In between Kitchener and Cambridge, there used to be this lame, tiny amusement park called SPORTSWORLD. All it had going for it was a decent waterpark and some decent mini-golf. It also had an arcade, which at one time had like 20 Astro City sit-down cabs lined up with awesome games. In the back they had a PUNCHMANIA machine and I remember the first time I played it. The intense action, the cheesy-terrible-yet-awesome voice acting, the hot blooded action. While playing this masterpiece, I had the biggest shit-eating grin wiped on my face and it didn't leave my face long after playing it.
One of the best parts about this game was when the pads came flying at you at random and all you had to do was hit as many as possible in a small time frame. So you were going APESHIT on the fucking machine. This was like a finishing attack and they would say the attack names in ENGLISH with the CHEESY DUBBING and it was just PERFECT. It made it even better if you've read the manga because these voices were PERFECT. I never was a fan of the anime besides the HOT BLOODED NEXT EPISODE PREVIEWS, so I never got accustomed to the original VAs.
But yeah, PUNCHMANIA is one of the best fucking games ever and it stands strong as a symbol, a testament to what arcade gaming is and what it can provide to you. Arcade gaming is supposed to give you an experience you can't have at home. This is why you have games on HUGE WIDESCREEN TELEVISIONS you'd normally couldn't afford, why you have force-feedback steering wheels with DAYTONA USA back in 1994, this is why you have MOTION SENSING LIGHT GUN ACTION with POLICE 911, this is why you have the a STEEL PEDAL when you play TIME CRISIS, why you have a MUSIC GAMES w/ INSTRUMENTS with LOUD FUCKING SPEAKERS or even DDR with the DANCING PLATFORM. Hell, even simple stuff as having a TV that was TILTED SIDEWAYS when you play a TATE STG game (think back the mid-to-late 90s when a decent 27" TV still costed over 750 bucks, would you treat your TV like that and risk breaking it?)
You can't replicate PUNCHMANIA at home. Sure, you could have a DS game where you tap a pad coming at you, but YOU CAN'T FUCKING PUNCH THE SCREEN. YOU COULD, BUT IT'S TOO SMALL. A DS can't give you GLOVES that the arcade game provides, and you can't choose to IGNORE THEM. NO, YOU PUNCH THOSE PADS UNTIL YOUR KNUCKLES FUCKING BLEED. You could try this on the Wii, but you'd be PUNCHING AIR and THAT'S SIMPLY NOT WHAT PUNCHMANIA IS ABOUT. PUNCHMANIA IS ABOUT PUNCHING PADS, MAKING YOUR KNUCKLES BLEED AND LEAVING THE GAME FEELING MANLY.
PUNCHMANIA is the manliest and best game ever. God fucking damn it.
