Super Punch-Out!! (Rev B)

Arcade Video game published 40 years ago:

Super Punch-Out!! (c) 1984 Nintendo.

Super Punch-Out!! is an update of the superb boxing game, "Punch-Out!!", featuring five new larger-than-life opponents. The player once again assumes the role of a green-haired boxer who must fight his way up through five boxers to earn the title of 'Champ'.

As with the original game, the player's boxer is viewed from behind with his torso rendered with wire-frame graphics (allowing the player's opponent to be easily seen). Punches, dodges and blocks must all be well-timed in order to defeat the opponent.

Both the player and the opponent have stamina meters displayed at the top of the screen. These decrease when either boxer takes a punch and boxers will get knocked down if their stamina meter runs out completely. Faster knockdowns will cause the fallen boxer to recover less stamina upon getting up; the same happens if a boxer is knocked down by a knockout punch.

Thanks to the refined roster of new and hugely distinctive enemy fighters, Super Punch-Out!! is considered to be an improvement over the first game.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Zetex N2A03 (@ 1.789772 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Zetex N2A03 (@ 1.789772 Mhz), Sanyo VLM5030 (@ 3.58 Mhz)

Players : 1
Control : 4-way joystick (pull up on the joystick to duck)
Buttons : 3
=> [1] LEFT BLOW, [2] RIGHT BLOW, [3] KNOCKOUT BLOW

- TRIVIA -

Super Punch-Out!! was released in September 1984 in the arcades.

The image used for the background of "Punch-Out!!" (in which Mario, Luigi, DK and DK Jr. sit on both sides of the ring) was recycled for Super Punch-Out!!. The only difference is that the background is in black and white.

Not to be confused with the 1994 Super NES game of the same name, 'Super Punch-Out!!', which is a remake of the arcade game to mark the ten-year anniversary of the original game's release.

The game's title music, is actually the 'Gillette Look Sharp March'. This jingle, originally heard in Gillette radio and television commercials, was later used as the theme song to the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, which aired boxing matches. The music can also be heard in the 1980 boxing related film 'Raging Bull' during the scene where Jake LaMotta (as played by Robert De Niro) unveils his new nightclub.

Vodka Drunkenski's name would later be changed to 'Soda Popinski' for his appearances on the home console versions (see Series below) to remove alcoholic references and make the games more child-friendly.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Control Panel Instructions :
- Power meter indicates your punching power. Build up your punching power by punching the champ, throw a knockout blow when meter flashes "KO".
- Status meter indicates your/champ's respective stamina, knockdown occurs when status meter reads empty.
- Game is over when you are knocked out or time counts down to zero.(1)
- "Let's keep it clean. Now come out boxing!"

(1) Exception : In Super Punch-Out!!, time starts at zero and counts forward. When time reaches three minutes, time is up and the game is over.

- SERIES -

1. Punch-Out!! (1984)
2. Super Punch-Out!! (1984)
3. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (1987, Nintendo NES)
4. Super Punch-Out!! (1994, Nintendo SNES)
5. Punch-Out!! (2009, Nintendo Wii)

- PORTS -

* COMPUTERS:
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1985) "Frank Bruno's Boxing" by Elite Systems
[US] Commodore C64 [EU] (1985) "Frank Bruno's Boxing" by Elite Systems
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1985) "Frank Bruno's Boxing" by Elite Systems