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Punch-Out Wii to Make Early 2009 a Little Less Depressing

Posted by Bob Mackey

If you asked me what I'm looking forward to in 2009, I'm afraid I wouldn't have a good answer; the only game that I'm anticipating at this point in time, the DS remake of Dragon Quest V, is coming out in less than a month--and that leaves a hell of a lot of this year that needs to be frittered away, especially considering my looming unemployment. But perhaps things aren't as hopeless as they seem; today, Videogamer brightened up what looks to be an otherwise dreary year with the announcement that the upcoming Wii Punch-Out (I refuse to use the title's exclamation points for the sake of clarity) will be hitting store shelves in the first half of 2009. This is exciting because A.) Punch-Out is awesome and B.) hitting people in the face will be a vital skill in our scary new economy.

There are a lot of expectations being placed on the new Punch-Out; after all, the series has missed two whole console generations thus far. I'd like to believe that Nintendo will do a great job catering to both nostalgia junkies and those looking for a solid pattern-recognizing experience, but the company's "back to basics" approach--AKA, rehashing games they've previously released--makes me worry about the quality of this long-awaited title. Simply put, I'll be more than a little depressed if the Wii's Punch-Out is as simple as what we saw on the NES; after all, even by the time the series jumped to the SNES, the original 1988 forumla had to updated for a more modern take on the game's unique style of play. It's a total shame that Super Punch-Out isn't remembered as fondly as the original, despite its mid-90s success; I've always felt that the SNES sequel took the Punch Out formula to its logical conclusion without making it overly complex. Hopefully the Wii installment will find the same happy medium.

Related Links:

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Posted Jan 30 2009, 04:00 PM

Filed under: nintendo, wii, punch out, bob mackey, 2009

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About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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