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Glass Joe

Glass Joe[a] is a fictional French boxer from Nintendo's Punch-Out!! video game series. He first appeared in the arcade game Punch-Out!! in 1984 and three years later in the NES game of the same name. His most recent appearance was in the Wii installment of Punch-Out!!. He was originally designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and was revised by Makoto Wada for the NES game. He is voiced by Christian Bernard in the Wii game.

Glass Joe
Punch-Out!! character
Drawing of a skinny shirtless man with red hair, red boxing gloves, and white-and-red shorts and shoes. He is looking to the left and appears worried.
Glass Joe in the 2009 Wii release of Punch-Out!!
First appearancePunch-Out!! (1984)
Designed byShigeru Miyamoto (Punch-Out!!, 1984)
Makoto Wada (Punch-Out!!, 1987)
Voiced byChristian Bernard (Punch-Out!!, 2009)

Joe is the player's first opponent in all of his roles. As a foil among most of the boxers, he is famous for his weakness and cowardice, considered by critics to be stereotypes of French people. These characteristics were emphasized by the developer of the Wii game which included cutscenes which depict Glass Joe in French settings. Glass Joe is considered one of the most well-known characters in the Punch-Out!! series and a Nintendo icon. His name has been used to describe poor performance by sportspeople and teams. In the Wii game, his dialogue consists of him pleading for the player to not strike him in the jaw, complaints about the tightness of his gloves, and counting to ten in French.

Concept and creation

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Glass Joe is a 38-year-old French flyweight boxer who was born in Paris. He stands at 177.8 centimeters (5'10'') and weighs in at 49.9 kilograms (110 lbs.). His boxing record is one win and 99 losses.[1] He is the weakest opponent and the first meeting with the players in any of their appearances.[2] His mediocrity has been attributed to poor blocking and reaction time.[3] He possesses several stereotypes of French people.[4][5]

The character was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto for the original Punch-Out!! arcade game. The name "Glass Joe" was conceived by Genyo Takeda as a play on his glass jaw. Glass Joe's appearance was revised by Makoto Wada for the NES Punch-Out!!.[6] The character is voiced by Christian Bernard in the Wii game;[7] much of his dialogue in between matches consists of counting to ten in French.[8] Next Level Games (the developer of the Wii game) introduced cutscenes which depicted Glass Joe as a fashionable Frenchman. They also showed him in front of the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower (both Parisian landmarks)[8][9][10] The designers had croissants burst from Glass Joe as he is knocked out.[9]

Appearances

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Glass Joe's debut was in the first Punch-Out!! game for the arcades in 1984. His role was to give young players a sense of accomplishment which motivated them to spend more money to try to beat the more difficult opponents.[11] Glass Joe later appeared in Punch-Out!! for the NES in 1987.[12] While he did not appear in the SNES game's sequel, he opened a boxing school for potential fighters. Gabby Jay (the game's first opponent) attended this school and got his first and only win against Glass Joe.[13] Glass Joe's most recent appearance was in Punch-Out!! for the Wii in 2009. He was one of the first characters revealed in pre-release material.[14] The Wii Punch-Out!! has a mode called "Title Defense" which featured a more difficult version of Glass Joe among other opponents. This mode has Glass Joe wear a protective headgear out of a doctor's recommendation after an X-ray was done on his skull, causing him to be immune to jabs unless star-punched.[4] A photo of Glass Joe appears in the 2023 film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, in a pizzeria called "Punch-Out Pizza".[citation needed] He was included in a series of trading cards which depict various Punch-Out!! boxers.[15]

Reception

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Glass Joe has come to be considered one of Punch-Out!!'s signature characters.[16][17] Glass Joe is considered noteworthy for his weakness,[2][8][18][19][20][21][22] with writers having used him as a test of the usability of NES controllers such as the U-Force and the Power Glove.[23][24][25] His appearance in the "Title Defense" mode of the Wii Punch-Out!! received attention for his increased difficulty.[26][27][28][29] Official Nintendo Magazine's Chris Scullion praised the fight and felt it proved that the Wii game would not be too easy.[4] His name has been used as a derogatory term for sportspeople and teams who perform poorly, including Derek Anderson and the New York Mets.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] When asked who among his boxing opponents most reminded him of Glass Joe, Mike Tyson said Bruce Seldon whom he claimed he didn't even need to hit.[38] Both UGO's Chris Plante and G4TV's jmanalang considered the fight with Glass Joe one of the most memorable NES moments. Plante felt that it was even more memorable than the in-game fight with Mike Tyson.[3][39]

Glass Joe's French characteristics and stereotypes have been discussed by critics such as writer Sumantra Lahiri and Eurogamer's Oli Welsh.[5][40] IGN's Craig Harris felt that the NES game focused more on his weaknesses and that the Wii game emphasized his stereotypes.[41] A member of the Retronauts podcast also felt that he was defined more by his weakness than his nationality until he learned more about French stereotypes.[42] Despite the presence of stereotypes, Giant Bomb's Ryan Davis felt that there was nothing legitimately offensive about how Glass Joe is presented.[43]

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: グラス・ジョー, Hepburn: Gurasu Jō

References

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  1. ^ Nintendo R&D3 (February 1984). Punch-Out!! (Nintendo Entertainment System). Nintendo. Level/area: Glass Joe.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b Rudden, Dave (August 20, 2009). "The 11 Skinniest Video Game Characters". GamePro. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Plante, Chris (February 27, 2010). "Top 20 NES Moments". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on March 22, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c Scullion, Chris (May 21, 2009). "Wii Review: Punch-Out!!". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  5. ^ a b Huling, Ray (January 13, 2009). "Punch-Out!!'s Black Eye". The Escapist. Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  6. ^ Nintendo R&D3 (October 1987). Punch-Out!! (NES). Nintendo. Level/area: Besaid. Character Designer: M. Wada{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "Christian Bernard Profile". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  8. ^ a b c Elston, Brett (May 20, 2009). "Fun with stereotypes: starring Punch-Out!!". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  9. ^ a b Kohler, Chris (May 19, 2009). "Review: Punch-Out!! Is an Absolute Old-School Knockout". Wired. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  10. ^ Iwata, Satoru (June 10, 2010). "Iwata Asks - Punch-Out!!". Nintendo. Archived from the original on August 10, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  11. ^ "Sports - A Brief History of Boxing Video Games - UGO's Boxing Greats". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on November 1, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  12. ^ "From Mike Tyson to Mr. Dream, How Punch-Out!! Defined Boxing Video Games". September 23, 2021.
  13. ^ Super Punch-Out!! game manual. Nintendo. (October 1994)
  14. ^ Thomas, Erin (March 31, 2009). "Punch-Out!! - hands-on". GamesRadar. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  15. ^ Reparaz, Mikel (April 14, 2012). "The 13 unluckiest videogame bastards". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
  16. ^ Ashcraft, Brian (April 28, 2009). "Yet Another New Character Coming to Wii Punch-Out!!". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  17. ^ Orry, James (April 21, 2009). "Punch Out!! modes detailed - Punch-Out!! for Wii News". Video Gamer. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  18. ^ "Nintendo Power 250th issue!". Future US. 2010: 59. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ Herring, Will (May 18, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Review from GamePro". GamePro. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  20. ^ Workman, Robert (May 18, 2009). "Retro Rewind: Then and Now: Punch-Out!!". GameDaily. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  21. ^ Cowan, James (November 16, 2009). "Game Informer's Top 100 Games Of All Time (Circa Issue 100)". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  22. ^ Cavalli, Earnest (April 28, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Website Teases New Mystery Fighter". Wired. Archived from the original on May 3, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  23. ^ Csatari, Jeff (May 1989). "Electronics". Boys' Life. p. 15. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  24. ^ Caoili, Eric (May 18, 2009). "U-Force Power Games ROMs Released". GameSetWatch. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  25. ^ Castro, Radford (2004). Let me play: stories of gaming and emulation. Hats Off Books. p. 52. ISBN 9781587363498. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  26. ^ McWhertor, Michael (May 19, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Review: Call It A Comeback". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  27. ^ "The 7 Best Second Quests". GamePro. June 19, 2009. Archived from the original on August 7, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  28. ^ Sharkey, Scott (May 15, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Review for Wii". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
  29. ^ McShea, Tom (May 18, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Review for Wii". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  30. ^ Burke, Chris (August 15, 2009). "Round 1 of Browns' Quarterback Fight Goes to Brady Quinn". AOL News. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  31. ^ Florio, Mike (October 30, 2009). "Rolle, three others fined in Cardinals-Giants game". NBC. Archived from the original on April 20, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  32. ^ Lohn, John (December 5, 2009). "Ridley is the boss in District One". Delaware County Daily Times. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  33. ^ Girardi, Joe; Pavano, Carl (June 10, 2010). "Healthy A.J. Burnett produces on mound for New York Yankees as he manages pitching approach". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  34. ^ Simmons, Bill (June 21, 2003). "Heavyweights are a dying breed". ESPN. Archived from the original on July 12, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  35. ^ Oz, Mike (June 4, 2013). "Introducing the 'Glass Joe Title': Honoring baseball's losingest losers". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  36. ^ Oz, Mike (June 17, 2013). "TKO! New York Yankees now burdened with 'Glass Joe Title' after series loss to Angels". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  37. ^ Oz, Mike (July 1, 2013). "Braves sweep D-backs and unload 'Glass Joe Title' in the process". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  38. ^ Robinson, Jon (December 18, 2012). "Mike Tyson on WWE and real-life Glass Joe". ESPN. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  39. ^ jmanalang (August 30, 2008). "The Definition Of Hardcore Gaming". G4TV. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  40. ^ Welsh, Oli (March 25, 2009). "GDC: Punch-Out!! Wii Hands On". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on June 17, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  41. ^ Harris, Craig (March 25, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Hands-on". IGN. Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  42. ^ Kohler, Chris; Parish, Jeremy; Sharkey, Scott; Barnholt, Ray (May 14, 2009). "A History of Punch-Out!!". Retronauts, Wired. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  43. ^ Buffa, Chris (May 18, 2009). "Culturally Insensitive Games". GameDaily. Archived from the original on May 22, 2009. Retrieved March 4, 2011.

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