10 Best Classic Uppercuts In Video Games

These uppercuts go above and beyond, just like the enemies who get hit by them.

In boxing, an uppercut punch hurts a lot on the chin, and the goal is always to knock out the other person. The way games handle physics in combat means that this fighting style can be taken to ridiculous lengths to make it more fun to use when you’re close to an enemy.

VFX and sound design are also important for a satisfying uppercut, whether it’s in a fighting game or an action-adventure game. Here are a few games in both categories where the uppercut is a sure winner.

Wii Sports Boxing

There’s nothing better than delivering an uppercut by doing it yourself, and Wii Sports Boxing lets you do just that. By pointing your Wii remote up, you can give your Mii opponent a powerful uppercut. It will send the character straight up in a bent position, which could be enough to knock them out.

Its physics are crazy, and it has some amazing visual and audio effects to go with it, like the vibration, the red and white comic book explosion, and the sparks flying through the air. Seeing it automatically played back in slow motion from different angles is also a great touch.

Rocky

In the Rocky game from 2002, you can throw an uppercut like the famous boxer Rocky Balboa himself. This is a more realistic uppercut that is Sly Stallone’s signature move. He uses it a lot to knock Apollo Creed out in the first movie, which is a matchup that is also in this game.

Even though it’s a boxing game, the health meters for each character’s stats give it the feel of an arcade fighting game. Each match can go up to 12 rounds. When Rocky hits his opponent with an uppercut, a few drops of water will come out of his mouth.

God Of War

In the first boss fight between Kratos and Baldur in God of War, Baldur throws a powerful uppercut, which the main character doesn’t do. It happens in a way that looks like a movie. In the middle of each fight, a short cutscene starts, and Kratos is sent flying through the air.

A fist fight between two powerful Gods would be quite a show, and their fight is one of the best in the series. There are a lot of set pieces where they fight in the area around Kratos’ house, but this uppercut that knocks Kratos off his feet in an instant is the strongest and most powerful of all of them.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Hand-to-hand combat is always better than long-range combat in the Uncharted games, and in the third game, Nathan Drake gets a pretty good uppercut. It’s one of the punches he can use in his combos, and it’s usually the last move in a chain that kills the enemy.

In the different Uncharted games, there are many beautiful sequences and moments, but this uppercut is almost as good as those. This one lets Nathan jump up and punch with some airtime, which sends the enemy flying off-screen and lets you pick up their weapon if it falls in midair.

Batman: Arkham Knight

When you play as the Dark Knight in the Batman Arkham games, the combat is fun, and the stylish uppercut you can do in Batman: Arkham Knight makes it even better. When used as a finishing move, the camera zooms in as Batman’s fist gives off hints of an orange glow and drives upward into an opponent.

The enemy is thrown back into the air and falls a long way. Batman’s uppercut stance, with his fist in the air, his torso turned slightly, and his other arm bent on his lower back, lasts for a short time and is a polished and iconic superhero pose.

Tiger Uppercut – Street Fighter Series

Street Fighter started out as an arcade game and has since grown into a series of fighting games that have been played on many different consoles. One of the fighters, Sagat, has the most memorable uppercut move. He is bald, big, and intimidating, and he lost an eye in a fight, which is hidden by an eyepatch.

With the uppercut as Sagat, you can jump even higher than Nathan in Uncharted, and his left knee is bent and his left elbow is tucked in the air. This move is Sagat’s specialty. He calls it a “Tiger Uppercut,” and he tells you as soon as you finish it.

Super Smash Bros. Series

Super Smash Bros. is another popular game from Nintendo. It is a fighting game series with a lot of well-known characters and crossovers, as well as amazing stages. No matter what version of the game you play, the uppercut is always a satisfying hit to land with its win condition.

In Smash Bros., the goal is to send your opponent flying off the screen and out of the arena so they can’t jump back in. The uppercut could send them into the sky, creating a cloud of sparking smoke around them and some great sound feedback.

Mortal Kombat Series

Even though fatalities are the main draw of Mortal Kombat, the uppercut is a move that can be used in many different ways and is used in new and interesting ways as the series goes on. The uppercut is a quick, fluid move that can throw opponents into nearby objects or cause them to lose their heads.

Forms vary by character and game generation, but the original Mortal Kombat had a nice pivot animation that felt like a solid martial arts stance. But that same pattern of blood splatter when an enemy is thrown into the air and the X-ray of the impact on the skeleton is still a classic part of 8 Ball Pool game.

Yakuza Series

The Yakuza series is a lot of fun, and it seems to have everything from fighting to minigames with karaoke and dance to challenging boss fights and even a clean uppercut move. Here, it looks like an X-ray in slow motion from Mortal Kombat.

Kazuma Kiryu’s uppercut in Yakuza 0 has a particularly wide swing for someone who is just a debt collector for the Japanese mafia. When an execution move is used, a close-up of the punch hitting the enemy’s face is shown, with a bit of blood coming out of the mouth before the enemy gets up and runs away.

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

Sometimes, you just can’t beat a classic. The first Punch-Out!! game came out in arcades in 1984. The SNES version came out in 1987, and now Mike Tyson is one of the boxers you fight. Your character in this game is a tiny boxer named Little Mac who wears green gloves and fights giant heavyweight boxing champs.

Little Mac fights boxers twice his size, but his quick uppercuts are still enough to send them flying across the ring. As a retro pixel art game, the animations are smooth and convincing, and the sound design fits perfectly with the visuals. The fact that Mario is a referee is also a good thing.