LIVING IN A PRACTICAL WORLD

‘SUP, NERDS!

One of my biggest problems with the cosplay community is that there are plenty of people who ruin the fun. While everyone is at a different skill level, there are plenty of cosplayers and spectators that think if you don’t make your outfit from scratch that it sucks.

I believe this is an elitist, inappropriate way to think. Of last year’s cosplays, I can say that my most practical cosplay was the most successful and recognized one. I bought everything from the department store and a sports shop to make Little Mac.

Nintendo’s Little Mac in his 8-bit glory.

PUNCH-OUT!!

For those who don’t know, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! is a retro video game that originated in the arcade. It was eventually ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. The concept is pretty simple: punch your way through a bunch of boxers to eventually DEFEAT Mike Tyson.

All the guys you need to pummel
in order to have a chance at Tyson.

My boyfriend and I are retro-gaming nerds and Punch-Out!! is one of our favorites. I’m not too good at the game, but to continue with the pattern… I have such a crush on Little Mac.

Arist IzIzIza’s interpretation of modern Little Mac.
I would give the graphical update a 10/10 rating.

Why Love the Runt?

Considering Tyson won 50 of his 58 professional boxing matches, there’s a reason why he was the champion. But why do I love Little Mac? Because the underdog can kick Tyson’s heavyweight ass!

In all seriousness, I mostly wanted to cosplay Little Mac because of SGC. For a few years, Stuttering Craig, founder of ScrewAttack, has been on a mission to defeat Tyson. I have spent hours in a panel room with my friends, cheering and jeering while Craig faced his greatest opponent.

Aside from SGC, my local friends wanted to do a Super Smash Bros. group cosplay for Anime Midwest. I didn’t object because Little Mac definitely received a flattering graphical update in the Wii version of Punch-Out!! and SSB for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

The SSB group cosplay. Characters starting from the left:
Wario, Captain Falcon, Dr. Mario, Little Mac, Ike and Robin in the front and center.

Overall the outfit was super easy to make and cost me about $30 to make. I used a gift card at Sports Authority on a pair of boxing gloves, making the most expensive part of the cosplay absolutely free. Then I went to Walmart and Sears to buy green exercise shorts, a black exercise shirt and some bright green paint for the gloves. I already had a pair of shoes and socks that worked well for the outfit.


Amazon also has a good selection of affordable, decent wigs for $15-$20 a piece that I buy for simple characters. I decided to get a long, black wig because of its versatility for other cosplay and to make a cute Lady Mac.

TYSON SUCKS!

Over the past three SGCs, g1s have watched Craig fight Tyson into the wee hours of the morning. Craig enters the secret code to skip to Tyson without playing the entirety of the game. There are tricks and patterns to know when to dodge, strike and guard. For example, if Tyson starts blinking, you know to block and get ready for four massive punches—but sometimes you have an opening to knock him down.

I found Doc Louis, Little Mac's trainer, at SGC 2015!

Most of the game revolves around luck while recognizing various patterns. More often than not you just need to reset and start the fight from the beginning.

Craig reset a lot. Every time he resets, half of the room takes a drink while the under-aged g1s do burpees, jumping jacks and pushups.

SGC 2013 was intense as Craig played the game over nine hours straight. He was close to beating Tyson many times, but he had to call it quits around 5 in the morning when the staff monitoring the event were falling asleep. During SGC 2014 Craig was fortunate enough to win by decision, which is actually harder than knocking Tyson out.

Since Craig wanted to win like a real man, he said that 2015 was the year to do it. I was dressed in my boxing gear, hyping up the line of people waiting to go to the panel. Once we entered, the burpees team and the drinkers assembled. It was show time.


After playing for a while, Craig kept complaining about his controller. He got real close to knocking Tyson out multiple times and blamed sticky buttons for his loss. My mind clicked. Jacob had tons of extra NES controllers because he was selling in the vendor's hall.

Craig finally K.O.'d Tyson during SGC 2015.
He manages to make me feel special each year.

I ran back to the hotel lobby, panicking to find a friend with our room key so I could help Craig. I eventually found someone, tore up the room and bolted back to the panel to personally deliver a clean and pristine controller. Not too long after that, Craig beat Tyson. I felt like I helped deliver the win.

Will There be a Round 4?

Craig officially retired his boxing career, but it doesn't mean he won't find another way to have fun. This year SGC is combined with RTX and I'm getting ready to party. If you're starting to plan your summer vacation, consider going! Tickets are now on sale.


Next time I'm going to take a small break from talking about what I've made... We're going to look at characters I love but can't see myself cosplaying anytime soon.

LATER, DWEEBS.
-Loverly Liz