Yesterday afternoon, Mike Tyson took to Twitter where he not only revealed that he heard Nintendo was working on a new Punch-Out game, but that he was also disappointed that the company didn’t contact him about it first. From Tyson’s viewpoint, a new game won’t be the same without him in it as he believes that his knockouts made the original game what it was. While his viewpoint is certainly debatable, there’s little doubt that having Mike Tyson’s name and likeness included in a game was a big deal back then.
Even then, Mike Tyson hasn’t been included in the games since the very first one on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Tyson signed a three-year contract for his likeness to be used in the original game, although it wouldn’t be renewed and saw him eventually replaced by a fictional character called Mr. Dream. Following various sequels, Nintendo has been fairly quiet on the Punch-Out series, with the last mainline game in the franchise coming out back in 2009 for the Wii. Since then, the franchise has largely been kept alive over the years by its protagonist Little Mac, who has most recently appeared in Nintendo’s wildly popular fighting game, Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Still, fans shouldn’t dismiss Mike Tyson’s Tweet entirely as Nintendo hasn’t revealed much of its plans beyond the summer months. Outside of that, Nintendo does have a few big-name titles confirmed for later this year with Animal Crossing, the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake, and the new Pokemon Sword/Shield Switch games, though there’s certainly plenty of room left open for more exclusives. If there is a new Punch-Out game in development, it’s likely going to release in the next year or less as Nintendo is typically a company that doesn’t like to reveal games too far in advance.
Punch-Out!! is rumored to be in development for the Nintendo Switch.
