The re-emergence of the Punch-Out!! franchise last year in May brought back well-earned nostalgia as well as solid sales. Fans loved taking Little Mac through the circuits to give those lovable ethnic caricatures of boxers a much needed whoopin’. And aided by the time-tested advice of trainer/corner man Doc Louis, there was no way Mac could go wrong. But wisdom is a well with an endless reservoir and there’s more that Doc has to teach Mac. Doc teaches Mac a hands-on lesson in Doc Louis’ Punch-Out!!, a special WiiWare gift from Club Nintendo.

On July 14th, loyal Nintendo customers in the U.S. and Canada were rewarded with the choice of 3 special prizes from Club Nintendo for their registered purchases and participation in customer surveys. Those who reached Gold status (300 Club Nintendo coins) could get a Nintendo mascot-themed desk calendar for 2010. Those who reached Platinum status could have the choice of getting a life-size replica of the Mario cap or this special WiiWare download. Once order was redeemed, customers would be able to receive their prizes starting on October 27th. For me, it wasn’t a hard choice what to pick despite being one of the biggest Mario fans around. I can make my own Mario cap. But I just HAD to see what ol’ Doc Louis was up to!

Jerome “Doc” Louis, Nintendo’s only Black character (unless you count Mr. Sandman and in an extreme stretch Ganondorf), spars with his Sylvester Stallone-inspired protégé in his basement gym (the same one Mac practiced defeating his hologram opponents). Once again in the role of Little Mac, you must defeat your teacher using the techniques from the Wii Punch-Out!! Control is the same as before (except for the exclusion of the optional Balance Board support). You can motion your punches with the Wiimote/Nunchuk combo or turn the Wiimote sideways in NES fashion to press the buttons.

Initially, there are 2 modes to spar against Doc with: Warm-Up and Training. In Warm-Up, Doc takes it easy on you as he coaches while throwing his blows. In Training, Doc steps up the intensity a little bit adding new maneuvers to his move set to keep it interesting. You punch Doc out until you wear down his life meter avoiding his barrage in the process. You still get 2 chances to get knocked down in one round (along with the secret 3rd one if you shake controllers in desperation before the fall) while you only need to get one on Doc. However, Doc’s famous love for chocolate can rejuvenate him keeping him away from the mat.

If you successfully defeat Doc on these modes, then you unlock the much harder Sparring mode. Here, Doc lets loose on Mac as you discover who the originator of that famous Star Punch was. More tricky techniques are thrown at you while Doc’s guard becomes more impenetrable. Figuring out the right punch and timing to trigger your Stars becomes tougher. And please don’t make the mistake of tampering with Doc’s chocolate fix. You’ve been warned (in more ways than one. Hahaha!).

As for the ambience, just like in Wii’s Punch-Out!! the in-game music takes on the tone of the fighter you face. For Doc, the Next Level Games band took you right in the middle of 1974 with a soulful funky rendition of the Punch-Out fight themes...which is great because I LOVE 1970’s soul music! You can’t help but jam while you bam with the music denoting the time period when Doc may have been in his championship prime.

And no doubt you can’t help but love Doc’s verbiage all throughout the game. Whether taunting, teaching, advising, or guiding, my man Doc keeps it 100 with his immortal quotes. “That’s choc-tastic” is just one of his many gems. Dude is just hilarious! As you smile seeing him box in those old fashioned brown leather gloves, you’ll wish they’d make more games featuring this classic corner man.

Doc Louis’ Punch-Out!! is just as fun as the original Wii version (maybe more so due to the mere presence of Doc) despite its shortness. Unfortunately, there’s no save function for this one so you’ll have to replay all modes to get to the end if you exit the game. But it’s short enough where this is not so much of a drawback. Some may complain about the digital-only nature of this collectible preferring a physical copy instead. But never look a gift game in the mouth, I always say. This was a wonderful gift for Club Nintendo members and it inspires you to play Wii’s Punch-Out!! all over again. You sort of wish that Nintendo will re-release this for those who missed out on the Club Nintendo offer.

Well, that'll teach you next time to listen to Doc. He wasn't playing around about that Nintendo Fun Club business.