Phew, after a long hiatus, mostly due to summer classes, I'm back. I knew I would have to finish The Ten Gaming Related Moments that Shaped me as a Person, especially with how close it is to conclusion. This entry is about one of my favorite games of all time, an epic quest finally leading to victory, and looking back one of the funniest stories in my life. It's also about playing a game for a decade, trying to beat the final boss. While the final boss is one of the hardest in history, you would think after ten years you'd be able to beat him easily. Plus after my victory, he still managed to beat me. So let's get punch drunk on the story of.

2. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! and Finals week

As stated above, one game that was played constantly Up North was Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. My cousins, brother, and I had an obsessive goal to beat the game and knock out Iron Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, even with the password to skip straight to him it was never meant to be. In three straight years, we came up short. He'd land his third one punch knockdown, and we'd lose The Dream Fight.


Yes, I'm all smiley and happy now, but back then, I wanted to beat this game with a baseball bat.

Now we could've used the Game Genie, but it wasn't about winning the game, it was about truly beating Mike Tyson. After my family stopped being able to go up and visit, I kept track with my cousin Adam to see how progress was. He was never able to do it, he never could beat Iron Mike. When I started using emulators, I made it my own task. I had to do it, for my family's honor. Yet throughout middle school, I had no such luck. In high school after I got my NES back, I figured that this would be the time. I was primed and ready to knock that Ear Eater back to the stone age. However my enthusiasm didn't lead to victory, I continued to fail, I just couldn't do it. It broke me, Unlike Will Smith's song I didn't think I could beat Mike Tyson.


Yeah, your song didn't help at all, you guys lost to him too. Thanks for instilling me with false hope.

Finally I go off to college. I had my PS2 with me so I could keep gaming and an wide variety of Emulators and Roms in case I ever wanted to get Retro. Once our dorm figured out how to network computers, everybody was taking my emulators and ROMs to relive the past. I had reached finals week of my first semester. My roommate had already taken all of his finals and was gone. I was unfortunate enough to have my last exam scheduled on Friday, and very early in the morning. I studied all my lecture notes, all of my teacher's powerpoint presentations, and was working through the study guide to make sure I had everything down. After three hours of studying, I needed a break. I ordered a Pizza, turned on the TV, and started to relax. Something beckoned me over to the computer, and soon enough, I had Punch-Out booted up. At this point I was using the game for relaxation purposes, I could play until Mike Tyson with ease so it just felt good to beat the shit out of the computer. After eliminating Soda Popinski, I got a call my pizza had arrived so I made a save state of my progress.


Oh Soda, you are a god among stereotypes.

I ate, finished watching TV, and went back to my studies. Around Eleven I was ready to get to sleep. I'd stopped studying an hour before and packed up all the stuff I needed for my trip home besides the computer for some odd reason. Sure enough I went back to the computer, back to Punch-Out. I finished up the World Circuit, and save stated at The Dream Fight. The battle began, and Tyson kicked my ass for countless fights. I was able to outlast his first barrage of one hit knockdown punching at times, but even then I'll still get destroyed. This was what my past 14 years were building up to, I was going to take out Mike Tyson even if it killed me.


[b]Aren't there weight classes in boxing, seriously. He just looks like he's going to murder you, and this is
before he went crazy.[/b]

Time passed, fights went to decision, all won by that bastard. Then I finally got the rhythm down, and in the second round I had two knock downs with very little time left. I lucked out and managed to get a star, one uppercut later I knocked out Mike Tyson. It was a gaming achievement none of my friends or family had ever done, but I managed to do it. For a single moment, I was the greatest gamer in the entire world. I looked at my clock, it was 2 AM, and my test was at 9. Seven hours of sleep would be plenty I thought. I set my alarm and I flopped down to sleep. It wasn't my alarm that work me but a call from my ride home asking if I was ready to leave. It was 11, my Punch-Out victory had caused me to oversleep and miss my final. From beyond the game Tyson got a mark of revenge.


Don't you smile at me, I missed my final because of you.

I managed to send off an email and a call to my professor, thankfully he was still at school. If I met him in his office, I could take the final. He was leaving at exactly 12:30, so no matter what my final would have to be done then. I didn't shower, shave, or even change my clothes. I ran the half a mile across campus, rushed through the test in an hour, and managed to leave school by one o'clock. I tell people the story now, and everybody laughs. I missed a final due to Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Since then I've beaten Tyson on my NES, Mr. Dream on Virtual Console, and to prove a point in culinary school beat Mr. Dream on a computer in front of a group of my friends and classmates who didn't believe my claims. But I think the experience helped me gain an even better understanding of taking responsibility for myself, over anything else, even beating a video game that took nearly a decade to accomplish.


Celebrate Good Times, With PUNCH-OUT!! It's a Celebration.

Well folks, there's only one story left to tell. The final entry will deal with one of the most significant moments in my life, for more than one reason. Once again, feedback, questions, and the like are always appreciated. And just remember, telling me to join the Nintendo fun club is not good advice, especially when it goes defunct a year after you tell me to join.