Great Tiger

Great Tiger (グレート・タイガー, Gurēto Taigā?) is a fictional character in the Nintendo-produced Punch-Out!! video game series. He is an Indian boxer, hailing from Mumbai. He first appeared in Super Punch-Out!! for the arcades, then returned in Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and again in Punch-Out!! for the Wii. He was originally designed by Makoto Wada in the NES game, and by Eddie Viser in the Wii game. He is voiced by Sumit Seru in the Wii version as well. He utilizes several Indian stereotypes, typically ones depicting Indians as mystical, such as the ability to use magic carpets and teleporting. He wears a turban on his head, adorned with a jewel that indicates when he is going to attack. He also wears tiger-print pants. In the NES version, he keeps the skin of a Bengal tiger in his corner of the ring.

Since appearing in Punch-Out!! for the NES, he has received mostly positive reception. He has been featured in multiple pieces of merchandise, including Topps trading cards and action figures, and has been noted as being one of the favourites of the series by outlets such as IGN and Official Nintendo Magazine. He has been described as a difficult opponent by outlets such as The Daily Sentinel, The Globe and Mail, and Operation Sports, the latter commenting that he found Great Tiger to be harder than the champion opponent, Mr. Sandman. He has also been described as a racial stereotype of Indian people; Editor Sumantra Lahiri stated that Punch-Out!! acts as an encyclopedia to stereotypes, specifically mentioning the Indian stereotypes that they skin tigers alive and wear turbans. GamesRadar editor Brett Elston commented that he "plays up in the mystical side of Indian culture so much we’re surprised they didn’t work in a snake charmer joke in there somewhere."

In the anime version, Sumit Seru reprise his role as Great Tiger speaking both Hindi and Sanskrit.

Read more about Great Tiger:  Concept and Appearances, Reception

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