Tips and Tricks - Punch-Out!! (Wii)

We interrupt this week’s GTA: Chinatown Wars guide for a few useful Punch-Out!! tips that would help Little Mac in his quest to win it all. If you haven’t been paying attention, Punch-Out!! is an old-school “Wii-make” of the 1987 NES classic. It’s time to perfect your pugilism plans, and we’ll show you how.

By this time, you should already know the basics moves (like how to throw a jab, hook, star punch), so we’ll focus on the things that could actually help.

Some basic health recovery tips:

Regain health after knocking down an opponent
Shake the Wiimote and nunchuk or alternately press 1 and 2 (depending on the control scheme) as fast as you can to recover some health before your foe gets back up.

Recover health between rounds 2 or 3
In between rounds, press the minus (-) button while Doc is giving you advice. Doing this would replenish most of your health, but you can only do this once per match. That means you should use press minus only when you really need a health boost.

Prevent a KO
During the animation before Little Mac falls on the mat, quickly press 1 and 2 or shake the Wiimote and nunchuk (depending on the control scheme) to get another chance. If you do this correctly, Little Mac will stay up and roar. The health bonus is pretty small so make the most of it!

We’ll skip Little Mac’s road to the championship (which is actually pretty easy) and get right to title defense—an area where even Punch-Out!! veterans would need help in.

There’s something different about Glass Joe when fighting him in title defense. He now wears a helmet! That means all your jabs won’t work—at least while the helmet sits squarely on the Frenchman’s head. Here’s how it’s done:

Keys to beating Glass Joe in title defense mode:

• Counter with hooks to the body. Try to throw in a hook while Glass Joe taunts you—doing this would result in a star. You can also pop in a left hook before Glass Joe throws a right.
• When you gain a star, unleash a star punch. Doing this would temporarily remove the helmet, leaving Glass Joe vulnerable to jabs to the head.
• One of Glass Joe’s taunts would have him step back and adjust his helmet. The moment he steps back into your range, give him a right hook to the stomach. This would knock him down at once.
• Glass Joe would also try to confuse you by shuffling, then giving a straight. He usually gives a left first, then a right in his subsequent attempts. Try to remember which arm he used—it’s always the opposite of the last one.

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