is a series of boxing video games created by Genyo Takeda and Makoto Wada, and published by Nintendo. The main protagonist and player character of the series is Little Mac, a short boxer from the Bronx who climbs the ranks of the fictional World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) by challenging various opponents.
Development
Many of the characters in the 1984 title Super Punch-Out!! are similar to each other by design because they are variants of the same programming; the code recycling and the lack of character differentiation outside of crude nationalistic stereotypes is a result of the game's limited development time and storage resources. For example, Soda Popinski's obnoxious laughter is also used for Mr. Sandman, Bald Bull, and Super Macho Man, and in other Nintendo games, such as the Game Over screen of the game Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
Protagonists
Little Mac
is a 17-year-old boxer from the Bronx, New York and the main protagonist of the series. While he is quite small compared to his opponents, he makes up for it with his determination and skill. He was introduced in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, replacing the nameless, green-haired player character from the arcade games. He would later reappear in Punch-Out!! for Wii.
Doc Louis
is a former heavyweight boxing champion and Little Mac's trainer, who stands in Mac's corner during fights. Between rounds, Doc provides Mac with advice, encouragement, or sometimes a humorous anecdote. He is the creator of the "Star Punch", the most powerful move in Mac's arsenal. He has a fondness for chocolate. In Punch-Out!! for Wii, he is voiced by Riley Inge. Doc Louis appears as the sole challenger in the Club Nintendo exclusive Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!.
Opponents introduced in Punch-Out!! (1984)
Glass Joe
is a French boxer born in Paris. His first appearance was in the arcade game Punch-Out!! in 1984, and three years later appeared in NES video game of the same name. His most recent appearance was in the Wii installment of Punch-Out!!. He was originally designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and was revised by Makoto Wada for the NES game. He is voiced by Christian Bernard in the Wii game.
He is the player's first opponent in every game in which he appears, and is famous for his weakness and cowardice. Glass Joe has a record of 1-99. These elements are considered by critics to be stereotypes of French people. These characteristics were emphasized by the developer of the Wii game which included cutscenes which depict Glass Joe in French settings. Glass Joe is considered one of the most well-known characters in the Punch-Out!! series and a Nintendo icon.
Piston Hurricane
is a boxer from Havana, Cuba who originally appeared as the second opponent in the first Punch-Out!! arcade. In the NES and Wii games, Piston Hurricane is replaced by the Japanese boxer Piston Honda, who fights in a similar manner. Piston Hurricane reappeared in the SNES version of Super Punch-Out!!.
Bald Bull
is a Turkish boxer born in Istanbul, created by Shigeru Miyamoto for the arcade game "Punch-Out!!". His next appearances were in the 1985 arcade game Arm Wrestling as "Mask X", in the 1987 video game Punch-Out!! for NES as Champion of the Major Circuit, in the 1994 video game Super Punch-Out!! and in the 2009 video game Punch-Out!! for Wii. He also made two appearances in the WarioWare series, the first was in "WarioWare: Smooth Moves" with Von Kaiser and the second was in "WarioWare D.I.Y.".
Bald Bull has had generally positive reception. A statue of Bald Bull constructed with Lego bricks was offered as a door prize at the Child's Play charity, along with Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog statues. ESPN editor Jon Robinson, in an interview with the Senior Product Specialist of the Wii game, Nate Williams, commented that he was "always a big Bald Bull fan." Writer Jesse Schedeen described him as a "true veteran of the Punch-Out franchise!!", GamePro editors Patrick Shaw and Dave Rudden chose him as one of the four boxers that they most want to return, due to his high number of appearances in the series.
GameDaily listed Bald Bull as the fifth best bald character in video games. Giant Bomb listed him as the fourth character on the "10 Nintendo Characters That Should Be In Smash Before Waluigi" list, on the other hand, Game Informer editor Joe Juba chose him as the ninth character on the "Top 10 Bald Dudes" list. Editor Kevin Wong chose him at # 1 on the "Every Punch-Out!! Opponent, Ranked" list, commenting that "he is the undisputed king of Punch-Out!!" due to his Bull Charge.