Mike Tysons Punch Out! Memories

Today I've been feeling a bit nostalgic, just thinking about my childhood and how things have changed since then. I started to think about when I first started playing video games, and I remembered the first video game I ever played at the age of 7. It was called Mike Tyson's Punch Out!

Growing up, I always wanted to do what my older brother did, so of course when I saw him playing this video game on the NES, I wanted to play it too. The game is a boxing video game in which you control a diminutive boxer name "Little Mac" and you try to defeat each boxer that you face in order to win the championship. Sounds simple, right?

The first few boxers were pretty easy, even with my inexperience. I cruised through the first championship (or minor circuit), and then the second one with ease. I worked up my way until I got all the way to the world circuit, which was the toughest one. It took me a while to get past Mr. Sandman and then Super Macho Man because they were tough! I especially hated Super Macho Man because his punches were very hard to dodge. But finally I beat them, only to face Iron Mike himself.

I got to admit, I was intimidated. I was so nervous that I mistimed avoided Tyson's first punch and got knocked down right away. One punch was all it took to get knocked down by Tyson in the early portion of the 1st round. I miraculously made it through without really making much of a dent on Tyson, only to get knocked out once and for all in the 2nd round. Not only that, but I got the dreaded "game over" message and I had to start all over! I was pissed.

At school, we were all into video games, and one day I overheard one of the other kids talk about the game. He mentioned a code to be able to go straight to fighting Tyson, which meant you could bypass having to work your way up each circuit. This was the now infamous code: 007-373-5963.

Wow! I couldn't wait to try this code out. I could go straight to Tyson and get as many tries in to beat him as possible. Unfortunately, I still couldn't beat him, but I made progress as I was able to go the distance with him.

Then one day, it happened. I outfought Tyson and knocked him down seemingly a hundred times during the fight. I couldn't seem to put him away though! I kept it up, and kept punishing Tyson like no one ever had before (till Buster Douglas came along). Then finally, the last bell rang. Super Mario the referee came out and made the announcement. I had won by decision!!!

The look on Tyson's virtual 8-bit face as the decision was announced had to have been the most satisfying moment of my video game career. I had beaten probably the toughest video game opponent that has ever existed, and to this day I still have trouble beating Tyson. I jumped over the couch and ran outside in joy. That was a day I will never forget!