a sealed wii u game and i put them out on the market and i didn't get any hits on them i sold one the yokai uh watch one went but then like i had because it was weird it was animal crossing it was zelda and then there was like some some lego shirba or something like that like a what that it was that and uh and then in mass effect 3 none of them were heavy hitters but they were all like 20 to 30 dollar range except the lego one no hits man so we i ended up just getting uh traded them in at a local retro shop up and up here and they gave me not very much i mean they still made some money so it's no big deal but i thought they would go i thought the zelda one would go for sure a sealed zelda game sitting i think i had it up for like 25 bucks or something nothing you know the uh it's weird when you start following price watcher and you start buying into the hype good luck try actually getting that you know you don't get what the not even close to what price watcher says in reality you know usually how is that how are those prices on there what do you mean like oh how are they aggregated i guess it's just like they combine all the known sold ones so like ebay and auctions yeah and averages it out you know so like that's why at first games are really high especially if they're like the limited the limited run ones because people are just asking four hundred dollars and if somebody really needs one they're gonna grab it yeah like i have those two nes games from the from mgc i'm sitting on them because there is none sold none have listed as sold yeah that's incredible it is incredible because we got two of each because you know and we both went right and the whole plan was gonna be like well we'll keep one for our collection and i'll just turn one over right i can't sell it in good faith i can't just like say oh i'm gonna like 20 bucks or 40 bucks and then hey put it up for 500 see what happens i think i know it's gonna happen nothing but i don't it's like i don't want to rip someone off but in the same vein i don't want to rip myself off right you know like thousand start a thousand hot 300 million three million dollars sealed i'll put it when i was uh 68 thousand dollars i'll put those fake wada uh things on it it seals it forever i'll just put a sticker that's like 9.9 and i'll be like a million dollars yeah great that's awesome that's exactly what the world needs more more nonsense i have a feeling i'm adding to the nonsense each every day what can i tell you possibly yeah but never mind all that what game are we reviewing today craft for sally we are reviewing punch out punch out wowzers yes not mike tyson's punch out just punch just punch out and we'll talk a little bit more about that later so we like to always set the mood what what when did this come out do we know it came out may 18th 2009 i have a feeling that I might have been celebrating my birthday with this title. Possibly. Yes, probably. So what happened on that Tuesday? I'm not even sure if it's a Tuesday, but I'm assuming it was.
Excitebike
product
Kung Fu Pandaproduct
Metacriticorganization
Black Eyed Peasorganization
4:18
Well, the number one song was Boom Boom Pow, which I feel like we just talked about Boom Boom Pow Possibly That was Black Eyed Peas Yeah Yeah that was probably on number one for like 88 weeks or it could have been that there were other games released on this same tuesday yeah maybe but the number one movie was angels and demons i never heard of that one yeah you did nope and any fun facts did we have any kids with us um 2009 uh we would have had kiyok Oh, we had Kyoke? Yep. Oh, wonderful. She would have been leaving soon. She was there for her birthday, which is on the 24th. Oh, my God. So then she put a left shortly after that. I would have been very sad and in a very bad mood. Yes. So, Hunch Out. So, let's see. Now, we've established what's going on in the world. Let's find out what they have to say about it. I always like to read the back of the box and get everyone ready. Okay, Little Mac is back. Use motion or classic controls to slug your way through some of the most outlandish boxers ever to win the championship belt. But beware, defeated opponents are looking for a rematch. Go head-to-head in multiple player mode.
5:39
Duck and dodge using the Wii balance board. I did not do that. uh then uh little mac este retour little mac ha no no you're right so so that was that's what they were saying now history with the game i will say this is one of my favorite franchises of all time um one of my proudest achievements was beating the original mike Tyson's punch out and it happened when I was in my college years I would play it. I beat Mike Tyson's punch out I think four times but it might be only three times and it was weird because the only way I could do it, now this is one of those strange things because they give you those codes to continue if I used the continue codes I couldn't. The only way I ever beat Mike Tyson's punch out was to sit down and go straight through the entire game to the end and that's the only time I could ever beat him. And I don't know what that, I don't know why that is. If I use that continue code of the last one, never beat him. Huh. That's interesting. Yeah, it was weird. So obviously Mike Tyson's punch out then after he got a little bit of, he got in some legal trouble so then they dropped that and just continued with punch out. We have both of those and believe it or not, the harder one to get was just punch out. Oh. Like Mike Tyson's punch out, they both still command decent money for the nes but i remember i had to buy like i i had to buy that uh just punch out from the uh press start oh yeah because it just didn't have it i'm like okay that's interesting and then the super nintendo one came out and i remember i was we had just moved to florida and we got the super nintendo and i played that thing like crazy i i used to do that where i would just try and beat the game the fighter within like 12 seconds 14 seconds like there's always these tricks. Not all of them, but some of them.
7:43
I was still managing at that, not fast food restaurant, but that restaurant. I was still a restaurant manager, so I was going home and playing that all night. I just love Punch-Out!! This one was interesting.
7:58
So now we'll go on with the game review, kind of what we thought about it. First thing, I didn't remember this game. I will say that. I know we've had it, because I had every punch out i know i've played it for sure but i when i put it in i was like i didn't remember like how pretty it is because it went to cell shaded like it's you know like the other ones were just the you know the regular art styles but this one was that cell shading which is why it looks so like beautiful you know i don't know what that means uh i don't know how to describe it i don't even know what that means okay tally uh no like it's well it's that style that we were looking at like how it's because i remember zelda came out as a cell shaded that one iteration i can't remember which one that is either and everyone like was like we want our original and they came out you're like well that's kind of pretty too yeah um so yeah it's just a real vibrant looking uh animation style i guess okay you know and then the uh the fighters are comical it struck me i was surprised that we didn see one for the switch Yeah I guess so We haven Yeah no they didn make one The only thing they came out with was there a port of the arcade game on the Switch So you can play the original arcade game, which was the stand-up punch-out. It had some different fighters, not a whole lot. And this one was just wacky. They're all so wacky. They operate in that world that I'm not sure are permitted anymore, where it's just nothing but stereotypes. Yeah. Like, nothing but. You know, there's no sugarcoat anything. No, right. It is literally the most stereotypical thing in the entire universe. That's who you're fighting, you know. Yeah. It was okay. We were okay with it back then. That's maybe why they didn't release one, because they were like, we're going to have people crying. Right. Like, literal tears of sadness if we put this out how we want to. um it could be wrong i don't know i don't know where the world stands on a lot of that stuff anymore like are you allowed to laugh at stereotypes are you allowed to like you know i don't know because this is nothing but the this is a theater of the absurd like like when you see the disco dancing guy and then like the the middle eastern guy and the japanese dude and then there's a canadian uh bear the lumberjack who's drinking maple syrup and snoring and stuff you're like this is fun this isn't like i don't believe i don't see it as making fun of things it's just hilarious you know and i don't know if the world like tolerates that anymore it is completely just wackadoo you know i didn't now when i was playing it i didn't care for using the motion controls very much they were they were good like i didn't think that it was bad as far as like it didn't work correctly but as soon as i turned it sideways and just used the controller like a classic controller it felt better um i'm sure if i would have played this a lot more with the i part of me wants to dust off the balance board i know try this because i don't know man because i had so much fun i think it was like probably the first the thing that came with the wii what just wii sports yeah that has one on it doesn't it boxing boxing one oh my goodness well i remember wasn't there wasn't the big the the joke was me and tau were doing it and like and we were doing it for so long by the end it looked like one of us was actually gonna fall down no tau actually did fall down she couldn't she was like she was like 70 pounds soaking wet when she was with us yeah she's our vnb's exchange student who now lives in lul so we uh yeah it was just hilarious it was just so funny because we were boxing and boxing and she just i think each round she would just like lay on the floor and then just wait for it to start again oh good times yes indeed so um i loved it i did bring flooding back all just the memories all the and that's what good games do i guess you know like when you play some of your classic favorites you just the flood of joy i I had that when I played Epic Mickey. Katamari Damacy. Oh, I love Katamari. I say Damacy. I don't care. Some people say Damacy. I don't care.
12:22
So, you know, whenever I play that, I just smile and laugh, you know. And this is one of those for me. Like this game, I just loved it. I always loved it. I can pop in Super Mario 3 at any time and start going through the map. And I can pop in any of the punch outs. Any of the Zelda games. But any of the punch outs, literally, and just start going and laughing and having a great time. And even if I lose, I get a little frustrated. But it's still fun, you know. Yeah. So I would definitely. Now, what would you give a game like this? You didn't play it much, did you? I didn't play it. Did you play any of them?
13:00
I'm sure I played the original, the Mike Tyson's punch out because we had it. I think my brother had it when we were in the before times. Yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. It was one of the most popular games ever. It was like Excitebike and Punch-Out. Oh, I remember playing Excitebike. Oh, I loved Excitebike. I know. There was a couple that were on the Nintendo that just everyone in the entire universe had them. And now people put them in plastic and say they worth hundreds of thousands of dollars It weird They literally made 20 billion of them Right I don So yeah Now what would you give this game You know looking at it I would probably say like an eight. Okay.
13:39
Actually, I was thinking of going like nine. I almost went nine five, but I'm like, that's a little much. Right. You're talking about like a perfect game at that point. And this is fun and I loved it, but I'm going to go with a solid nine. So, what we also like to do is we think, well, now how far off are we? Let's take a look at some of the other critiques out there and see how close we are. So Metacritic has an averaging at an 8.6, which is kind of splits the diff, right? Whereas, let's see. Let's see. I always like to say like one of the best ones, and then we'll go back and see what one of the worst reviews are. So Mr. O4 gave it a 10 out of 10 on November 18th of 2021. Great game.
14:22
All right. End of story. Thanks for being a man of few words, Mr. O4. Now let's find out what somebody who didn't think it was so great might think. There's a gentleman named EdX10.
14:37
EdX10. Sure, why not? January 12th of 2023, so fairly recent, he gave it a 5 out of 10. At their best, the fights in Punch-Out are about finding the perfect counter to every attack and executing them to perfection. but too often the fights are either so easy you beat them on the first try or so hard you have to memorize the exact sequence of their moves for the entire fight well i can't dispute any of that i guess but that's how games work well that's how these work for sure but yeah whatever that just It wasn't his bag, baby. Let me see. Here's one I could do. 10. 10 out of 10 by gold.
15:21
Backwards N, P, backwards N, K, O, weird looking N, small letter B, H, backwards A, R, comma. B, E, C, E with a line over, backwards N, A, backwards R, comma.
15:37
That's a joke. All right. So I'm going to say, if you could run out and get this immediately if you do not have it for the Wii, although looking it up, it looks a bit pricey. You're going to pay a little bit more than your average Wii game.
15:53
I don't believe what I'm looking at online. Somewhere like $3.99. Well, we should sell ours now that we've played it. I will not be selling this at any time ever unless we need to pay for rent.
16:06
Okay. So I think it's time. You know, we got anything else before we wrap up? I don't think so. I don't think so either. Whose turn is it? It is my turn. Oh my goodness. So stay tuned. It's time to pick next week's crossbow. Awesome. Sim it down. I got to put in the music and all kinds of wackiness. Oh man.
16:28
All right. What did you get for us, Crap Brew? Let me see. We got Kung Fu Panda. Kung Fu Panda Yes Alright Not Lego Kung Fu Panda No Okay Just Kung Fu Panda There you have it folks So next week we're going to be doing Kung Fu Panda I always like to put our email address into the show notes So if you want to drop us a line Click on that link Would you happen to know that link offhand? If you W-I-I Uh huh S-U-C-K Uh huh at at video games at gmail.com. Nice. Alright. We suck at video games. It's the title of the show at gmail.com. Drop us a line if you want to. Tell us that you think we're fun or tell us that you did not like. Tell us what that guy that gold meant. What do those words mean? I don't even know. It must be Russian maybe? I don't know. Alright. That's going to do it for this week. We will be back next time with Kung Fu Panda. Do you think they got Jack Black to do the voiceovers? Maybe. We'll see. We'll let you know next week. I think we will. Thanks everyone. We'll see you next time. Same Weave channel. Same WeTime.
17:52
That's it man. Game over man. Game over.