Current Events > Rocky vs Little Mac (strictly NES version)

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I know many of you will probably ignore topic title and say Little Mac because he beat DK who can split a moon in half, yada yada yada. I think it'd be more interesting if the fight is Little Mac where his feats are more "realistic" in that the ultimate foe was Mike Tyson, who, as incredible of a boxer as he is, still is only human and not subject to the ridiculous video-game power-creep that is bound to happen over time. Perhaps unfair, but this also includes prime Rocky, who is inarguably Rocky IV Rocky since that's when he beat someone that was starting to feel more superhuman than just great boxer.

Rocky has that extreme durability in that he can take blows to the face and keep on punching through. He also has the ability to draw on extra energy when it seems he's down for the count. A very versatile fighter, he seems to be able to take on many different training regimens and fighting styles to attack the opponent in a way that gives him the greatest advantage.

Little Mac, on the other hand, has the biggest strength of boxing IQ. Perhaps he's at a bit of a disadvantage against many fighters that are bigger and stronger than him at the start, but he's able to figure out the patterns that those he fights employ, and use that to become unhittable and strike them at their weakest moments. He also has a devastating star punch. On the other hand, he is prone to running out of stamina quickly if he's not careful.

Alright, who do you think wins the fight?

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Little Mac. For as ridiculous as Rocky is, they at least pretend it is real world boxing.

Little Mac wins first match.

Then Rocky trains hard and a music montage plays.

Then Rocky wins in the rematch.

The_Critic posted...

Little Mac. For as ridiculous as Rocky is, they at least pretend it is real world boxing.

Perhaps, although Ivan vs Rocky starts to venture towards the "super-human" levels of the movie spectrum.

burns112233 posted...

Little Mac wins first match.

Then Rocky trains hard and a music montage plays.

Then Rocky wins in the rematch.

Idk, I feel like it'd be the other way if anything. Think of if you ever played Punch Out; it's basically a puzzle game once you get to the hard fights. Losing becomes a necessary part as you take the first match (or in my case, many many matches) to learn the opponent's cues, moves, timing, etc. and once you learn that, you finally conquer them.

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Little Mac easily. He is one of the greatest counter puncher in history and has seriously underrated power. His jabs normally leave his opponents sufficiently stunned that combos are the norm. Regularly he is able to hit knock down / knock out counters. Every victory of his has come within 3 rounds. Even against prime tyson one of his upper cuts would take 1/8 of tyson's power. He has a pretty good guard, though its possible to punch through it with a single unbelievably powerful shot. But that's not what Rocky's got. He's also got lots of stamina. Its possible for opponents to wear him out, but Mac can recover quickly enough, still having a passable guard even when exhausted.

Rocky's strength is its hard to keep him down and he can give blunt for damage punches which aren't knock out punches but would lower mac's heart count throughout the match. But Rocky can go down easily enough. Spider Rico knocks him down, Apollo knocks him down repeatedly in both fights, Clubber Lang knocks down mercilessly in the first fight, drago keeps knocking him down, mason dixon puts him down, literally every fight we see except the lang rematch, Rocky goes down at least once.

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I mean, Clubber Lang was essentially Mike Tyson before Mike Tyson. And Mr. Dream is just Ivan Dragon. Look at that game cover and tell me that's not Drago.

It's hard to say who would win when they're like two actors playing the same role.

Rocky goes the distance, loses on decision.

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I think they have an equal chance of winning.

The thing about both Rocky and Little Mac is that as protagonist characters - one of which is literally a personification of the player - it's built into the narrative that they're going to lose at some point or another. You as the audience want them to succeed, and through your engagement with the media - playing the game until you're good enough to beat it, or watching the movie - you're eventually rewarded with that victory.

Rocky is as powerful as he is because he needs to be as powerful as he needs to be to engage the audience. Little Mac is as powerful as he is because the player got good enough at the game to beat it. So I think it's pointless to put them against each other.

The winner of this fictional bout is whoever you want to win.

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^
i think this might be the most boring way to answer this kind of question

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WarfireX posted...

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i think this might be the most boring way to answer this kind of question

Oh yeah, I was coming off this other big post so I was in a whole other headspace.

Like I said before, Little Mac is more or less just a conduit for the player. I think Rocky's more of a character per se, and I find him more engaging to root for.

So my second, less boring answer is Rocky.

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Some well-thought out answers. We have one post saying Rocky could win based on more of a meta-commentary of the two.

Wonder if anyone has a stat-based reason for why Rocky could win. I see the votes, but most itt seem confident in Little Mac's power. I like Norman's breakdown, as I suppose Rocky never had much of a KO punch that we get to see considering his fights are generally long and close. He probably did KO plenty during the period between Rocky 2 and 3 before Clubber Lang put an end to his reign.

Got to keep in mind Ivan was built like a tank, though, so Rocky being able to knock him down showed immense power.

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And the thing about his knockouts between 2 and 3 is that Mick was setting him up against weaker fighters so he'd make his money in his prime and not fall on hard times later in life. Rocky didn't know he was doing it either, Mick didn't want him to end up the way he did.

So by all means Rocky might have had a good knockout game between movies, but does it count if the competition is intentionally lacking the oomph to properly challenge him?

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Mac has more experience against all sorts of bizarre styles and would win this matchup.

Where are they fighting? Within the NES realm or the movie verse? In the NES realm, Little Mac is limited to what- 5 punches? Two crosses, two gut punches, and a star punch? Rocky fighting in the NES realm would imply that he should have 1 or 2 signature attacks, but I don't know that Rocky from the movies has any signature attacks since he's very defensive at times and good at getting clobbered. So maybe Rocky has a high endurance in the NES realm, if we're taking later movies he has great footwork, and maybe has a strong 1-2 clobber attacks that act as finishers.

As another poster said Rocky goes down several times in the movie. If we take that in the NES game, it only takes two times for Mac to punch him out. So Mac is learning about Rocky's foot work but also as the Player since Rocky can be pretty defensive and take beatings, Mac is basically punching and feeling out Rocky's strategy. But usually Rocky is the one trying to figure out the strategy. Little Mac doesn't necessarily have a set strategy since it always depends on who he's boxing, and his punches are limited.

Is this in the movie universe? If so, how do we assume Mac adapts and does he gain strategies/punches he doesn't use in the NES game? Because if not, Rocky would pummel him.

So IMO, if we're talking Mac in the movies, I'm taking Rocky. If we're talking Rocky in the NES game, this is a tougher choice for me, I think Mac has the potential to take Rocky, but as someone also said earlier in the topic, Rocky could lose the first fight, but I think he'd be unbeatable in the second.

@ScarfForLife

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Little Mac is a flyweight or even light flyweight that routinely clobbered champion-tier heavyweights like it was nothing. That alone is a testament of superhuman strength well beyond the realms of reality that I have to give him the edge over another heavyweight that had struggles in his weight class even though he was champion for a prolonged period.

Pound for pound, the biggest guy Rocky faced was Ivan Drago, who had a comparatively small size advantage when compared to the enormous size advantages that Little Mac routinely faced.

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Little Mac is a tiny fighter that knockouts heavyweights. Rocky doesn't stand a chance.

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Comparing Rocky to a crazy boxing protag isnt a good idea cause rocky is suppose to be realistic while lil mac is not.

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One of Little Mac's greatest strengths is finding the pattern. But Rocky's sorta known for just being a brawler, taking shots and moving forward. He's also a south paw. Trying to remember if Mac ever fought any south paws. Maybe Soda Pop?

But if we're talking 4, Rock has the brawl style and he also has what Apollo taught him in 3. So he can actually mix up his strategy.

I think Rocky takes this one. Without any discernible pattern for Mac to follow, he's just be trying to hit Rocky and remember, if he hits Rocky's gloves too many times he can't punch. Then Rocky can just lay into him.

So I'm going Rocky.

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thanks for killing this topic @ScarfForLife

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Nah, I'm going to reply; I just am sick today. I love the replies itt.

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If Rocky winked a little before throwing a punch then Little Mac stomps.

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These are both underdog character tropes, that win against the larger more intimidating opponent.

That means Little Mac wins.

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If we're ignoring post NES titles then it is easily Rocky. Ivan Drago's punch force was 4x harder than elite boxers, so with Little Mac being able to take some incredible beatings, if we take Mike Tyson as his biggest accomplishment and Ivan having 4x the punching power of that, it should be over very quickly in favor of Rocky.
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