The Nintendo's color palette is well used in this game, as the fantastic mixture sets a rather nice tone throughout the entire game. Very rarely is the question asked, "What's that there?" and never is it confused as to where the player can move, though partly for the fact that he's stuck in the center of the ring with only two dodge buttons. Hit boxes are well defined, and every single hit feels solid, and you can see the response on the opponent's face. Seeing as how all the battles are one on one matches, the game can go into great, and often comical, detail depending on where the player lands a hit, and whether or not it was able to get past the opponent's guard or not. There is absolutely no delay between when the button is pressed and when the character on screen reacts, which is extremely welcomed in a game where one must use their reflexes to watch for visual cues in order to get anywhere in the game. On the subject of visual cues, all of the cues are obvious, however the difficulty comes in the player's reaction time. The further one progresses through the ladder, the shorter the time between the cue and the actual attack becomes. This continues up until the point where you're dodging like a mad man to avoid Mike Tyson's flurry of fists.

Punch Out is often remembered from it's iconic theme which plays during most every match, and when compared to another game on the NES, say Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde which had horrible background music, the main tune to Punch Out!! is a nice catchy little ditty that's memorable and easy to hum along to. It's also not so much that it distracts from the sound effects in game, and when the sounds and the music are put together they all seem to come together in an effect that get's the blood pumping, and really does an excellent job in immersing the player into the game. One impressive thing about the theme song to note as well, is that when translated into an actual instrumental song fits perfectly as one of those wonderful 80's montage songs that movies like Rocky made famous.

You play as a young man named Little Mac from the Bronx, New York, and it's your dream to become the grand champion boxer of the world by defeating Kid Dynamite, Iron Mike Tyson. The story is straightforward, and honestly isn't highlighted to any extent. You first fight in the minor, then major, then world leagues before finally facing Mike Tyson. All the game basically gives the player is, "Hey you're a boxer, now go punch those guys. Don't get hurt too bad." Though that's really all it needs, and the players are happy because it allows them to quickly get back to what matters, the all out slug fest that the matches are.

This is no Final Fantasy, nor is it any RPG, do not play this game expecting a grand adventure of epic proportions. It's simply one fight after another, and in one sitting the average gamer could beat it in a couple hours easy. However, again that doesn't really detract from the game. It's a fun little game perfect for wasting away a few hours when they're there to waste. 

The difficulty curve is very nice in this game, starting with the appropriately titled, "Glass Joe" until you finally reach the ALSO appropriately named, "Iron Mike Tyson." It starts slow, and adds things one at a time, and the difficulty progresses steadily as the player progresses higher and higher into the ranks until only the quickest of reflexes and sharpest of eyes can survive. Some fights boiling down to waiting for that one exact cue to look for, then pouncing before your split second opening is gone. For good players, it's rewarding to get in a good combo on their foes, and the game fairly punishes those too slow until they can see their mistakes and work to correct them. It all culminates with the fight against Tyson, in which you are more than certain to die a few times before actually learning his pattern and how to dodge it.

Mike Tyson's Punch Out is a gem in the NES library for a reason. The music, sounds, graphics, and gameplay get the player immersed within their own imaginations, as many great games did back on the NES. It needs what it has, and has what it needs. With a simple objective, extremely tight and responsive controls, and just an overall addictiveness to the game that could have easily made it rich in the arcades, Mike Tyson's Punch Out stands head and shoulders above the worst pits of the NES depths, and in terms of how fun it is to play, it stands right next to such games as Mario, Zelda, Mega Man, and Metroid.