Not pictured: Wade Hixton himself.
Wade Hixton's Counter Punch is a little-known boxing game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Inferno games and Engine Software and released in 2004.
Generic guy Wade Hixton is on his way back from a monster truck rally when suddenly his car breaks down in the middle of the desert road. Fortunately, a friendly mechanic named Mac takes Wade to town. As he is waiting for his car to get fixed, Wade stops by O'Reilly's pub, where a scuffle with an unruly patron gets him noticed by the enigmatic manager Don. Don offers to be Wade's manager and challenges the mulleted marvel to battle numerous boxers around the city of Big Piney, and so the wild adventure begins for one Mr. Hixton.
Wade Hixton's Counter Punch plays very similar to Nintendo's Punch-Out!! games. You battle various weird and wacky opponents where you have to dodge and counter attacks. Along the way Wade will meet various characters who will help him out by enhancing his boxing abilities and give him power ups.
The game has very impressive graphics for the GBA. All of the sprites and character frames are completely hand-drawn, giving the game a very distinctive cartoony style which combined with the solid gameplay, makes this an hidden gem for the handheld.
This game contains examples of:
- '80s Hair: Perhaps the most defining trait of the otherwise generic Wade Hixton is his impressive mullet.
- All-Stereotype Cast: This game plays this to the hilt much like its inspiration. Its main character is a "Normal Guy" like Little Mac, but the boxers he encounters include a stereotypical burly biker, a nature-loving African tribesman, a stereotypical raver girl, a black pimp complete with a purple hat and fur coat who sometimes speaks in gibberish "-izzle" words, and a couple gimmick characters.
- Alternate Company Equivalent: This game is effectively a Punch-Out!! game developed for the Game Boy Advance, with a dash of Affectionate Parody to it as well.
- Ass Shove: Mimi Li threatens to do this to Wade in her pre-fight intro.Wade: I always wondered where circus folk went when the Big Top left town.Mimi: Circus folk?Wade: You're a clown, ain't cha? I could tell as soon as soon as I saw those giant baggy pants and glitter make-up!Mimi: (points her fist in his face) When I'm through with you, they're gonna need the Jaws of Life to pull this glowstick outta your-!
- Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Mimi Li, the only girl amongst Wade's opponents, habitually wears a short top and low pants that expose her midriff.
- Berserk Button: The characters have a very short temper that leads them to attack Wade.
- Don't mess with Jobu's flowers.
- Likewise, don't eat one of Gus Incubus' hot dogs without permission.
- Killa Gorilla takes offence to Wade calling him "cute", leading into their fight.
- Big Red Devil: Gus Incubus, a sturdily-built demon who lives in an active volcano named Devil's Peak. He battles Wade when the former eats one of his prize hot dogs without asking.
- Casual Sports Jersey: For some reason, everyone — except Don, who only reveals himself as the final opponent after Killa Gorilla is defeated — is shown wearing boxing gloves in cutscenes, even if they have no reason to believe they're about to fight. This includes Wade, who is shirtless and wearing boxing shorts and gloves from the very beginning, even before learning that Big Piney is a boxing town.
- Country Mouse: Wade Hixton is a friendly and innocently naïve fellow whose bumbling and naivete unintentionally gets himself into trouble, kicking off the game's plot.
- Duct Tape for Everything: Wade uses Duct tape to fix everything, including his own car. It's also deconstructed in the plot as his car breaks down. It's implied that it's broken down many times beforehand.
- Enemy Within: Evil Wade introduces himself as "the mean streak inside [Wade]", and appears as a separate entity that Wade has to fight... after he's just downed ten beers.
- Evil Laugh: Don has a very deep "HAR HAR!" laugh that he does when he's about to do a fast punch. It's very reminiscent of Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream winking before attacking similarly.
- Genius Bruiser: Killa Gorilla. Besides being the game's penultimate opponent and a bodyguard to Don himself, he's also smart enough to be his butler, chauffeur and accountant.
- Half-Witted Hillbilly: Right down to the Punny Name, Wade himself is one. He's a mostly friendly guy with a long mullet, a love for beer, motor racing and fixing things with duct tape — including his own car, many times — and a thick Southern accent. Unfortunately, he's also pretty dim-witted and has a tendency to unintentionally get himself into trouble with his clumsiness and tendency to speak without thinking.
- Killer Gorilla: Wade's penultimate opponent, Killa Gorilla. As you'd expect, he's a boxing-trained, four hundred-pound Mountain Gorilla... but one who also serves as Don's butler, chauffeur, accountant and bodyguard.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Mac reveals himself to be Wade's father at the end, he's proud of Wade for becoming the new champion, and they have a tearful reunion. It's possible he's lying, as he then proceeds to try and steal the prize money from his back pocket while they're hugging.
- Mirror Match: After Wade helps himself to ten beers, Evil Wade manifests to fight his original self, using similar tactics in combat. Wade's post-victory comment reads thus:Wade: No one messes with Wade Hixton... including Wade Hixton!
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Crooked and ruthless boxing promoter Don is a rather scathing Take That! towards the similarly controversial real-life boxing promoter Don King.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: All the opponents do this if you deliver a Groin Attack to them. Interestingly, Mimi Li shares the exact same scream as the rest of the opponents.
- Shout-Out:
- Manny, the kid from Arcadium, is seen wearing a peripheral that looks a lot like a Power Glove, and is known as a leading expert on Alpha Street Puncher 2 Turbo: Champion Edition Part 3.
- The round interval cutscenes are a dead-ringer for those seen in the NES version of Punch-Out!!, complete with Wade and the opponent making "speaking" beeps in different pitches. The gameplay itself is also highly reminiscent of the SNES (Super Punch-Out!!) and arcade versions.
- The Smurfette Principle: Mimi Li, the raver girl, is the only female opponent. For some reason, she's just as susceptible to being Distracted by the Sexy by the ring girl and disabled with a Groin Attack as all the male opponents.
- Would Hit a Girl: Wade apparently has no qualms instigating a fight with a female boxer. His fight with Mimi Li starts from him openly insulting her — in particular, mistaking her for a clown thanks to her baggy pants and glittery make-up — after she (snappily) corrects him on where he is, whereas his previous fights with male combatants seemingly arose from some innocent misunderstanding on Wade's part.
