When it comes to modern games paying homage to classics, I always feel a bit conflicted. I’m very happy to see references, whether indirect or perhaps a little more blatant, to games from my formative years. It’s great to see other people who have a love for the same games I did, and I appreciate the attempt to bring that same sort of experience to modern audiences. That said, especially when we’re talking about games around 40 years old, there’s an expectation that when you channel such an experience that you’d at least match the quality of the original, if not exceed it. My gripe is that, more often than not, despite superior technology and gameplay evolutions from over the decades, these modern titles like Leftovers KO instead fall far short.

In principle, this is absolutely a revised (and somewhat sillier) version of the Nintendo classic Punch-Out, a game that I’ve always been surprised not very many people have chosen to try to emulate. It’s possible that the struggles this indie title has to even hold Little Mac’s towel in his corner, is a good indicator for why. Replacing the story of an up-and-coming boxer, trying to work his way through a series of sometimes outlandish opponents in the hopes of taking on the champ, here you’ll be fighting against a collection of mold samples that used to be food that you’ve had buried in your fridge… and they’re not happy.

There are a number of issues I struggled with. The first is that while Nintendo was wise to give you a punching bag to rough up and gain some confidence with, in the form of the infamous Glass Joe, here you’ll proceed straight to getting throttled. It seems that the approach is that there’s no time like the present to get the hang of things, so you’re simply expected to take on the frustration of being overmatched before you even have a grasp of nuances like how to earn stars, how to counter effectively, or pretty well anything. Where Punch-Out was more puzzle-like in its design, and instructive, effectively teaching you new techniques and ways to succeed with each fight, there’s no such nuance to be had here. Hell, even the fact that your opponents will get up after being knocked down a few times, while you’ll simply be done the moment you hit the mat is a serious irritant, quickly disincentivizing your continued participation.

In the end, this feels like an exercise for the art department to have some fun with character design, slapped onto a working boxing game engine, but without much in the way of real design or overall care. It isn’t as if this is a game breaking new ground and figuring out how gameplay should be done right. There’s literally a template out there that has existed for decades, and to ignore it while aping its gameplay is a move you make at your own peril. Truly, you would be better off playing the original Punch-Out or its sequel in any way you could, rather than settling for this disappointing facsimile.