Nintendo’s track record for celebrating milestone anniversaries has been spotty lately, with only some of its classic characters being deemed worthy of acknowledgement. Mario earned a special collection a few years ago, and Kirby will be receiving the same later this year. One of the franchises that will see its 25-year anniversary unrecognized is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, which Nintendo published in 1987. Thankfully, one fan has decided to handle the celebration himself by setting up a Kickstarter to fund the publication of an unofficial Punch-Out encyclopedia.
According to its Kickstarter page, the book will catalog “everything there is to know” about the loosely boxing-inspired game thanks to contributions from several Punch-Out record holders as well as its author, Daniel Lanciana, who is a self-described “retro video-game nerd.” Throughout the book’s 240 pages, readers will find explanations of game mechanics, character biographies (apparently Soda Popinski is from Russia), collections of Punch-Out merchandise, Game Genie codes (remember those?), and more. Like, a lot more. It looks pretty crazy.
Lanciana is hoping to collect $25,000, and unlike some of those shadier Kickstarters, where you know you’re probably giving someone money to pay their rent while they “work on” some creative project, he says his Punch-Out book is completely finished. He only needs the money to pay for publishing and securing copyright permission from Nintendo…which is kind of important. It’s so important, in fact, that he will refund everyone’s pledges if he can’t secure it within three months.
Hopefully, things work out because the book looks really rad. Check out the gallery below for some preview images, and go to the official Kickstarter page for more information.
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