The awesomest thing about growing up in the 80s was none of the following:
- Nike Airs
- Trapper Keepers
- Giordano Blues denim jeans
- The GI Joe/Transformers era
- Vanilla Ice
It was the Family Computer, plain and simple. And while a lot of people have fond memories of classics like Contra (Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right, etc) and Super Mario Brothers 3 (bonus points if you can tell me how exactly you locate the two World-warping flutes!), my heart was always with Little Mac and his cast of villains in Mike Tyson’s Punch Out.
And so, right at this very moment, I am geeking out with the usual stiff nipples over the trailer I spotted on YouTube for the Nintendo Wii re-make of the game.
Glass Joe! Von Kaiser! King Hippo! They’re all there!
I swear to God, when I heard the theme song re-created perfectly note-for-note, my YC bikini brief tightened ever so delicately, and I was this close to fainting from ecstasy.
I could never get past Bald Bull in the World Circuit (I’d always toss the controller over to my twin when he’d start backing up for his patented Bull Charge finisher), but Mike Tyson was my bitch. I actually knocked him out with a Star Punch once, but that was just an incredible stroke of luck.
I’m older now, more mature and sophisticated, and I’ve moved on from Punch-Out to Paul Smith. But seeing this trailer made me feel like a kid. Not many things make me feel that way, and for that I must thank Nintendo.
