| Developer: | Beam Software American Softworks |
| Publisher: | American Softworks |
| Producer: | Sue Anderson |
| Programmer: | Andrew Bailey |
| Artist: | Greg Holland |
| Composer: | Marshall Parker Gavan Anderson |
| Genre: | Sports (boxing) |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Platforms: | Nintendo Entertainment System |
Power Punch II is a boxing video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1992. The game was developed by Beam Software and was published by American Softworks Corp. Despite its title, there was no previous "Power Punch" game. However, Beam Software would use Power Punch IIs engine again with George Foreman's KO Boxing on multiple systems the same year.
Mark "Tough Guy" Tyler is the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, with an Olympic gold medal and a 33-0 (30 KO) record to his claim. After knocking out another opponent with ease, Tyler and his manager taunt the world by saying that nobody can stop him. However, the broadcast is picked up far from Earth in the outer reaches of the universe by an alien boxing promoter for the Intergalactic Boxing Federation (IGBF). The promoter decides to accept Tyler's challenge that he can beat "anybody". Thus Tyler is brought into the throes of the universe to compete against the best fighters in the universe and defend his earthly title.
The game includes a scoring system based on punch percentages as well as knockdowns. Rounds are only one minute long.
Originally, the game was to feature real life heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson as its protagonist and was titled Mike Tyson's Intergalactic Power Punch. A prototype featuring Mike Tyson was leaked in 2009.[1] However, Beam Software changed the protagonist's name, possibly due to Tyson's mounting legal troubles at the time.[2] There are no previous titles in the series, leading to some confusion over the title appearing as a sequel.
There has been conflicting information and confusion regarding Nintendo's involvement in the game. While most sources state that it was originally a co-production between Beam Software and Nintendo only for the latter to distance themselves from the project due to Tyson's legal issues,[3] [4] others such as Destructoid dispute this, opining that it made little sense for Nintendo to maintain the licence when they re-released Punch-Out!! without Tyson's likeness in 1990 when their deal with the boxer expired; they did however note the mention of Nintendo supposedly owning the trademark to Power Punch II in the game's legal screen, though programmer and character designer Andrew Bailey does not recall having been commissioned by Nintendo to develop a Punch Out!! sequel, stating "I don’t remember it being commissioned by Nintendo. We were working for LJN (from memory) a small US publisher. Of course, Nintendo needed to approve every game, and they would have probably not liked [Mike Tyson’s] involvement once the issues came out."[5]