Soda Popinski - Concept and Appearances

Concept and Appearances

Soda Popinski was designed for the NES Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! by Makoto Wada, with his most recent design being made by Eddie Viser in the Wii Punch-Out!!. He is voiced by Ihor Mota in the Wii Punch-Out!!. Soda Popinski is a Russian boxer from Moscow, and the #1 boxer in his country. He is both tall and muscular, featuring redder skin than other boxers, a moustache, and no hair. He's the only left handed fighter in the game. He is physically capable of handling extremely cold weather, and has a propensity to soda pop. He is noted as being powerful, using a Russian fighting style. In the Wii Punch-Out!!, he can utilize his soda to gain energy or to become more powerful. He first appeared in the arcade game Super Punch-Out!! in 1985, and again in the NES game Punch-Out!! in 1987.

A version of the game called Frank Bruno's Boxing was released for the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum, where Popinski was renamed "Andra Puncharedov". He would not appear again until the Wii video game titled Punch-Out!!. In the original Super Punch-Out!! arcade game, he is referred to as Vodka Drunkenski, a stereotype of the people of the USSR at the time. To avoid controversy, his name was changed to Soda Popinski in the NES Punch-Out!!, changing his vice from vodka to soda. However, other stereotypes, such as the ability to handle cold weather, as well as being known to do the Kozachok.