Nintendo's knock-out punch on the NES, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! is the true Ring King.
But Tyson wasn't the only memorable character in this masterpiece of a game. You had good guy Little Mac, with his green shorts and gloves and black tank-top, fighting all of these towering men (who were about 5 times his size). Mac was led to the ring by his manager Doc Louis, who always gave great advice to him, like "Join the Nintendo Fan Club!". But what really made this game come alive were the "bad guys", your opponents in the ring. From the pitiful Glass Joe, to Piston Honda (whom you faced twice in the game), to King Hippo, Soda Poplinski, Bald Bull, etc., each of them had their own ways to fight you and their own "weaknesses". I still remember spending day after day wondering how to beat King Hippo... that is, until I followed Doc Louis' advice (the guy was on to something after all) and got the Nintendo Power issue with all the tricks to beat your opponents.
But no matter how much I tried, even with the tricks the mag gave me, I could NEVER beat Iron Mike. One punch and *bam!*, that was it! To this day, he is the hardest boss I have ever faced in any video game, ever! I still remember my dad beating him and how proud he was (actually, gloating is a better word for it), going around the house, telling everyone who wanted to hear him "Woooo! I beat Tyson!" Meh... at least he helped me with some boxers I had trouble with. Oh, and he still brings that up today, by the way.
The game was simply brilliant. The controls were easy to master (hey, it's Nintendo, what do you expect?) and the gameplay was flawless. The characters were extremely funny and each had their own personality, which made this game come alive. I still remember Bald Bull gloating "Doc can't help you now. Will you beg me for help?", or Don Flamenco doing his little dance before the fight, or Soda Poplinski drinking his soda in between rounds. Till this day, I have never seen a more recognizable and memorable cast of characters in a game, ever.
If you haven't played this game yet, you're a fool... and you need to go and play it! It is quite simply the best boxing game ever made and one of the NES's masterpieces.