Game music of the Day: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

Welcome to GamesRadar's daily blast of all things pertaining to the ever-growing field of game music. Each post will introduce new sounds, games, composers and fan-made remixes of gaming's greatest aural achievements.

August 26, 2010

Game: Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!
Song: Training / Credits
Composers: Yukio Kaneoka, Akito Nakatsuka, Kenji Yamamoto



Above: You’re already humming it – now LISTEN!

That’s right, bitches! MIKE TYSON’S Punch-Out!! (


Above: Call it anything else and you’re simple lying to yourself

In addition to Tyson, no grating announcer voice, and fewer racially insensitive characters, here’s another thing the NES version had that the arcades didn’t: MOAR MUSIC! Most sports titles at that time have little more than an anthem and a couple of fanfare jingles. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, however, had full blown songsgood-God-damned great, not only wouldthey never be forgotten, even new gamers introduced to the jam years later cannot escape its charm.

Don’t believe me? Check this :45 second clip fromTalkRadar 113’s community segment, where we play your phone calls to the TalkRadar hotline LIVE on the show (CALL NOW! 1-877-404-1337 Ext. 327) What’s clearly a young listener, born loooong after 1987, calls in to find the name of a mysterious song he can’t seem to get out of his head. Oh, what could it be?!?!


Yes, our filthy, stupid podcast can take partial credit, as we play a shit ton of classic game music week in and week out. But more than a little credit also goes to Nintendo itself. I’ve heard several dozen remixes ofPunch-Out!! songs - be they fromprofessional musiciansor about *cough*stolen bikes - but none of them compare to the version Nintendo revamped for2009’s phenomenally overlooked Punch-Out!!


Above: Will make you want to run out and start a montage

That song invokes every bit of reverence and concentrated joy I get from the original and it’s recorded with the utmost competence thanks to what I’m guessing was a sizable budget. I couldn’t stop playing the Wii game’s music on our podcast, due mostly to the fact that each fighter has the tune wonderfully remixed to theirspecificethnicity.You can hear those and more Punch-Out!! SFX reverence inTalkRadar 52.


Try, byJoe Abbati

CATEGORIES
GamesRadarChrisAntista
I LIKE TO MAKE THE GAMESRAIDER!!!!!!!1
Latest in Sports
WWE 2K25
The best WWE 2K25 CAWs you have to download right now
WWE 2K25 MyFaction
WWE 2K25 MyFaction tips for unlocking Oddities, Persona cards and MFP
FC 25
FC 25 Dreamchasers tracker and full UEFA promo guide
FC 25
FC 25 Season 6 Ladder Players list and how to unlock them all
WWE 2K25
WWE 2K25 locker codes guide to free MyFaction cards
Skate 4
The Skate reboot isn't even out yet, but it already has an EA specialty: microtransactions
Latest in Features
Thor and Loki in Thor: Ragnarok
After 15 years in the making, Thor and Loki's reunion in Avengers: Doomsday could be the perfect MCU conclusion for the characters
Soft Rains logo with frog drawing
"There is an expectation we're gonna make a little Skyrim": Ubisoft and Bethesda veterans form new studio headed by Skyrim and Fallout designer, debuting with first-person sci-fi and "crunchy mechanics"
Witchbrook screenshot of a library in the magical college with witches flying on brooms
Witchbrook: Everything we know so far about Chucklefish's magical new life sim
The village green in Atomfall
My first 3 hours in Atomfall feel playing Fallout 3 for the first time, and if you don't check it out I'm legally obliged to bash you with a cricket bat
The Demon's Hand
League of Legends' take on Balatro is one of its best mini-games yet – and it's also exactly what's wrong with this era of League of Legends
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Here are the 23 biggest omissions in the Avengers: Doomsday cast list announcement – and why they might be missing