Punch-Out!! Wii Piston Hondo's Story Commercial Transcript & Analysis

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The only thing he boxes are leftovers.

We are midway through KoopaTV's Punch-Out!! Week 2025, and now to the first of the three commercials that didn't actually get distributed by Nintendo of America for wide viewing to promote the game. Therefore, these are lesser-known and posted on random YouTube channels. We get to hear about what happened to Piston Hondo (formerly known as Piston Honda) after he battled Little Mac and then retired from boxing... until he's coming back.

Punch-Out!! Wii Piston Hondo Commercial Transcript

[Piston Hondo] Do I miss boxing? Yeah, of course. [Piston Hondo in real life talking to the camera while labelled Former Major Circuit Title Holder, which cuts to Punch-Out!! NES footage of his Hondo Rush knocking out Little Mac, which is further labelled PISTON HONDO VS. LITTLE MAC 1990]
My steakhouse is doing well. [Cuts to a commercial of Piston Hondo's Steakhouse, with a note at the bottom saying “Now open in Redwood City and Burlingame”]
So come on down to Piston Hondo's steakhouse! It will be “missed-steak” not to! [A note in the corner declares it is OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK as Piston Hondo makes some boxing motions, and “missed-steak” appears, complete with quote marks, on the screen]
People said, “What does a pro boxer know about running a restaurant?” And the answer to that is... nothing.
[Japanese Restaurant Employee] In this corner, weighing 175 pounds, from Tokyo, Japan, Piston Hondo... hondo... hondo... hondo... [The employee is declaring this in the middle of a packed restaurant with a microphone]
[Piston Hondo] Welcome to Piston Hondo's Steakhouse! How are you doing everybody? How you doing? Doing good? Enjoy meal? [Piston Hondo emerges and walks up to a customer, and feints a punch.]
Oh! You want to fight with me? How... how does steak? You want me to tenderize that steak? [Piston Hondo keeps trying to rapidly punch the space immediately in front of the customer, who is very nervous about the whole idea.]
Tenderize? [The scene cuts back to the confessional camera.]
Honestly, I used to have an anger problem. But not anymore. [The scene cuts back to inside the restaurant in front of another employee.]
[Untransliterated Japanese speech from Piston Hondo] [The employee looks clueless]
What?
[White restaurant employee] I have no idea what you're saying.
[Piston Hondo] You don't understand me? Now, get out! Get out! [The employee goes to leave]
Hey, hey! Wait, wait a second! Wait! Come on. That's joking. Okay?
No, my glory days are over now. [Camera cuts back to the the confessional with Piston Hondo alone.]
The only thing I box these days are leftovers. Haha... I'm joking.
[Interviewer] Now that Little Mac has returned to the ring, would you fight him again?
[Piston Hondo] Are you kidding me? I would give him a TKO from Tokyo!
Piston Hondo is coming back! [Piston Hondo is in the restaurant bathroom adjusting his bandana, talking to himself in the mirror as someone else flushes the toilet and comes out.]
[Patron] Excuse me. [The patron takes Piston Hondo's place in front of the mirror, which has a sink under it.]
[Narrator] They're coming back! 12 classic characters plus new ones in the all new Punch-Out!! for Wii! [Cuts to game footage of Little Mac ducking under Piston Hondo's jab, punching Von Kaiser, dodging Soda Popinski's hook, Star Punching Disco Kid, combo-attacking Great Tiger, and punching away Glass Joe, then cutting to the Punch-Out!! Wii logo and then the general Wii logo, with the ii letters making a noise as they bow to the camera]

Punch-Out!! Wii Piston Hondo Commercial Analysis

This commercial is a bit shorter than the others, but let's see what I can get out of it.

The Timeline

In Little Mac's commercial, we said he became W.V.B.A. World Champion in 1987, but then lost his belt in 1989 to King Hippo. In this commercial, Piston Hondo is portrayed as the Former Major Circuit Title Holder, which diverges from all established games. In Punch-Out!! NES, he was the Minor Circuit Champion (and then 5th in the World Circuit), while in Punch-Out!! Wii, he was ranked 3rd in the Major Circuit (which is at the bottom of that circuit).

Perhaps ranks have changed by 1990. Things are fluid in this world, especially when years go by. Though it's never explicitly confirmed that Piston Hondo actually defeated Little Mac in 1990—he simply knocked him down. Referee Mario never showed up to declare the match over in the flashback. In fact, it would make much more sense for both this commercial and Little Mac's commercial if Piston Hondo never beat Little Mac. That would explain why there isn't any Piston Hondo-themed equipment in Doc's Gym, and it would also explain why Piston Hondo would be excited to fight Little Mac again (because he'd want revenge).

This also confirms that Little Mac's boxing career did not end in 1989 after losing his belt to King Hippo, and that Mac would keep fighting afterwards.

Piston Hondo is in California

Piston Hondo's Steakhouse is open in Redwood City and Burlingame, which are two cities in San Mateo County, California about a 20–30 minute drive from each other. Redwood City is notable because Nintendo of America had a Sales and Marketing team located there from 2007, when they opened the office... until 2021, when they closed the office. (You may recall that Nintendo Minute hosts Kit and Krysta worked out of there.) Burlingame might also be notable, but it's not clear how. I think it's a good assumption that this series of commercials was produced by that Redwood City team at Nintendo, though.

Note the logo on Piston Hondo's Steakhouse, which has his NES ringside sprite on it.
(See image below.)

Why did Piston Hondo move from Tokyo to California? ...That's... not ever explained, but perhaps this is the same thinking that got Phoenix Wright's ancestors to move from Japan to California at some point, and California is actually quite filled with Japanese culture. Or maybe Piston Hondo is a big fanboy of Super Macho Man and wants to live near him.

Hard to give a TKO from Tokyo (which is directly quoted in the commercial, too) when he's spent years living in California
and opened up a restaurant chain!

Anger Problem? Steakhouse Owner?

What is with Piston Hondo's anger issues? Why is he the owner of a steakhouse when the only food he mutters about is sushi? Neither of these are clear or hinted at in Punch-Out!! titles, though Piston Hondo does get notably angrier in his rematch with Little Mac in the NES game, wanting to banzai him and pay him back. And he was always a fan of kamikaze. But Piston Hondo is supposed to be the paragon of polite and respectful to his opponents, bowing to them and not trash talking them. A straight-shooter, not someone who claims to be joking if the other person gets offended. Perhaps this change represents how much Piston Hondo has fallen from grace the longer he has been away from his true calling, the boxing ring. And other than Mr. Sandman and Little Mac, Piston Hondo had an excellent fighting record! He's constantly thinking about boxing, even without the interviewer's prompting, since he runs his restaurant with boxing gloves on and has memorabilia walls, and his employees announce his presence like he's in a boxing match. The ring is where he belongs...

As for Piston Hondo running a restaurant, he should probably get featured on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. He admits he doesn't know what he's doing, though the seats aren't totally empty, and he did say his steakhouses are doing well. Maybe not for long, though.

Piston Hondo's Japanese outburst

I asked someone who has a friend that knows Japanese, and according to that guy, the English meaning of what Piston Hondo was saying in Japanese to his clueless white employee was, “… quickly! What are you doing spending time here!” Maybe Piston Hondo expected his employees to all understand him because of the merging of Japanese and Californian cultures, so everyone should know a bit of Japanese. (And Redwood City and Burlingame do have large and influential Asian communities.) Alternatively, he really isn't involved in the day-to-day management of his steakhouses, and mistrusted hiring decisions to other people, so he doesn't know what things are really like on the ground floor, like how his employees aren't all Japanese. Maybe all of the local Japanese people looking for work would rather work at the sushi bar.


Ludwig would much rather eat at a sushi place than a steakhouse, especially because he doesn't eat beef products. He's glad that Piston Hondo went back to boxing instead of butchering cattle for profit. What do you think about Piston Hondo's story? Do you know why Burlingame would be mentioned in the commercial? Is Ludwig a better humourist than Piston Hondo is?


Next up is Ludwig's actual favourite commercial: Great Tiger's.
And to finish the week, it's King Hippo's commercial.