Punch-Out!! (Wii)

Notes

Unused Content#

Unused Fighter#

The game references an unused fighter - JoeTemplate. When loaded into the game, he appears as unique otherwise unused model of what looks like an older version of Soda Popinski with slightly differing animations, but doesn't have a moveset defined and just stands still.

You can fight against him in the European version by using the code below (replaces Glass Joe):

CC330F00 476C6173
04330F00 4A6F6554 
04330F04 656D706C
04330F08 61746500 
04330F0C 4A6F6554 
04330F10 656D706C
04330F14 61746500 
04324F60 6172742F
04324F64 66652F6C
04324F68 6F616469
04324F6C 6E670000
04324F70 00000000
0431DFC0 54726169
0431DFC4 6E696E67
0431DFC8 2F747261
0431DFCC 696E696E
0431DFD0 675F7072
0431DFD4 655F6669
0431DFD8 67687400

Unused Fighter Data#

If Giga Mac, Little Mac, and the H2H version of Little Mac are spawned as opponents in the single player mode, it is revealed they actually have a defined AI and fight back, though they will not get back up if they are knocked down.

Watch on YouTube

Unused Transition#

Found in the NIS/Transitions folder is a bundle of files called chocolate_transition_1. If another transition is replaced with it, the game shows a bunch of "Doc's Remedy" chocolate candy bars covering the screen and then disappearing.

Watch on YouTube

Unused Graphics#

Found in the characters folder is an unused question_mark model. This could've been used instead of the silhouettes in career mode, or as the character model for the random fighter in last stand.

Wii	GameCube

Under the art/fe folder is a file called mc_banner.tpl, which features the GameCube banner image for Super Mario Strikers, another title developed by Next Level Games. Seems to be slightly altered from the original US release.

Unused Dialogue#

Note that some of the following exerts can be heard in the game's sound boards, but are never used in normal gameplay.

Don Flamenco#

Flamenco has an exert that goes entirely unused.

Several of Flamenco's lines were also re-recorded or re-worked.

Aran Ryan#

While the following voice clip is used during Aran Ryan's Title Defense match, it automatically gets cut off after the first second. This causes most of the clip to go unused during normal gameplay.

Super Macho Man#

Macho Man also has some attack cues that go unused, some of which hint at moves that never made it into the final game.

Doc Louis#

Mac's trainer has some unused "tips" for the Great Tiger fight(s).

Unused Music#

An unused looping track. Like many of the game's tracks, it's loosely based on the main Punch-Out!! theme. Its purpose is unclear, but it sounds similar to the music used for the Wii Fit Tutorial.

Remasters of the tracks from the NES version of Punch-Out!! for starting a round, winning, losing, and getting a game over that doesn't come to use at any point. They sound as if they are related to the Minor Circuit, which is odd since circuits don't normally have these tracks; the character-themed music is used instead. In fact, there is no variations at all of the music for starting a round in the final game.

Localization Note#

Found immediately after the copyright notice string ("All Rights, including the copyrights of Game, Scenario, Music and Program, reserved by NINTENDO.") in ukenglish.loc is a note for the game's localization teams:

Do not edit this. Only english is needed.

Obscured Graphics#

Between rounds in Title Defense, Piston Hondo is shown reading a manga. While a few of the panels inside can be seen normally, most of them cannot. By either moving the camera (such as with Dolphin) or ripping the textures from the disc, you can see what he's reading - and in the initial releases for the US and Europe, it turns out to be ending panels of Chapter 1, Volume 4 of the Sailor Moon manga, named "Masquerade Dance Party" (albeit with the panels rearranged a bit compared to the source material).

Due to the developers getting into some hot water over using the artwork without permission, this was changed to a lower-resolution generic manga for all later revisions of the game (including all of the Japanese releases, as Japan got the game several months after the US and Europe).

Original Release	Later Revisions

Debugging Features#

The game has a multitude of debugging switches, but they're disabled in the final release. To re-enable them, open the game's main.dol and search for "/General/Build Info". Change the first instance of this into "/User" (remember to null-terminate the string). This only works in the European version of the game.

You can now add the switches into the datetime.ini file in the game's ini folder. The format of the switches is as follows:

Switch name = value

The switches referenced by the executable: Watch on YouTube

• GDCDemo (true/false) - Enters the GDC Demo mode; game locks you into career mode and ends after the minor circuit.
• Smoke Test (true/false) - Prints a string on the screen that counts down time. After the time finishes, a string confirming the completion of the test is printed.
• Smoke Test Duration (eg. 100.0) - Sets the duration of the smoke test
• Soak Test (true/false) - The game will control Little Mac on its own during fights
• RunFESoakTest (true/false) - The game will control the in-game menus on its own
• FESoakProfileNumber (eg. 3) - Sets which save data profile is used during the FE Soak Test
• FESoakCornermanTime (eg. 100) - Sets how long the game spends in the cornerman sequences
• FESoakDeleteProfile (true/false) - If true, the FE Soak Test will first delete the selected profile.
• FESoakScript (exhibition/championship/headtohead) - Selects which soak test script to load.
• FESoakLosses (true/false) - If true, Soak Test will lose HP when hit, else will be invincible.
• FESoakScreenShots - Function unknown. Presumably meant to take in-game screenshots and write them somewhere?
• UnlockForExhibition - Function unknown.
• SkipFE (true/false) - Skips the title screen and starts a fight immediately.
• SkipFeRandomizeDefender (true/false) - If SkipFE is enabled, the started fight's opponent is randomized.
• SkipFeDefenderName - (e.g DonkeyKong, GlassJoe) Selects the opponent.
• SkipFENintendoLoop - Function unknown.
• SkipFeCircuit - Function unknown. Seems to crash after every fight
• SkipFeUseHeadgearAssist - If SkipFE is enabled, makes Little Mac use the headgear accessory
• SkipFeControls - Function unknown.
• SkipFeUseOldRing - Function unknown.
• CrowdMax(e.g 20) - Sets the maximum number of people in the crowd.
• RecordGamesToDisk(true/false) - Writes a play_rec.dat file to title\00000001\00000002\data, but the file seems too short to actually contain a whole game's replay data...
• draw_replay_bar - Function unknown.
• gpu fifo - Function unknown.
• DisablePunchTargeting - Function unknown.
• UseNetworkPacketRecorder - Function unknown.
• AIVersusAI(true/false) - Just like "soak test"?
• ExtremeMode(true/false) - Enables the extreme mode (which is used in the final game, but this method of accessing it isn't)

Debugging Files#

Along with .debug files for every .data file in the game, there is also a debugeffects file which holds seemingly random textures, including a Banana from Super Mario Strikers:

Internal Name#

Internally, the game is referred to as Hippo, a reference to the Minor Circuit Champion.

Oddities#

• Disco Kid's files are internally labeled as kidquick, indicating that he was originally intended to be Kid Quick from the 1984 arcade game.
  • In an interview with Time Extension, an anonymous member of the development team stated that, as they were being careful to avoid cultural stereotypes, "Previous characters like Kid Quick were cut due to their dated representation and instead replaced with more modern original characters like Disco Kid."

Anti-Piracy#

The NVIDIA Shield TV version uses the NVIDIA Security Interface (NVSI) copy protection to strip functionality of an important gameplay function if the game's license check was bypassed. In this game's case, part of the function that positions the camera has been replaced with a call to lingcod_callNVSISnippet(). If the snippet fails to run, the camera during boxing matches is placed near the ground level, near the opponent's feet, which makes the game much harder to play.

Regional Differences#

• In the Japanese version, Mac waits for the opponent to fall to the mat before backing up. In the North American and European versions, Mac immediately backs away once the opponent's health bar is down.
• Some characters have different audio played in different cutscenes. Such as Mr. Sandman in his pre-fight cutscene, Piston Hondo in his TKO/KO animation, and contender Mr. Sandman's victory cutscene.
• The rotating stars present in the post-fight stats screen of the North American and European versions of the game are not present in the Japanese version.
• The Chinese NVIDIA Shield TV version's following changes:
  • This version uses the Japanese version.
  • Every fighter has a unique icon. Even Mac and Giga Mac have them; However, the credits are from the English version, meaning that Doc Louis doesn't get a unique icon.
  • When Little Mac gets hit, the impact effect is grey instead of red.
  • The pre-fight screen's loading time is faster than the Wii versions.
  • All the boxers only have subtitles for their pre-fight cutscenes.
  • The attraction gameplay/tutorial videos are different from the Wii versions' attraction gameplay/tutorial videos and uses the main menu theme as the background music.
    • Doc Louis's mid-tutorial voice lines are absent because it's for the Shield controller; The pre-tutorial and post-tutorial voice lines still remain.