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May. 22nd, 2009 11:55 amI'm actually somewhat surprised that Punch-Out!! for the Wii actually somehow managed to make the country stereotypes even more blatant than what I was used to before. I haven't run into Pizza Pasta yet, but at the rate this is going, I really wouldn't be surprised.
Example of how the national origins are actually played up from how they used to be: everyone knows that Glass Joe is from Paris, France. In NES Punch-Out!!, all it did was play the French national anthem before round 1 started and leave you feeling vaguely uncomfortable about what they were trying to imply by making the blatantly weak and wimpy guy with a 1-99 record French. In Punch-Out Wii, in addition to the French national anthem and the unfortunate implications, it also plays a little slide show-type movie before the fight with him in front of the Eiffel Tower holding a baguette, and the addition of voice acting allows him to triumphantly declare "Bonjour! Bonjour! Je suis Glass Joe!" as the fight begins. Also, now that there are voices, that one move he did where he backed up a bit, barked a few times, came forward again, and punched? The barking has been replaced by "Vive la France!" And when you knock him out, the special effects emphasizing it involve croissants flying everywhere. I am not making any of this up, and this is the first fight in the game.
Example of how the national origins are actually played up from how they used to be: everyone knows that Glass Joe is from Paris, France. In NES Punch-Out!!, all it did was play the French national anthem before round 1 started and leave you feeling vaguely uncomfortable about what they were trying to imply by making the blatantly weak and wimpy guy with a 1-99 record French. In Punch-Out Wii, in addition to the French national anthem and the unfortunate implications, it also plays a little slide show-type movie before the fight with him in front of the Eiffel Tower holding a baguette, and the addition of voice acting allows him to triumphantly declare "Bonjour! Bonjour! Je suis Glass Joe!" as the fight begins. Also, now that there are voices, that one move he did where he backed up a bit, barked a few times, came forward again, and punched? The barking has been replaced by "Vive la France!" And when you knock him out, the special effects emphasizing it involve croissants flying everywhere. I am not making any of this up, and this is the first fight in the game.