GamePro: Who do you want to adress with this remake, old fans or new audiences?
Kensuke "Kenji" Tanabe: To be honest: at first hand, old fans. We love the original and have -hopefully just like your readers - many fond memories of it. But we think it's with the new controls we can also create new fans of the series. I mean: everyone on the world knows how to hit someone right? It's also easy to learn, and the true game mechanics are tried and tested and easy to learn.

GamePro: In comparison to other current games, the amount of characters is a little poor with 13 fighters. Is there more to unlock or download?
Tanabe: Oh, there's gonna be a lot to unlock! For example characters, new ring surroundings, challenges, vicory animations, etc. We packed the disc to the brim and there were a few things we had to leave out because there wasn't any space left. We're the first internal Nintendo dev team that came across this problem with the Wii DVDs, so you're definitely getting a lot of things!

GamePro: Are there going to be minigames?
Tanabe: Not really. But there are a lot of challenges that don't take place in the ring. Like tutorials, trainings, etc. But we're not going to talk more about that yet.

GamePro: What about multiplayer?
Tanabe: We're can't tell you anything about that either. Just this: our multiplater mode will feature two players maximum, to put more people in the ring just doesn't make any sense. Our focus is the single player mode.

GamePro: Just like the original the new Punch-Out!! uses a lot of stereotypes, the arrogant German, the Frenchman with his croissants etc. Is using these clichés still alright in this age of political corectness?
Tanabe: Well, we're not too concerned about that. They're characters, like something from comic books. Obviously we don't think all the French just eat baguettes, scream for their mommys and have a glass skin. Our Glass Joe is exactly like that, but that all there's to it.

GamePro: Why Punch-Out!!? Nintendo has - besides the usual suspects Mario, Zelda, etc. - a lot of old classics which deserve a new iteration. Like Ice Climber, or Rad Racer. Is there more to come?
Tanabe: I'm obviously not going to reveal other titles, but it's like this: we look at all the classics and ask ourselves if we can improve the game in a meaningful way with a Wii version. Just like it's the case with Punch-Out!!. When we notice an old game improves with new controls, we will consider a remake.

GamePro: Last question: Why can't Mario be the referee anymore?
Tanabe: Miyamoto wouldn't allow it. No just kidding, actually there's a much more practical reason for it. For exampre he just doesn't fit the graphical style of the remake. To make him look good in the ring, we would have to adjust his physical measurements. But then he wouldn't be Mario anymore.