While everyone’s eyes are on the Switch 2, Nintendo’s future console, the Kyoto firm has decided to bury a license that fans know well. This is what a developer who worked on the game said.
Before the Switch 2, Nintendo is giving up on this license
At the start of 2025, Nintendo fans are waiting to see what the Japanese manufacturer’s future console will have in store. It must be said that the machine that we call for the moment the Switch 2, which should succeed the third best-selling console in the world, is discreet. Our only certainty is thatit will be backwards compatible. As for its presentation, it must take place during this first quarter of the year. Concerning its marketing, no reliable information.
Stillbefore unveiling the Switch 2, Nintendo would have made the decision to bury a license well known to gamers. Indeed, according to information from Imran Khan, presenter of the show Kinda Funny Games on YouTube, Big N would therefore have ended the series Punch-Out!!.
This is a series of video games that was released in Japan in 1983 and in our countries the following year. In these boxing games, the player plays Little Mac, a young boxer who wants to become famous. To do this, he must climb stages and face different opponents in order to become the best boxer.
The series first arrived on arcade machines then Nintendo offered it on computers and consoles by developing several titles such as Arm Wrestling in 1985, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! on the NES in 1987 or even Super Punch-Out!! in 1994 on the Super Nintendo which is also available on Nintendo Switch Online.
Finally, in 2009, the license resurfaced with a return on the Wii but it was not successful and the game has suffered many criticism due to the promotion of stereotypes. I study them Next Level Games wanted to make a sequel but Nintendo refused and terminated the license as a studio developer explained to Imran Khan. The latter made the developer drink in a bar and told him what had happened behind the scenes:
There was a lot more controversy surrounding the characters in the Wii game than they anticipated… This team spent a lot of time assuring Nintendo that they weren’t relying on bad stereotypes who would be exposed this time, so everyone frowned and said it was over.
On imagine que Nintendo did not want to bother with this license when other games from the studio sold 14 million copies or more. Unless Big N changes his mind or only offers it among old titles to play on the Switch 2.
