.@BProudHOF is beating NES Punchout without watching…unreal pic.twitter.com/qftAC6pdBJ
— Jason Rentner (@Jay25R) June 19, 2018
This week will be remembered for several things, but the one thing that stood out to me crossed my Twitter timeline Monday night via my friend Jason Rentner’s account. It’s this video of his Pro Football Hall of Fame coworker Brian Proud playing Punchout with his back turned to the TV, which is also a classic. As you can see above in the tweet, it’s pretty clear what we’re about to see.
Instant click material. Never clicked faster in my life and that’s including my days tracking Johnny Manziel’s movements around Cleveland. You put Punchout, a box TV in an entertainment center that most people threw to the curb 10 years ago and a grown man wearing what appears to be a Techmo Bowl and I’m clicking every time. Something good is about to happen.
Brian Proud has this incredible skill where he can beat levels on Punchout without watching. Of course I went looking for answers to my questions.
He started trying it in college and just kept playing and got further and further. He said it’s based off of sound and timing. What’s also impressive is his son who is 6 years old can do it for the first two boxers
— Jason Rentner (@Jay25R) June 19, 2018
100 to 120 hours of playing backward to get to this level where he’s comfortable showing it off on Twitter. Some people go through life planting trees so the world has an oxygen supply. Some guys like Ty Lue become great NBA coaches and win rings. Some guys become paramedics and save lives. We all seem to have a purpose.
Takes a few hundred times playing it normally (beginning in childhood) to learn the patterns/timing of opponents, almost like a puzzle. Then playing backward (1st time 15 yrs ago), u can envision & hear what they're doing when & react; Est. of 100-120 hrs so far playing backward
— Brian Proud (@BProudHOF) June 19, 2018
Turns out there seems to be a secret society where guys have developed this skill and have even gone as far as doing it blindfolded which doesn’t seem much different than doing it backwards. It’s not like you’re going to miss a button if you’re already capable of beating it backward.
Via Polygon:
Over the past week, mPap has beaten his best time with four performances, culminating in a Daredevil-esque 20:36 today, the first sub-21 minute blind run through the venerable NES title.
The action begins at 1:30 of the above video. mPap picks up about 20 seconds when he puts down King Hippo. He throttles Soda Popinski to gain another six seconds and then annihilates Bald Bull in the second fight, lengthening his split time by 11 seconds to go 39 seconds faster than his personal best. mPap realizes he is on the move for a blistering record pace and resolves not to lift his visor until the end. After clowning Don Flamenco a second time, he comes up against Mr. Sandman — who is, for my money, the toughest non-Tyson opponent in the game.
mPap finishes off Sandman flawlessly, working that big gourd head and then the midsection for the first put down, then evading the three-uppercut combo with preternatural Force Awareness. “Oh my fucking God, I did not deserve to dodge that,” mPap says. After cleaning Sandman’s transmission in 15:42, mPap now 42 seconds ahead of his world record pace.
This is believed to be the Punchout blindfolded world record:
