Mike Tyson's Punch Out

In 1987, NES released Mike Tyson's Punch Out. The boxing game derived from the original classic arcade game that was simply titled, Punch Out. In Mike Tyson's Punch Out, a player took on the role of Little Mac, a 17 year old who is 4 feet and eight inches tall and weighs 107 pounds. His trainer is Doc Louis. Doc gives Little Mac pointers in between rounds and hints on how to beat the opponent. The referee of the matches is Nintendo's icon Mario.

Little Mac will have to go through many fights to reach the dream fight against Mike Tyson. Little Mac can throw a right hook body blow, left hook body blow, right jab to the face or left jab to the face. There is also an uppercut punch that a player can use when he earns a star. This star punch can be very important to beat opponents and is Little Mac's secret weapon. This uppercut punch will cause sever damage to an opponents energy level. As far as defense in concerned, a player can dodge left, dodge right, block and duck.

The Development of Mike Tyson's Punch Out

Many people do not realize that Nintendo sort of lucked out. Why? Because when they offered Mike Tyson a three year payment offer for using his name in the game, he was not even the WBC Heavyweight Champion at the time. This is not to say that the game would not have succeeded, but when Mike Tyson became the heavyweight champion of the world on November 22, 1986, it certainly helped the marketing campaign of the game.

The NES game, Mike Tyson's Punch Out, was directed by Genyo Takeda, the same person who produced the original arcade Punch Out game. Due to the limitation in the hardware that the NES console had, he quickly realized that there were certain things that this NES game could not have that the arcade version of Punch Out had. There would be no wired-framed and transparent boxer for a player to control. Instead, the crew just shrunk the boxer that a player would control. Some notable things that  Mike Tyson's Punch Out had that the arcade game Punch Out did not have includes music that is played during the fights and animated scenes. Mike Tyson's Punch Out also added new characters in the game that a player would have to face.

About Little Mac

Little Mac is a young and small boxer with a lot of heart. He is only four feet, eight inches tall and is a light 107 pounds. He hails from the Bronx, NY. His first Nintendo appearance was in Mike Tyson's Punch Out and he has been in every single Punch Out game thereafter. The only Punch Out game he was not in was the original arcade Punch Out game. Throughout Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Little Mac will face opponents who are more than twice his size. Thanks to his star uppercut punch, Little Mac is dedicated to getting to the dream fight against Mike Tyson and beating him.

During the game, Little Mac will have a stamina meter on top of the screen. Every time he gets hit by an opponent, it will go gradually go down. Opponents also have a stamina meter and the same rules apply. When Little Mac or his opponents stamina meter goes all the way down, they will be knocked down. For a player to get Little Mac up, they must hit the controllers repeatedly. If they get knocked down too many times, Little Mac will try to get up but will not be able to.

Stars

During a fight, a player can earn Little Mac up to three stars at one time. Only when Little Mac has a star is he able to throw his monster uppercut punch. This punch will take down a large portion of opponents stamina energy. For every opponent, there are different ways to get a star during the fight. It will take a certain type of hit in a certain situation to get it. If a player has any amount of stars and does not use them before getting hit, they will lose the stars but are still able to get more.

Hearts

There will be hearts on the top of the screen. Whenever Little Mac blocks an opponents punch, he will lose a heart. The amount of hearts a player starts off with will depend on the opponent they are fighting. When all the hears are lost, Little Mac will be considered very tired and will not be able to throw a punch until he recuperates. During this time, the opponent will attack with punches, and a player will need to dodge the punches until they recuperate and can start fighting back again.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out characters and Strategies to beat them

 

Glass Joe

Glass Joe resides from Paris, France, and is a player's first opponent in the game.  He is 38 years old and weighs in at 110 pounds. He is considered by many to be the scrub of the game. He has a professional career record of 1-99. It is ironic that the one victory was a KO. Glass Joe is 38 years old and seems to be ready for retirement. With all of that said, Glass Joe is certainly a classic character due to the fact that he appears as the first opponent in both the arcade version of Punch Out and Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Glass Joe is very simple to beat. Jab him in the face if he is blocking body blows. Give him body blows when he is blocking jabs to the face. There will come a time during the fight that he will back up and give a "c'mon" type gesture. Some call this the Vive Le France taunt. When he does this, it is a good opportunity to knock him out. As he comes forward, a player will want to time a jab to his face and Glass Joe will go down. Sometimes, after being knocked down once, Glass Joe will block a bit better. To get him to open up, you can let him throw a punch, dodge left or right and then counter with six straight jabs to his face.

Von Kaiser

Von Kaiser is the next boxer that little Mac will have to face. He is heavier than Glass Joe, who stands at just above the 100 pound mark. At the age of 42, he is much older though. Von Kaiser is a former boxing teacher at the Germany military academy. He is also easy to beat. When the fight starts, he will come out throwing  a left punch, a player will need to dodge it and counter with continuous jabs to his face. A player should know the sign before he throws a punch. When he wiggles his head from side to side, he is about to throw a punch. During the fight, he will also throw some uppercuts. You can dodge these uppercuts and give him jabs to the face, or give him a body blow. A body Blow in this situation can earn a player a star.

Piston Honda

Next up is the WVBA Minor Circuit champion title match against Piston Honda. Piston Honda is a much tougher opponent than Glass Joe and Von Kaiser. He is from Tokyo, Japan, is 28 years old and weighs in at 174 pounds. He has an impressive 26-1 record and has knocked out 18 of his opponents. Piston Honda may be difficult for a beginner to defeat, but with some practice, he will become very easy. When fighting him, the first thing someone will notice is the difficulty in landing a punch on him. Piston Honda will block almost everything that Little Mac throws at him. If a player is able to get a hit in, they can earn a star. The best thing to do is to save energy and just wait for him to throw a punch. His punch is very fast and a player will need to know when he is going to punch so that they can dodge it. How do you know when Piston Honda is going to punch? Pay attention to his eyebrows. Before he punches, he will twitch his eyebrows. When he throws a jab, it will open him up and allow a player to sneak in two jabs to his face. Do this for a while until he changes his strategy for the fight. He will then start throwing hooks. Dodge these hooks and counter him with five or six jabs to his face. Sometime during the fight, he will crouch down and give explosive uppercuts. If a player is able to dodge these uppercuts, Piston Honda himself will be shocked, and it will give a player an opportunity to hit him multiple times in the face. Piston Honda has a signature move that he will use. He will step back, dance around the ring and then come straight for Little Mac. He will go crazy throwing fast jabs at you. For every jab that he hits you with, he will add another jab punch. If a player is getting continuously hit, Piston Honda will jab Little Mac until he goes down. It is very difficult to dodge all of these jabs. Some players will block all the jabs by pressing down each time he punches. This needs to be timed perfectly because if not timed correctly and a jab hits Little Mac, chances are that Little Mac will feel the affects of more jabs until the timing of blocking is done again. If a player wants to get some punches in there between the blocks, they can hit Piston Honda in the face four time, block again, hit him in the face four times, block again and continue this pattern. The best thing to do when Piston Honda does his signature move is to cut him off before he can throw his continuous jabs. After stepping back and dancing, when he comes forward, give him a body blow and he will go down. You have to time it perfectly. Even though Piston Honda is much more challenging than the first two opponents, he is quite easy to beat.

To celebrate his new Minor Circuit Championship, Mac will take an afternoon jog through New York City with Doc leading the way on his bike. The jog will end at the Statue of Liberty, and a player is given a password that they can use anytime to continue the game at their current position . They will no longer have to fight in this division anymore and can continue with Don Flamenco.

Don Flamenco

A player's next title run will begin with Don Flamenco. The Spaniard from Madrid has a 22-3 record with 9 KO's. He can be challenging for someone who does not know the secret to beating him, but once this secret is known, he is just as easy to beat as Glass Joe. When the match begins, he will have a flower in his mouth. Some have said that the flower is to bribe the referee, Mario. There is no telling where that saying came from, but you judge for yourself. As the match begins, he has a strategy of not throwing any punches at you. He will just stand their on defense waiting for you to throw a punch so he can block it and throw one of his big uppercuts. What a player wants to do is dodge that uppercut and hit him in his face. This is where the secret to beating Don Flamenco comes in. When you hit him in his face, you do not want to stop. You will want to hit him in the face with the right hand, then the left hand, the right hand, left hand, right hand, left hand and continue to do so until he goes down. As long as you do this, he will not gain his composure back. If you mess up and throw a right after a right or mess up the sequence in any way, he will gain his composure back. After knocking him down, he will get back up. When he does, he will immediately throw a huge uppercut. Dodge it, and then do the sequence again.

King Hippo

King Hippo is unlike any other fighter than a player has faced up to this point. He resides from Hippo Island (wherever that is) and his age and weight are unknown. He is the largest fighter (weight wise) and can be a nightmare to pass for someone who does not know the secret to beating him. Without knowing the secret to beating King Hippo, a player will never be able to beat him. He is a great blocker, and Little Mac will never be able to land any punches on him. He will throw a jab that a player must dodge. His other punch is a high, sort of over the head type punch. There will come a time during the match that he will throw one of these high punches while opening up his mouth and making a strange sort of barking type sound. As he is beginning to do this, Little Mac will need to pop him in his face. This is the only time a player can get a hit on King Hippo. Once that punch is connected, King Hippo's pants will fall down and a bandage on his belly will be seen. Little Mac will then have to give continuous body blows to King Hippo. He will gain his composure back but lots of his energy will have gone down. A player will need to do this three or four times to knock King Hippo down. All it takes is one knock down and he will not be able to get up due to his very large size.

Great Tiger

Hailing from Bombay, India, is the Great Tiger. He is 24-5, with three knockouts, is 29 years old and 132 pounds. Great Tiger can be a bit difficult to beat at the beginning for a player, but after a little practice, he is very simple. When the match starts, he will come out swinging with a punch. Little Mac will have to dodge and counter a punch to his face. The key to knowing when Great Tiger is going to punch is to look at the little circle that is in the middle of his turbine. It will light up right before he is about to punch. Another method a player can use is to just punch (he will block it), dodge his punch, throw a punch (connect) over and over. As the fight progresses, he will start using his uppercut. Dodge it and hit him in his face four to six times. If you want to get stars, just body blow him right before he is going to do an uppercut. Great Tiger has a special move that he will use on Little Mac that can be intimidating. He will back up in the ring and start spinning around the ring like a mad man. This is his Indian magic thing that will make him seem to disappear. Each time he goes in his fast circle motion, he will hit Little Mac. To avoid being hit, a player will have to block each punch by timing the block perfectly. After five times around, and Little Mac blocking all five magic punches, he will be dizzy and stunned. He'll just be standing right there right in front of Little Mac helpless. At this point, a player just needs to give him a good hit to his face, and he will go down.

Bald Bull

Like Glass Joe, Bald Bull is a classic character as he appeared both on this NES version of Mike Tyson's Punch out and the original arcade Punch Out. He is 36 years old, 298 pounds and looks mean and strong. He is the WVBA Major Circuit champion and has a 34-4 record with 29 knockouts. At this point of the game is where most would say that it becomes a bit more challenging. As the match starts, Bald Bull will come out with a jab, dodge it and hit him in his face. His right hook follow next, again, dodge it and hit him in his face. Next will come his big uppercut, once again, dodge it and hit him in his face. Many players have trouble with Bald Bull because of his timing and have difficulty dodging his punches. A player will have to get used of Bald Bull's pattern and timing as they practice. He has a special move that is called the Bull Charge. You'll know he is doing this when he back up to the back of the ring, takes three hops at Little Mac and delivers a killer uppercut. You can move out of the way and dodge it, but he will just back up again to the back of the ring and take three hops toward you again and throw his killer uppercut. If a player decides to continually dodge it, Bald Bull will continue to do the Bull Charge until Little Mac challenges it or the round ends. A player will need to challenge it to beat Bald Bull. This will take a perfectly timed punch to his stomach when he comes in with his Bull Charge. That one hit to his stomach will knock him down. Mastering this move is the key to beating Bald Bull.

Little Mac will then celebrate his new WVBA championship and take a jog in New York City. This time, his jog will be in the evening with Doc leading the way again until they reach the Statue of Liberty. A new passcode is given so a player can continue at this spot to fight Piston Honda whenever they play again.

Piston Honda

Piston Honda is back once again and wants to pay back Little Mac and get revenge for their last meeting.  He didn't forget that Little Mac took his WVBA Minor Circuit Championship. He has been training more as can be noticed during the match. The same strategy as the first fight will apply when fighting Piston Honda again. The only difference is that he will be much tougher than the last time.

Soda Popinski

Soda Popinski is 35 years old, 237 pounds and has a 33-4 record with 24 knockouts. He hails from Moscow, USSR. The first thing a player will notice is how big this guy is. They will also notice that he is kind of reddish looking. His hits will take a lot of energy from Little Mac, and it may be difficult to try to go head to head against him. At first, he will throw hooks that Little Mac can dodge and counter punch. He will then throw fast and vicious uppercuts that Little Mac must dodge or else suffer great energy loss. If a player is not real fast, these can be extremely difficult to dodge. There is a secret to make beating Soda Popinski easy. When he is about to throw a monster uppercut, a player will want to hold down the block button. This will stall him for a second and will give Little Mac an easier time dodging the monster uppercut. Little Mac can then counter with multiple shots to his face. If a player wants to get stars, they can hit him in his stomach when he is stalled.

Bald Bull

Bald Bull is back for a second fight and is even more tougher and meaner than last time. The only way to knock him down in this fight is to use a star uppercut when his energy is low or to hit him in the stomach during a bull charge. If a player tries to knock him down by making his energy go down, it will not work. When it goes down to nothing, it will just go back up. Again, a player will just have to adjust themselves to the timing of his punches. He is one of the best at this game at throwing a player's timing off. A good thing to remember is that when Little Mac and Bald Bull first come face to face during the beginning of the fight, the beginning of a round or after someone gets knocked down, a quick hit to Bald Bull's face will give Little Mac a star. It is vital to dodge Bald Bull's punches so that the star is not lost so Little Mac's uppercut can be used to knock Bald Bull down when his energy is low.

Don Flamenco

One again, another fighter is back for a rematch. Don Flamenco has worked his way up the ranks and has a new set of skills. The left, right combination will not work this time against him. Don Flamenco has learned from his past mistakes and even has a new jab that he want to show Little Mac. He will immediately start throwing this new jab of his at the beginning of the fight. Dodge it and counter with hits to his face. After three of those, he will throw a right swing that a player will want to dodge and counter. He will go back to the jabs three more times, throw a right swing and continue this pattern for a while until the 1:30 mark in the match. If he hits Little Mac, it will take a lot of energy away. After all of this, he will go back to his old ways and just stand there and wait for a punch to be thrown so he can counter with his big uppercut. It is alright to play his game as long as long as his uppercut is dodged. To beat him quicker in the match, a player can punch him in the stomach when he is about to jab. This works when he is doing his three jab and right swing sequence.

Mr. Sandman

In the arcade version of Punch Out, Mr. Sandman was the main man that a player wanted to get to. He was the champion that they wanted to beat. Although, there are two fighters in this game that are better than him, Mr. Sandman is still as tough as ever and will give any player a challenge. He is 31 years old, 284 pounds, has a 27-2 record with 21 knockouts and is from Philadelphia, PA. He will be a real battle for any player. His jabs are really tough and Little Mac will have to dodge them just right. After a dodge, Little Mac can counter with a hit to his face. Mr. Sandman will start the match with about 11 jabs that are to be countered. Once this is done, Little Mac will need to throw a punch at him that he will block and counter with a side swing punch. Dodge it, hit him in the face and follow with three body blows. This pattern should be followed throughout the fight in order to beat him. That is, if a player can dodge his super attack. Mr. Sandman has a super attack that he will use to take Little Mac down. If a player gets caught up in this super attack, they will definitely get knocked out. He will throw very fast lightning quick upper cuts from both sides continuously. They are so fast that you can barely see his arms. With practice, a player will be able to learn how to dodge them. When three of them are dodged, hit him in the face and then continually strike at his stomach for a long time. Little Mac will get many shots in by the time he recovers. If a player tries to hit Mr. Sandman in the face after dodging the super attack uppercuts, they will only get two shots to his face. This is why it is important to hit him in the face once and then get a long streak of hits in his stomach with body blows.

Super Macho Man

Super Macho Man is 27 years old, 242 pounds, is from Hollywood, CA., is the World Circuit Champion and has a perfect 35-0 record. If a player has reached this point, Super Macho Man is the only boxer standing in the way of the dream match against Mike Tyson. It will take lots of practice to beat him. He is difficult to beat, but by studying him and continually practicing, a player will be able to beat him. He starts out the match with a right swing. A player must beware of the super fast uppercuts he also throws. Once you get his rhythm down, you will have a chance at beating him. His signature move is called the Super Spin and it comes in two different versions. A player will know that he is about to do it when he sort of just stands there for a second. Then Little Mac better watch out. A player will have to learn to dodge it and counter punch if they are going to beat him. A hit from these Super Spin punches will take lots of Little Mac's energy away. His main Super Spin will go on around ten times. A player will have to learn how to dodge these punches 10 times in a row or else they will get knocked out. It takes real practice to bet Super Macho Man. Nobody is going to beat him their first time playing him. It will take many tries to beat him, and even that may not be enough.
 
Mike Tyson

This is the dream match in the game. Mike Tyson is a perfect 99-0 and hales from Catskills, NY. When a player goes up against Tyson for the very first time, they are guaranteed to get knocked out real fast. Mike Tyson likes to take out his opponents quicky and will want to do that against Little Mac. For the first 1:30 of the match, he will throw uppercuts. It is vital that a player dodge these uppercuts because all it takes is one hit for Little Mac to go down. Even if Little Mac attempts to block it, the punch is so powerful that he will still get knocked down. When a player first gets through the first 1:30 of the match, they will be proud of themselves, but Mike Tyson will still be a handful. For the rest of the first round, he will throw hook swing punches. A player must also get used of dodging these. When the second round begins, Mike Tyson will throw eight real quick jabs. Little mac can block them, give him a body blow and earn a star. He'll continue with more hooks and big uppercuts. Thankfully, his uppercuts will not knock Little Mac down with one punch like at the beginning of the match. Dodging his punches now will allow Little Mac to counter with a couple of punches to Tyson's face. With about 1:30 left in the second round, his eyes will tart blinking. This is a sign that he I going to go crazy with punches sort of like Piston Honda did. Little Mac can block, counter with four hits, block, counter with four hits and so on until Tyson stops. When round three begins, his uppercuts and jabs are not as predictable anymore. Just dodge and counter and Little Mac will be victorious over Mike Tyson. It is much easier said than done, but with enough practice, Mike Tyson can be beat.

Mike Tyson's Punch out Codes / Passwords

When a player wins a certain match of the game, they are given a special password so that they can continue from there the next time they play. Here is a list of some of those codes.

Major Circuit - Begins with Don Flamenco - 005 737 5423
World Circuit - Begins with the second Piston Honda - 777 807 3454
Super Macho Man 940 861 8538 or 267 913 7638
Mike Tyson - 007 373 5963
NES Old Phone Number - 800 422 2602 (You'll hear a busy signal)

My personal experience playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out

Back in the 80s, I could get through all of these fights with no problem. The game was not a challenge to me anymore. Mike Tyson was no problem at all. I just right now played a game after probably ten years and got up to Super Macho Man, who whipped my butt. Dodging his Super Spin did not seem as challenging as it used to be. I then used the Mike Tyson code and Tyson beat me up good. When I have a couple of hours, I will play these two guys and remind them who I am :) Seriously though, Mike Tyson's Punch Out was always one of my favorite NES games, and I spent countless hours playing it. I have many memories of playing this game with friends as a kid and trying to figure out how to pass the next fighter that we got up to. Mike Tyson's Punch Out will be an old school video game classic forever.

Play Mike Tyson's Punch Out right now!

I played this flash version of the game online and it is fun for someone to play. It will bring back memories for someone who has not played it in a long time. When I played it though, part of the graphics were messed up, and I could not see the top of the screen. I have this game on my 1500 old school video game CD though (as I do most of them) and played it there where everything looks good. I'm also able to hook up my controller to my PC when I use my CD, so that helps. I had no desire to use the arrow keys for this game. If you want to have some good old school video game fun with Mike Tyson's Punch Out, the link below will take you there.

Play Mike Tyson's Punch Out now!