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#3 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES 1987)

What it's about: You, play Mac, a boxer with a lot of guts even though he's only three feet tall. With manager Doc at your side to rub your shoulder, you take on assorted weirdos and stereotypes to get a shot at Iron Mike himself.

Why it's here: Well, first of all, this one probably the best arcade port of the 80's, really an amazing achievement considering the limitations of the NES back in the day. In the arcade version, your character was "see through," something they couldn't recreate on the NES, so they just shrunk your character to pint size. The graphics obviously weren't as sharp, but the way they carried over the feel of the game is astounding.

The amazing thing about the game is it's high replay value. You'd think, once you beat the game, why bother playing again? Well, MTPO may have the highest replay value of any game ever. It's the type of game you want to master, the kind you want to play until you TKO every fighter in round one. I just played this last week on my computer, and I'll bet I'll still be playing ten years.

Given the timeframe, the graphics, sound, and control are all the aces.

Drawbacks? Sadly, they couldn't recreate the announcer from the arcade screaming "Body blow! Body blow!"

Personal memories:

Let's go by this one by one.

Glass Joe: Sissy Frenchman. I actually lost to him the first time I played it. Really.
Von Kaiser: Nazi fighter who wears pants in the ring for some reason. I love beating the piss out of him.
Piston Honda: Amazingly, Honda was a black man in the original arcade game, and was changed to Japanese for the NES version. He'll give you a TKO from Tokyo!
Don Flamenco: Foppish Spainard. Everyone knew the trick of alternating A B uppercuts. I could beat him with my eyes closed.
King Hippo: 'Nuff said.
Great Tiger: Mystical Indian. Same body type as Von Kaiser, also wears pants. I could beat this man's ass before he even got to the Tiger Punch.
Bald Bull: Scary Turk. Took me forever to master countering the Bull Charge.
Piston Honda: Yes, again, and he's only slightly more difficult.
Soda Popinksi: Original name for the character: Vodka Drunkinski. Someone thought this may not be appropriate for children. I weird fighter that didn't have any special tricks, but his did wear pink underwear and had a neat little song.
Bald Bull: The "you have to use a star to knock him down" trick was EVIL.
Don Flamenco: Why was he ranked over Bald Bull? Never figured that out. He's only slightly trickier this time around.
Mr. Sandman: EVIL. Scariest fighter in the game. Beware the Razor Uppercut. I remember my dad telling me "hit him in the gut," which is the key to getting anywhere.
Super Macho Man: Same body type as Soda Popinski. Some people think he's tough - I can TKO him in the first round without taking a punch.
Mike Tyson: One of the all time great NES challenges - it took me six years to beat Iron Mike. 'Nuff said.

Coming up: Hike!