Punch-Out!! player discovers cool Easter egg
29 years after the game came out.
Punch-Out!! came out nearly 29 years ago, so you'd think all its secrets would have been uncovered by now.
You'd be wrong.
Reddit user midwesternhousewives found a "tell" in the NES game that indicates when the player should punch their opponent for a knock-out. That tell is a bearded man in the audience who ducks the moment the player should punch.
But this tell only crops up during the second fights with Piston Honda and Bald Bull. Niche!
The video, below, runs through the Easter egg.
"Basically, everyone knows you can knock out Piston Honda and Bald Bull in one hit when they attack," midwesternhousewives explains, "but there's an Easter egg in the background of the game that indicates the exact moment.
"The Easter egg isn't the fact that you can knock these guys out with one hit, it's the fact that the developers inserted something into the background to let you know when. Pretty cool."
Pretty cool, indeed!
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised Punch-Out!! is still throwing up surprises nearly 30 years after it came out. In a Punch-Out!!-themed Iwata Asks, published in 2009, designer Makoto Wada teased the game still contained hidden secrets.
Here's the exchange:
Wada: This is a great opportunity, so I have something I'd like to say. In Punch-Out!!, the game gives you a lot of hints about effective timing of punches. There is a big boxer called Bald Bull in the NES version as well and a light flashes to the right in the audience when he charges. If you punch when it flashes you will land a body blow.
Tanabe: What? Really?
Wada: No one has known about that for about 22 years...
Everyone: (laughter)
Wada: I was wondering when I would have a chance to tell people that.
Iwata: You've been holding that information for 22 years since the release. (laughs)
Wada: Now that I had the chance. (laughs) There are a lot of hidden elements in the NES version.