Now first off don't get me wrong, I am picking this game up on the way home from work and hooking it up along with my balance board and getting to work on some Punchout!! awesomeness. What I can't understand though is why they chose to ignore online play.

I don't have many people over so local multiplayer will be used very rarely, most likely when I have a buddy or two over for Penguins playoff Hockey (We get a good 15 or so minutes between periods) but for the most part I game solo.

This game is already going to be totally awesome but I can't help but feel as though it could have been "perfect".

Game is currently at 89 on Metacritic by the way with 13 reviews. The only reason it was knocked below 90 was from the stupid Onion. Losers gave Punchout!! a 75. -.-

I think maybe because of the networking limitations on the wii could have made or broke the overall experience. After playing a little of SSbb I could see the netcode being a problem with player interaction (i.e. lag). Also this game to me is more of a single player game (because of the nature of the earlier incarnations from snes days) and I would think that they would not want to ruin that experience for those who picked up the game for nostalgia only. I think it was a good idea to keep it local multiplayer and that way you and a couple of buddies can knock the snot out of each other in the comfort of your own living room

cus they gotta gimp it somehow

i really have no idea, except that the wii gets gimped a lot in features, graphics, and mainly online

why break the trend?

online woulda made me buy this first day. now im just gonna wait and pick it up whenever is convenient

I think because VS isn't going to be that big of a deal anyway.

Also, any and all lag would totally ruin the game. Punch-Out!! is all about pinpoint timing.

I'm not sure the problem is the networking implementation on wii, I only have problems with SSBB, and the disk rotates much more and faster than in any other game. Maybe is a temperature related problem, due of the reading problems with double layer disks, and over some threshold the wi-fi chip begins to fail.

Beacuse it doesn't need it.

Strangely it is usually third parties that gimp the wii, now it seems it is the first party as well (sarcasm).  But seriously it probably was for the best seeing how nintendo is trying out network enabled games more so this generation then they did last gen with the gamecube.  As time will go on they will get better at it, it just takes more initiative then they are showing thus far.

Isn't The Onion a comedy satire website, why the hell is that included in MetaCritic?

Possibly to help ensure that people realize this is a game about pattern recgonition and timing and not about actual boxing like Wii Sports Boxing. Maybe they figured if they put in online then the actual boxing experience would overshadow the PunchOut gameplay in the media and give new gamers the wrong impression.

Or maybe I have no clue. I don't understand why Mario Super Sluggers didn't have it either. I would have gotten both immediately if they had.

Because it only makes sense as a single player game or local multiplayer game.

It's not the kind of game you play online with random people.