Wade Hixton's Counter Punch (Game Boy Advance)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.8 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Alex Navarro
• Reviewed on: 03/22/2004
• Released on: 03/15/2004
• Originally published on GameSpot: Wade Hixton's Counter Punch (Game Boy Advance) Review

If the Game Boy Advance is known for any one particular thing, it is especially well known for a bevy of classic remakes, many of which have turned out to be close to, if not just as enjoyable as, the originals. One title that has remained elusive, however, is Nintendo's Punch-Out!! franchise. Pick either Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for the NES or Super Punch-Out!! for the SNES, and either way, you've got an extremely addictive and fun boxing title in your possession. Yet, to this day, Nintendo has not seen fit to bring a port or any sort of remake of either title to the GBA. However, that hasn't stopped Destination Software and Inferno Games from paying homage to these great boxing titles with Wade Hixton's Counter Punch. Counter Punch isn't quite up to the level of Nintendo's classic boxing games, but it is as much of a loving tribute to those titles as you will find in this day and age.

Counter Punch's title character, Wade Hixton, isn't quite the type of hero you'd expect to find in a game of this type. Wade is, for all intents and purposes, a slack-jawed, mullet-sporting hick. As the game's story goes, Wade--an unknown, unimportant boxer--is on his way home from a monster truck rally when his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Despite his excellent duct-taping job on the car's various engine parts, the car is dead, and Wade has it towed to a garage in the nearby town of Big Piney. Big Piney is no ordinary town, however; it's a boxing town. It seems that every single resident of Big Piney either boxes or is involved with boxing in some way or another. As you play, you'll work your way up through the Big Piney boxing circuit, earning cash, learning new moves, and gaining respect as you go.

As you work your way through Big Piney, you will encounter an extremely colorful roster of characters. Your opponents include a slick-talking boxing promoter named Don, an angry tribal native, a demon with a penchant for barbecue cooking, a bubbly raver girl (complete with glow sticks and oversized pants), a 400-pound silverback gorilla, an unintelligible pimp named Sweetness, and even an evil version of yourself. You'll also encounter an array of non-boxer characters, such as the mechanic who works on your car, the local bartender who also refs all of your fights, and a washed-up, homeless former boxer who teaches you a thing or two about dirty fighting. Every character's dialogue fits perfectly with his or her wacky gimmicks, and though it isn't all knee-slappingly funny stuff (seriously, how many mullet jokes can you fit into one game?), overall, the game's bizarre sense of humor works really well.

In terms of gameplay, Counter Punch definitely shows its inspiration in a number of key areas. The boxing mechanics are wholly simplistic, with basic punches taking up the A and B buttons and right and left uppercuts available to you via the R and L buttons. As you box, typically your best strategy is to block and dodge as your opponents punch, then run in, get in a four-punch combo, and repeat until your opponent has hit the mat. Additionally, as you earn more cash through matches, you can hit up various training facilities around Big Piney and purchase new, special punches that you can use to decimate your foes. These special punches become available as you build up a special meter underneath your life bar, and once they peak, you can deliver a massive wallop. Of course, your opponents have their own uniquely gimmicked special attacks, which you must look out for during a match, and each is as deadly as your own, if not more so.

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Wade Hixton's Counter Punch (Game Boy Advance): $13.99 - $19.99

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