Graded: 2023-24 Upper Deck Allure 16 Bit #B4 Alex Ovechkin
Pictured: 2023-24 Upper Deck Allure 16 Bit #B4 Alex Ovechkin Pristine 10
Anytime card manufacturers can connect a beloved sport with a superstar and then sprinkle in some nostalgia they have a winner. In the 2023-24 Allure release by Upper Deck, fans came running for the opportunity to get a top NHL player like Alex Ovechkin in a Mike Tyson Punch-Out!! stylized card.
Nintendo rode the wave of 1980’s fascination with heavyweight boxer “Iron Mike” attaching him to previous versions of the game, Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!!, both released in 1984. The 16-Bit game version of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! was made available to the public in 1987 hitting both critical and financial success selling over two million copies in North America.
Gen-Xers spent hours as Little Mac bobbing left and right throwing left and right jabs, left and right body blows, and the power shot upper cut.
Some of the fighters from the 1984 version made it to the ’87 cut featuring Bald Bull, Don Flamenco, Glass Joe, Great Tiger, King Hippo, Mr. Sandman, Soda Popinski, Piston Hondo, and Von Kaiser. Some of the other cool characters put in the ring were Super Macho Man, and in the 2009 re-release Donkey Kong. Even Mario makes an appearance as a referee.
One of the many endearing aspects to Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! were the characters’ bits before the fight, their power moves during the round, and their corner conversations in between rounds. If Little Mac was winning, the opposition would look battered and bruised more like a Looney Tunes cartoon character.
Playing the game over and over, the repetitive still shots of the fighters have stuck with gamers for decades, and Upper Deck rode that wave to perfection with their 2023-24 Allure set.
Upper Deck gave the 16-Bit NHL-Super Punch-Out!! treatment to 20 players. Some of the more valued insert cards include Connor Bedard, David Pastrnak, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Luke Hughes, and Matthew Knies.
The print run of the 2023-24 Upper Deck Allure 16 Bit #B4 Alex Ovechkin is not known, but the pricing for the card remains high. Even in poor condition, the #B4 Ovi can go for $25. Mint raw can land the owner north of $300. A Pristine 10 is estimated in the neighborhood of $1,300.
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Technically, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! was an 8 bit game. 16 bit was when the Genesis did what Nintendon’t.