Punch-Out Fans Shouldn’t Hold Their Breath for a New Game Any Time Soon

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 3, 2025 4 Views 6 Min Read
Punch-Out Fans Shouldn't Hold Their Breath for a New Game Any Time Soon

Summary

  • Next Level Games likely won’t revisit the Punch-Out series soon, as it’s considered dead due to sales and stereotypes.
  • Backlash over stereotypes played a significant role in preventing the continuation of the Punch-Out series.
  • Despite being beloved, Punch-Out didn’t reach the same sales potential as other Next Level Games titles.

Gaming insider Imran Khan has stated that Next Level Games likely won’t be revisiting the Punch-Out series soon, saying the cult classic Nintendo series is effectively dead. The Punch-Out series is one of Nintendo’s more niche titles, with the first title released in 1984 for the arcades. The series is more well-known for its home console counterpart, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on the NES in 1987, with many gamers claiming it to be one of the most challenging but rewarding titles on the system. The game then got a sequel on the SNES in 1994, which played more closely to its arcade iteration.

Most fans will likely be familiar with Next Level Games’ 2009 Punch-Out revival, rebooting the series and pitting Little Mac against some truly difficult and cartoonish boxers. Next Level Games’ Punch-Out reboot was both a critical and commercial success, helping cement the studio as a trusted partner with Nintendo. Next Level Games has since been acquired as a first-party developer for Nintendo, working on games like Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Mario Strikers: Battle League. Despite Nintendo being its parent company, there appear to be no plans to revisit Punch-Out any time soon.

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In a recent ResetEra thread, Imran Khan spoke about how he talked to someone “a while back” who was involved with the last Punch-Out title by Next Level Games and if there was a new one in the works. According to the person Khan spoke to, despite the popularity of Nintendo’s cult classic series, the amount of backlash Punch-Out received over the characters and the stereotypes represented was more than expected. The development team were apparently assuring Nintendo that they weren’t leaning into bad stereotypes that would earn them a bad reputation. Khan notes it’s also not a case of the Punch-Out team not wanting to use stereotypes, but rather, they can’t “fully cut from the past” without backlash. “I guess it’s less ‘We can’t do it without stereotypes so let’s not bother!’ and more a World Warriors problem where they can’t fully cut from the past without people rioting,” said Khan. “That and other games from the studio sell like 14 million copies more, so why bother.”

Sales and Stereotypes Crippled Punch-Out Wii

Khan also comments on the sales of the Punch-Out series compared to other titles developed by Next Level Games. While Punch Out on the Wii sold over a million copies, it didn’t have the same sales potential as Next Level Games’ Mario Strikers and Luigi’s Mansion spin-offs. Those titles in particular outperformed Punch-Out as well, seemingly dooming it to be another niche Nintendo series.

I guess it’s less “We can’t do it without stereotypes so let’s not bother!” and more a World Warriors problem where they can’t fully cut from the past without people rioting. That and other games from the studio sell like 14 million copies more, so why bother.

Punch-Out is still beloved to this day. Certain indie games like Thunder Ray have strong Punch-Out vibes in their gameplay and presentation. Little Mac is still a prevalent character in Super Smash Bros. as well, debuting in Brawl as an Assist Trophy and being promoted to playable fighter in the 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate games. The whole ResetEra thread lamented Punch-Out‘s fate, many saying Next Level Games did a spectacular job with the 2009 Wii game.

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