
Underrated Retro – Power Punch II – The Lost Punch Out Sequel
Power Punch II is a boxing video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, and it has an incredibly interesting back-story.
After the release of their hit, “Punch-Out!!”, Krome Studios Melbourne began developing an official sequel starring Mike Tyson with manager Don King. Originally titled, “Mike Tyson’s Intergalactic Power Punch”, the game was supposed to take the series into outer space where Tyson would participate in an intergalactic boxing tournament against various space aliens.
The game’s production ran into immediate trouble, however, following Tyson’s 1991 incarceration for the rape of Desiree Washington. Beam changed the Tyson character’s name to Mark Tyler and modified King but did little to change Tyson’s in-game character sprite.
Nintendo saw the game and disliked it, refusing to publish it due to lack of quality. Eventually, American Softworks Corp. published the title, and the game was released on the NES as, “Power Punch II”, despite the fact that it was the first Power Punch title.
The story-line of the game is something like this: Mark “Tough Guy” Tyler (*ahem* NOT Mike Tyson) is the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, with an Olympic gold medal and a 33-0 (30 KO) record to his claim. After knocking out another opponent with ease, Tyler and his manager taunt the world by saying that no one can stop him. However, the broadcast is picked up far from Earth in the outer reaches of the universe by an alien boxing promoter for the Intergalactic Boxing Federation. The promoter decides to accept Tyler’s challenge that he can beat “anyone”. Thus Tyler is brought into the throes of the universe to compete against the best boxers in the universe and defend his earthly title.
The game-play in Power Punch II is extremely shoddy. Let’s start with the controls:
Fans of the early Punch Out games will feel at …