Released in 1987 and given away exclusively for Nintendo’s US Golf Tournament, this golden, beautiful version of Punch Out is a truly special game. US Golf was a Disk System game developed and published by Nintendo, and for a tournament competition involving the game 10,000 of these carts were produced. The carts were distributed to the tournament winners and also through various raffles. This original console version of Punch Out, also referred to as Punch Out Special, was the first home version of Nintendo’s arcade classic.

The title proved to be so popular that the right’s to Mike Tyson’s name and likeness were secured and the game was next released in North America as Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, and under the same name and with the same license in Japan.

Think of this first, golden edition of Punch Out to be kind of a prototype. It’s essentially the same game, with several color differences. The game also has alternative music when the phrase “TITLE BOUT!” flashes on the screen.

The gold version also ends after Super Macho Man, exactly the same as the arcade title Super Punch Out.

Gold Punch Out is also the only known Famicom game that uses NES chips on it’s board. Although the game looks similar to a NES cart in appearance, it is in reality much smaller in size.
An oddity, the Gold Punch Out Special cart’s low release numbers and the popularity of the Punch Out feanchise as a whole means this cartridge commands a high price, and double that for a complete copy. It is among the most sought games in the Famicom library, and for good reason… it is so damn cool.

Tags: mike tyson, NES, Nintendo, punchout gold