Punch-Out! Game Guide: The Minor Circuit
Contender Mode in Punch-Out!
Contender Mode is where you’ll begin your rise to the Punch-Out! championship. Little Mac has a humble beginning as a fallen former champion and then he must fight his way through three increasingly difficult circuits before facing the current champion, Mr. Sandman. If you get stuck on a certain opponent, you can exit to the main menu and select “Exhibition” to fight against a holographic verson of that character. You take no damage from holographic opponents, so you can get a feel for the opponent’s timing and tells without worrying about being hit. Punch-Out! is a video game that could be considered for the list of the 5 best Wii games for hardcore fighters.
Punch-Out! The Minor Circuit
Little Mac’s first set of fights won’t give him too much trouble. Each fighter only has a handful of attacks and learning their patterns is easy. Think of these fighters as warm up fighters before things start to get really tough in the Major Circuit.
Glass Joe - Glass Joe is a Parisian with a record of 1 win and 99 loses, so he should be a good warm up for you. He’s only 5’ 10" and 110 pounds soaking wet and is a little old for a boxer at 38 years old. He’s your first opponent in the Minor Circuit.
Consider Glass Joe to be your training dummy for learning how Punch-Out! works. His punches are slow, he lets you know when they’re coming and he’s not good at blocking. You should be able to easily knock Glass Joe out if you use all of Little Mac’s skills. You need to practice all of Little Mac’s skills to get better as you progress because you’ll be facing tougher opponents with every victory. Punch-Out! is one of the 5 best Wii games for couples to spend a little quality time working out a few disagreements around the home.
Punch-Out!: Glass Joe
Glass Joe has only two attacks that are only marginally effective, a left jab that can be dodged in either direction or evaded by ducking or blocking and a right uppercut that can be dodged in both directions. Joe doesn’t try any tricks during his fights. He telegraphs his blows and then throws his punch. This gives you plenty of time to move out of the way or counter with your own punches.
Glass Joe is a very slow blocker that will react slower when you hit him. You can alternate three jabs and three hooks and then repeat several times before he will start to fight back. You can easily drop him to the mat by hitting him with a hook to his gut as he moves back to the center of the ring after his “Viva La France” taunt. You can easily get stars by counter-punching as Joe punches and Star Punches do a significant amount of damage to him. Looking for another entertaining Wii video game to play, check out the 5 best Wii games period.
Punch-Out!: Von Kaiser
Von Kaiser has a record of 23 wins and 13 loses, with 10 knockouts. He’s six feet tall and weights 144 pounds on his best day. He’s a 42 year old German fighter from Berlin.
Von Kaiser is slighter faster than Glass Joe, but he is actually easier to defeat because you can drop him with a star punch while he’s seeing stars, regardless of how much health he has left. You can take care of Von Kaiser in the first 30 seconds of the fight with 5 consecutive blows.
Von Kaiser also only has two attacks for him to use during your fight, a left jab that he broadcasts by shaking his head quickly before throwing the jab. This attack can be dodged, ducked or blocked. He’ll also crouch to your right and throw a left uppercut that can be dodged to either side.
You can easily earn Stars by counter punching Von Kaiser’s attacks. If you dodge one of his attacks, and then hit him with punch or Star Punch you’ll probably knock him down. Just repeat this simple tactic and Von Kaiser will quickly be knocked out. Looking for a less expensive Wii video game to play, check out the 5 best Wii games for under $20.
