Check out the video review.

It took Nintendo way too long to come out with a new Punch-Out!!. The last real version was Super Punch Out!! on the Super Nintendo, and for whatever reason, Nintendo skipped over the third dimension entirely. With the Wii’s launch, Wii Sports’ boxing component gave Nintendo fans a taste of the sport, serving as little more than a tease for a more traditional sequel.  Now, three years after the system’s launch, and fifteen years after the last entry in the series, Punch-Out!! has finally arrived, bringing Little Mac to the Wii in fighting form.

Punch-Out!! is really more of a remake more than a sequel. Going in to the game expecting any type of boxing simulation is a mistake, and the gameplay is even farther removed from the actual sport than Wii Sports’ boxing was. More than learning boxing techniques, it’s about memorizing patterns, which means watching for an enemy to wiggle his eyebrow or wind up a punch before dodging out of the way. All of the fourteen opponents in the game have fairly obvious tells, and will telegraph their actions before taking them, just as they did in the original.