If you've been following the recent news around the Punch-Out!! series, you may have read an article or two, suggesting that the series is now essentially dead and buried following criticism aimed at the characters in Next Level Games' 2009 entry.
Well, we recently looked into the validity of these comments, speaking to those who had worked on the series at Next Level Games to find out whether this was accurate or not, and it seems like this reason might not be entirely accurate, after all.
Just to give you some background, the source of these initial reports is a comment on Resetera from the Kinda Funny presenter Imran Khan, who stated that he once got someone close to Next Level Games drunk at a bar and asked them about the potential for a sequel.
According to Khan, this unnamed source then proceeded to say that "there was significantly more backlash against the characters of the Wii game than they expected", despite the studio going to great lengths to prove to Nintendo it wasn't leaning into potentially offensive stereotypes. And that this has since led the company to focus on other more profitable Nintendo series.
We ran this story past multiple employees from Next Level Games (all of whom understandably wished to remain anonymous) and according to those we spoke to, no one could remember any specific controversy surrounding the game's characters.
One source who worked on the game, for instance, told us, "I don't recall any negative feedback from the public around stereotypes after launch nor have I seen anything since so I don't believe that is a valid reason to prevent another version being made."
Another source, meanwhile, added, "The only major controversy I recall was the Sailor Moon manga issue which I'm sure you've heard about. But nothing directly related to the stereotypes or cultural representations of the characters."
In fact, according to those we spoke to, it seems there were never any immediate plans to do any kind of sequel or follow-up to Punch-Out!! Wii in the aftermath, aside from the Club Nintendo exclusive Doc Louis' Punch Out!!. Instead, most of the team just moved on to other projects.
Talking to the anonymous developers, we suggested, based on our experience of interviewing other Nintendo third parties, that the series's hiatus had more to do with coming up with an original pitch for the game.
In response, one source close to its development responded, "You're right, there needs to be new gameplay hook to make another. The Wii controls combined with how old the game was made it a perfect fit to make Wii Punch-Out!!"
The only part of Khan's story that members of the development team were able to verify was the struggles to get certain characters past Nintendo.
"We faced quite a few challenges on the Wii version in regards to avoiding or perpetuating cultural stereotypes," says one of these sources. "Things like Great Tiger's mysticism or Aran Ryan's brusque Irish mannerisms just made the cut after a lengthy debate. Previous characters like Kid Quick were cut due to their dated representation and instead replaced with more modern original characters like Disco Kid.
"Some stereotypes we actually leaned in to, like Bear Hugger, since we were a Canadian developer and felt comfortable with doing so."
In other words, there is a possibility of Punch-Out!! making a return in the future, but there just needs to be a valid reason to revisit it. Either a new technical innovation or a groundbreaking mechanic.