Top Five Toughest Opponents in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out

Time for a top 5 list. Yay! What better topic for a Friday than a list of the toughest opponents in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, one of the greatest video games ever made? Punch-Out also happens to be one of the top five games of all time featuring the character Mario (he is the mumbling referee in this game). What are the other games on that list? That’s a list for another day.

Five Toughest Opponents in Mike Tyson’t Punch-Out
(listed in descending order from easiest to toughest)

5. Great Tiger

The question that should first be asked here is who wears a turban to a boxing match? The Great Tiger does, fool! Anyhow, I chucked the NES controller across the room many times while falling prey to Tiger’s “Tiger Punch”. Whatever you do, don’t let this guy beat you. If you do, the terrorists have already won.

4. Super Macho Man:

This guy was pretty tough to beat until you were able to figure out how to dodge the ‘Super Spin Punch’, which at times seemed to last forever. You could dodge the stupid thing five times, only to get hit on the sixth. Very frustrating. He makes this list because of the “Super Spin Punch”, but also because of that disturbing pecs bounce he used to do. Bad times.

3. Bald Bull (World Circuit Version of course)

Bald Bull narrowly beats out Super Macho Man for #3 on this list. The key to beating this guy was timing. Bald Bull’s signature move was the Bull Charge, and if you didn’t time it perfectly you were doomed. The trick was to count to three as he was charging and hit him in the gut at the perfect moment. I was pretty good a this when I was a kid, but I have played the game recently and this guy owns me. That’s why he beats out Super Macho Man. My reflexes to dodge rotund video game boxers must be waning in my old age.

2. Mike Tyson

007-373-5963. Everyone of course remembers that is the code in the game that will take you directly to Mike Tyson. It is ingrained in my skull. I may forget my own cell phone number or my anniversary, but I’ll never forget this code.

The key to beating Mike was to survive Round 1, in which one punch would send Little Mac to the canvas. Survive this and you have a chance.

If you go through all the trouble of beating the game what is your reward? A listing of all the guys you beat. Yay!

For some reason, Tyson was obsessed with finger speed in this game, with quotes such as: “Great fighting !! You were tough, Mac! I never seen such finger speed before.” and “You think the speed of your fingers can match the strength of my fists?”

1. Mr. Sandman

The reason I list Mr. Sandman as the most difficult to beat is I beat both Super Macho Man and Mike Tyson himself before I beat Mr. Sandman, thanks to the code that would take me directly to Macho Man and the code that took me to Mike Tyson himself. There was no real reason for me to beat the Sandman, except pride.

According to wikipedia, Mr. Sandman “possesses a vast array of jabs, hooks, and uppercuts, and his unique timing can easily confuse players”. Yeah, I remember having trouble with his quick jab. I eventually did beat Sandman, but not before he beat me a few too many times.

Honorable Mention: Don Flamenco.

Don Flamenco isn’t a boxer you think of when you think of tough opponents in Punch-Out. However, the guy was creepy, which should count for something. The magical rose that would spontaneously appear in his mouth always a pretty strange thing for an 80’s video game. He wasn’t a very difficult opponent (it is common knowledge that Flamenco can be defeated in 14 seconds) but I was never sure if he wanted to fight me or dance with me. Pretty confusing stuff for an eleven year old to handle.

So, who did you have trouble with in Mike Tyson’s Punchout?