The New Punch-Out!! Game is a Brilliant Blend of an Old Classic with New Updates
Now, anyone that played the NES version should remember the amazing difficulty and the hidden puzzle elements, and this new installment does both good justice.
The difficulty is a little amped up here, since this game mixed some small elements with Super Punch-Out!! from the SNES, you can now miss punches and have to duck to dodge many attacks. The initial Contender mode should be cake for any veterans of the series, but after beating Contender you'll unlock Title Defense which is MUCH, MUCH harder (even Glass Joe will kick your butt!). Enemies will have entirely new attack patters, faster speed, trickier readings, and will sometimes wear some sort of "legal" armour for protections (i.e: King Hippo wears a manhole to cover his belly). After beating Title Defense you'll unlock Mac's Last Stand, and if you can win ten matches in MLS you'll unlock Champion's Mode which stops enemies from flashing and makes their punches one-hit knockdowns. As you can see, there isn't any shortage of difficulty in this game.
The puzzle elements are also still here, but they aren't as hidden. Each character has three optional objectives you can complete while fighting them, often times you're forced into the puzzle elements to achieve them. The puzzle elements are all still their though. You can find stars, make one-hit knockdowns with good timing, and even make some infinite combos on some enemies to name a few examples.
Overall, I think Punch-Out!! Wii is a great installment to the series and it's my personal favorite. I wanted to write this review on how it captures the previous two's strongest points: the puzzle elements and the difficulty, so I feel mine is great for old veterans who played the previous two console releases.