Punch-Out!! was developed by Nintendo R&D3 and directed by Genyo Takeda, who had also produced the arcade Punch-Out!! games. The hero, Little Mac, is a 17-year-old weighing about 107 pounds; he was made small because the NES could not reproduce the arcade's see-through boxer. Mario makes a cameo as the referee, and Glass Joe enters the ring to "La Marseillaise".
Nintendo reportedly paid about $50,000 for three years of Mike Tyson's likeness, before he won the WBC heavyweight title in November 1986. In Japan the first Famicom edition was a gold cartridge given only as a prize in a 1987 Famicom golf tournament, with about 10,000 made; the retail Mike Tyson version followed on 21 November 1987. After the Tyson licence expired, the 1990 re-release swapped him for Mr. Dream.
In October 2014, on The Tonight Show, the virtual Tyson beat the real Mike Tyson by TKO in the first round.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! | NES | 1987 | Nintendo | 1 |
| NA | Punch-Out!!re-release with Mr. Dream replacing Mike Tyson | NES | 1990 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | パンチアウト!!gold prize cartridge for the Family Computer Golf: U.S. Course tournament, about 10,000 made; final boxer Super Macho Man | NES | September 1987 | Nintendo | 1 |
| JP | マイクタイソン・パンチアウト!!Famicom retail release | NES | Nov 21, 1987 | Nintendo | 2 |
| EU | Punch-Out!!Mr. Dream version | NES | 1991 | Nintendo | 1 |
| WW | Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dreamadded to Nintendo Switch Online; the Japanese library carries the gold prize version instead | Switch | Apr 10, 2019 | Nintendo | 3 |
Also known as: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! NA1Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream WW2マイクタイソン・パンチアウト!! JP2パンチアウト!! JP2
Box art by region
NA Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! 
EU Punch-Out!!
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
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ContentMike Tyson's Punch-Out!!Punch-Out!! (Mr. Dream)
After Nintendo's licence for Mike Tyson's likeness expired in 1990, later releases replaced him with the fictional Mr. Dream, a palette and head swap of Tyson, and removed "MIKE TYSON'S" from the title screen.4
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ContentGold prize cartridge (JP)
The gold Famicom prize cartridge is a modified prototype: its final opponent is Super Macho Man instead of Tyson, and the HUD and ring use different colors.4
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Bug fixPunch-Out!! (Mr. Dream)
The Mr. Dream version fixes a name glitch ("Another mchampionn") in the Another World Circuit.4
Where to play legally today
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Nintendo Switch Online Subscription
Reception
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! sold more than 2 million copies in North America by 1988, one of only two NES games to reach that mark that year, alongside The Legend of Zelda. ACE ranked it the second-best NES game in 1989, and IGN later placed it 7th among NES games.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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