As a lad of barely five when I played it, comprehension wasnʼt my strongest suit. But Super Punch-Outʼs bravado and colour grabbed me almost instantly; the sheer size of even the 1-99 Gabby Jay (heʼs French and has a glass jaw, obviously) took up what seemed like a majority of the screen real estate. It helped that your up-and-coming boxer, Little Mac, was rarely seen below his waist, that he had tendency to become translucent and that even by his third opponent he was out-weighed by something in the region of 350 pounds.

When I grew up I learnt that the ensemble of racial stereotypes in Super Punch-Out was a carry-over from the original but if anything they became more over the top on the SNES. They included a (what else?) ginger-haired Irishman called Arron Ryan who loved to be punched but would fight dirty and suck your health by putting you in his almost inescapable – and terrifying – man-hug.

For me, the game is as much tied to moments in my life as any video game, film or song Iʼve ever experienced; by nature of my self-inflicted learning curve my progress through the four tiers of four boxers, the Minor, Major, World and Special circuits, was piece-meal but I rarely remember becoming flustered with the game. I usually knew Iʼd done something stupid when I ended up face-first on the canvas.

Beating Bald Bull, a Turkish brick of a man and the Minor champion, while recovering from Tonsillitis meant barely being able to make a sound while being in a fit of delirium and finally, finally beating the final fighter, Nick Bruiser, a boxer so powerful when he hit you when you were blocking he was able to sprain your hand, meant reaching perhaps the greatest credits in human history – as the names of the development team scroll each of your beaten opponents gives a final epilogue, be it gracious acceptance of your boxing ability or in the case of Nick Bruiser, complete bemusement that he was beaten.

Iʼll never get my tonsils back, but those hours trying to figure out the strategies to beat each fighter, and why some fighters were allowed to kick me in the face or hit me with a stick, made the recovery fly by. And no, Gabby, I wonʼt ever ʻlet you winʼ.

(thanks to @charismagic)

DVD.co.uk are offering select titles on all consoles for 2 for £25 and 2 for £30, while handheld games are 2 for £18 and 2 for £30. They are also offering  up to 70% off select titles on all platforms. The gmaes most worth of mention are Left 4 Dead 2 for £12, The Witcher Enhanced Edition for £12 and Bad Company 2 for  £14.

PS3 2 for £25 list can be found here. PS3 2 for £30 can be found here. PS3 deals can befound here.

XBox 2 for £25 can be found here. XBox 2 for £30 can be found here. XBox  deals can be found here.

Wii 2 for £25 can be found here. Wii 2 for £30 can be found here. Wii deals can be found here.

DS 2 for £18 can be found here. DS 2 for £30 can be found here. DS deals can be found here.

PSP 2 for £18 can be found here. PSP deals can be found here.

PC deals can be found here.

Gamestop.ie are offering the Multi-Threat armour and a Halo Reach hoodie when you purchase the Halo Reach Standard Edition, online only. Get a free Mario Wii Skin with any Wii Mario game you purchase or you can get a free Gamestop NDS bundle pack if you purchase any Mario game for the DS. Get a free copy of Sports Champions when you purchase the Playstation Move, online only. Preorder FIFA 11 for €25 if you buy a 3PAY mobile phone.

CD WOW currently have a sale of up to 85% off select titles. List can be found here. They also have games for sale on clearance, list can be found here.

GAME.co.uk’s weekly sale can be found here.

Smyths.ie are having a weekly sale. Sale can be found here. Enter this competition while on their site to win a voucher for €250 to spend on your gaming goodies. (ROI only)

Argos.ie are having a clearance sale on some games and older models of current gen consoles. List available here.

Xtravision are offering a free copy of Scarface on dvd and the Vegas DLC when you purchase Mafia II (PS3 & 360 only). Also if you preorder Halo: Reach, you get 800 MS Points, downloadable Spartan Recon Helment, Variant and UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark VI Armour. Deals only available instores and not online.

Game.ie are offering free one month dvd rental with any purchase.

Mighty Ape’s New Zealand store are having a large sale on 336 games. List of games can be found here.

Mighty Ape Australia are also having a large sale on 500 games. List can be found here.

Play.com are offering up to 20% off all console bundles and up to 15% off of all preorders. Up to 50% off their Hot Picks of the week.

Gamesnash.ie are currently having a sale on select titles. List can be found here.

HMV are having a sale on over 200 games. List can be found here.

Rollercoaster Tycoon  3 Deluxe is currently 30% off at gamesload.ie.

Direct 2 Drive are offering 75% off 2 different games every day until the end of the month.

Steams mid-week sale can be found here.

Youda Safari is currently 50% off at Boonty.

Impulse are having a sale of up to 50% off  select titles. List of available games can be found here.

GamersGate are having a sale of up to 60% off  select titles. List of games available can be found here.

Purchase an Intel Solid-State Drive and get a free Ubisoft PC game worth up to $49.99.

New gameplay trailer is below.

Mighty Ape are having a large sale on over 300 games. List of games can be found here. Loki for $19.99 is an absolute bargain. The New Zealand $ is worth roughly half that of the €, so you’ll get some good bargains there.

Mighty Ape Australia are also having a large sale on over 400 games. List can be found here.

CD WOW currently have a sale of up to 85% off select titles. List can be found here. They also have games for sale on clearance, list can be found here.

GAME.co.uk’s weekly sale can be found here. Some excellent deals to be found on all platforms.

Smyths.ie are having a weekly sale. Sale can be found here. A Nintendo DS Lite + Nintendogs for €99.99.

Argos.ie are having a clearance sale on some games and older models of current gen consoles. List available here.

Xtravision are offering a free copy of Scarface on dvd and the Vegas DLC when you purchase Mafia II (PS3 & 360 only). Also if you preorder Halo: Reach, you get 800 MS Points, downloadable Spartan Recon Helment, Variant and UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark VI Armour. Deals only available instores and not online.

GamersGate are having a sale of up to 75% off of 22 select titles. List of games available can be found here.

Impulse are having a 50% off sale on select titles. List of available games can be found here.

Go-Go Gourmet is currently 50% off at Boonty.

Steams mid-week sale can be found here.

Preorder RUSE at Direct2Drive US Store and you get 2 free Challenge Maps and 10% off your next Ubisoft purchase (at D2D).

Preorder Civilization V at Direct2Drive UK Store and you get the 1st DLC for free and a free copy of Civilization III.

Preorder Red Faction Armageddon to get a free glow in the dark Red Faction Armageddon t-shirt. Preorder WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 to get a free Smackdown vs RAW t-shirt. Applies only to the Xbox 360 versions of the game. Available through THQ’s online store. (North America only I believe)

Game.ie are offering free one month dvd rental with any purchase.

Play.com are offering up to 15% off of all preorders. Up to 50% off their Hot Picks of the week. List can be found here.

Napoleon Total War is currently 20% off at gamesload.ie.

DVD.co.uk are offering select titles on all platforms for 2 for £25 and 2 for £30. They are also offering  up to 70% off select titles on all platforms.

PS3 2 for £25 list can be found here. PS3 2 for £30 can be found here. PS3 deals can befound here.

XBox 2 for £25 can be found here. XBox 2 for £30 can be found here. XBox  deals can be found here.

Wii 2 for £25 can be found here. Wii 2 for £30 can be found here. Wii deals can be found here.

DS 2 for £18 can be found here. DS 2 for £30 can be found here. DS deals can be found here.

PSP 2 for £18 can be found here. PSP deals can be found here.

PC deals can be found here.

HMV are having a sale on over 200 games. List can be found here.

Gamesnash.ie are currently having a sale on select titles. List can be found here.

As seen at sfweekly.

Disney Epic Mickey Collector’s Edition includes:

Special packaging

Disney Epic Mickey Game

Exclusive 5 inch Collectible Vinyl Epic Mickey Figure

Special Edition DVD with behind the scenes footage and additional marketing assets and videos

Epic Mickey Stylized Wii Remote Faceplate

2 Epic Mickey Stylized Wii Console skins

The figurine of Mickey aside, the Special Edition is looking rather unimpressive and hardly worth the price tag. Hopefully we in Europe will be getting a much more interesting Special Edition.

Toys ‘R Us

There is a storyline, two opposing men, one a bird looking thing and the other a spider looking thing, want to woo the new woman thats in the area. The good bird guy sings sweet symphonies while the evil spider sings heavy metal! Surprisingly she chooses the good guy (terrible decision I know) and they serenade each other. In a rage of jealousy, the evil spider concocts a poison that steals all the music from the world. You, as good Mr Bird guy, have to get it all back!

So lets jump into the game play. You have to collect items that are spread out through each level. You do so by running along a variety of strings. As you run along, you can strum from top to bottom to jump up and strum from bottom to top to fall onto a lower level. Each item generates a sound to go along with the song belonging to that level. This is the easy part. Throughout the levels there are strings that you have to hit at a specific time! This is done in sync with the level music. These generate a sound also.

The early levels are easy enough. Each level is some classical music. You start off playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony which is awesome to say the least. But as the levels progress, you get more difficult additions. Spiders (the percussion section of the symphony) jump at you. Just as they begin to fly towards the screen, you have to hit them. This is a lot harder than it sounds! You have to make sure to do everything in sync!

Every bridge of difficulty is met with a boss fight. The evil spider dude plays a beat with his minions that you have to match perfectly to hurt him. This was my favorite level of the game to be honest. It was the same with Guitar hero boss fights (VS Tom Morello in GH3).  As you win, you gain followers and a crown! If you lose, you get angry red notes that overwhelm you if you do too badly.

All in all I really liked the game, it was a simple concept but leads to a challenging layout. Playing classical music is a plus for me. Games will always appeal to me if they are a bit more unique than the norm. Like the appeal of the GH/Rock Band games you feel more involved with a game when you feel you are playing the music. An enormous amount of portable games cannot pull off the attention grabbing addiction that you need to succeed on a portable platform. I feel Maestro! Green Groove does. Word of advice, play with earphones. Enhances the experience. Keep up the good work guys! Hope to see more additions of the game.

I will give it a decent 4/5 because it managed to fully grasp my attention. It is a good game for the platform I felt.

This is my 3DS. Do you want it? Yes,yes you do. Muahahaha!

Metal Gear from Konami, Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix, music stuff from Activision and Harmonix, Assassin’s Creed from Ubisoft, Saints Row from THQ, and a new Resident Evil game from Capcom are among the many, many third party titles listed for the new device.

Indeed for the first time in years Nintendo have managed to impress with their show, actually bringing content gamers want as opposed to hardware kids and middle aged women want.

Not only that, Kid Icarus is coming to the console – a huge boost for the machine, even outside of Japan.

The 3.5″ screen will let you play games in the third dimension. 3D depth can be adjusted with a slider for those of us with trouble inputting photons without the aid of glasses. Online services will be free, and like the Wii, the device will be constantly connected to the cloud and take updates whether or not you’re using it. Gyro sensors inside will let developers take advantage of tilt mechanisms like the iPhone or SIXAXIS, and the grunt powering graphics has been improved – though Nintendo didn’t provide specs.

Actual third party support on a Ninty machine!

On top of huge third party support, a cool device and a lot of genuinely good technology to power the device, Nintendo also say that it’ll be able to play 3D movies, which undoubtedly made James Cameron wet himself in delight.

The Wii got some face time too, with some excellent software announcements. Donkey Kong returns in ‘Country Returns’ alongside a sequel to the party titles Wii Sports and Wii Resort, Mario Sports Mix… featuring Mario, unsurprisingly. Wii will also get The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a long-awaited Zelda title on the console. Frankly the most exciting part software-wise, though, is a reason to dust off the old Wii. Yes, it’s the wonderful sequel to Goldeneye, featuring split screen multiplayer and the bathroom air vent kill.

Yes, for the first time in what feels like years, Nintendo actually did a good job at E3, impressing everyone with a display of software that’s worth buying. It took a few years, but owning a Wii since launch has finally paid off!

You may be thinking ”June 16th? That’s E3, right?” And yes, you would be right. It’s also when the Official Nintendo Magazine is set to reveal a ”world exclusive”.

According to CVG
”…you may want to mark Wednesday 16 June in your diary. We’ll be revealing world exclusive details on a top secret new game in the next issue of ONM. We had to make sure we cover this new game which is why ONM 56 and 57 are both being released on a Wednesday rather than a Friday as usual”

All the same, Im sure that this ”new game” will get more attention at E3 than in ONM.
So. What’ll it be? A New IP? Pikmin 3? New Starfox? Kid Iccarus Wii? The list is endless.
And of course, the new Zelda will more than likely be revealed at E3.