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This New Year’s holiday, I pulled out an old classic to play with my kids. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, aka Punch-Out.

This was one of the best games for the NES back in the day and is still considered one of the greatest games even made. It was made as Punch-Out, but then shortly after the initial Japan release, Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa went to see a Mike Tyson match and was so amazed that he decided they had to get Tyson for the game. Nintendo reportedly immediately paid Tyson $50,000 for a three-year deal and quickly programmed him in as the final boss, renaming the game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. This new version was then released in Japan a month later.

This was the version I grew up with. At my elementary school, everyone was obsessed with the game. We would trade tips at recess, exchange codes, brag, and then go to each other’s houses after school and show off—or attempt to show off, only to be destroyed. I still have the code for Tyson burned into my memory: 007–373–5963. Along with Jenny’s number,[1] these might be two numbers I’ll never forget.

It was a hard game. It is divided into three circuits. The first circuit is basically training for the game. New players quickly master it and move on. The middle circuit is more challenging. No longer can you just attack, but now you are forced to learn the enemy boxer patterns, learn to dodge their attacks, and counter attack. The final circuit is tough. The enemy boxer patterns become more complex and your timing has to be near perfect.

One of the most memorable features of the game is that every boxer is a bit of a caricature of a country. We have Glass Joe, a weak Frenchman, Von Kaiser, a German boxer sporting a Wilhelm moustache, Piston Honda, a Japanese boxer who exclaims random Japanese words when made angry, Soda Popkinski, a Russian boxer who drinks too much,[2] and so on.

When I was a kid I could easily get to the second to final boss: Super Macho-Man. Only occasionally could I beat him to get to Mike Tyson, and I never beat Tyson.

As incredibly popular as it was in the US, I don’t know how popular it was in Japan. It was released in Japan first as a gold cart simply titled Punch-out (パンチアウト!!) and then rereleased as Mike Tyson’s Punch Out (マイクタイソン・パンチアウト!!). None of my Japanese friends have memories of playing it when they were kids so I have the impression that it wasn’t very popular.

Later after the 3-year deal expired, Nintendo decided not to renew it and released a new version of the game, replacing Tyson with Mr Dream, a character who was based on Rocky Marciano. Well, the image and record were from Marciano anyway, but the actual boxer was just a recolored Tyson.

Anyway, I don’t know what sparked it, but my kids asked to play the game the other day. The oldest has the sans Tyson version on his 3DS. I let them both take it out and share. I watched and gave tips. We had fun for an hour or so. It was a good time.

It’s fun watching my kids enjoy the same games that I enjoyed so much when I was a kid. At the time I never would have thought these games would still be around and popular 40 years later. But here we are, Nintendo just keeps re-releasing these games, and kids keep playing and loving them.

I’m not sure how well it works, but if you want to play it online, do so here.