How a Perfect Speedrun Was Finally Beaten

[00:06] was a landmark day in speedrunning history. Just past midnight, speedrunner [music] Zard 1 played the first ever perfect Mike Tyson fight. Tyson, of course, [music] is at the very end of Punchout. He's one of the hardest and

[00:20] most iconic final bosses ever. Fittingly, his world record is considered the most prestigious [music] in all of Punchout. So, what was this perfect Tyson fight? Well, to beat Tyson in the first round, you have to land

[00:34] frame perfectfect punches that deal [music] extra damage. You have just 160th of a second to time them. And you have to do that over and over [music] and over. The more you hit, the faster your time, up to a maximum of 22 frame

[00:49] perfect [music] punches. For many years, the world's best players maxed out at about 20. Matt Turk, Sinister [music] 1. As good as these guys were, they always As good as these guys were, they always faltered somewhere. But on this day,

[01:03] Zard [music] finally did it. He went 22 for 22 and didn't miss a single punch. This was a perfect Tyson fight. It was the first time it had ever been performed in the game's [music] 27-year history. And the result was a time of 2

[01:19] minutes and 10 seconds. The general consensus was that this record was unbeatable. Matt Turk himself thought it would likely never be improved. After all, how could you improve over perfection? Well, that, my friends, is a

[01:34] very good question. >> Yes. Yes. [music] Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Right. DUDE,

[01:50] Yes. Yes. Right. DUDE, [laughter] we did it. Yes. Yes. I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it.

[02:07] ago, I released the first entry in the Summoning Salt VHS collection. Thanks to all of you, it was a massive success. Well, now I'm excited to announce the collection is expanding. Releasing today is the next entry in the Summoning Salt

[02:21] is the next entry in the Summoning Salt VHS series. Mega Man 2. [music] For those who are new, I love physical media, especially the nostalgia of VHS, so I'm re-releasing my videos as a line of VHS tapes. They feature

[02:35] professionally designed artwork as well as a fully playable VHS tape. [music] This one features my video, The History of Mega Man 2 World Records. And fittingly, the first 5,000 will be on a limited edition blue VHS tape. What's

[02:51] better for a VHS release than an 80s game like Mega Man 2? [music] Display it on a shelf as a collectible or watch it on a CRT during a retro movie night. The choice is yours. Also, just like the last tape, I updated my Mega Man video

[03:05] with everything that's gone on with the record since the original upload in September [music] 2022. I'm super excited to build the Summoning Salt VHS collection, and I hope you are, too. To order, click on the link [music] in the

[03:18] description and pinned comment below, or go to summoningssalt.com and [music] press view full details for the full description and pictures. Act fast. It's available for the next 3 weeks only, and just the first 5,000 are in blue. More

[03:32] videos are coming in the future, so if you want to build a full collection, summoningss.com to continue or start your VHS collection to continue or start your VHS collection today.

[03:49] happens to be honest. It's kind of unreal. All right, let's talk about Mike Tyson. The fight is broken into three [music] phases, one for each time you knock him down. In phase one, Tyson throws uppercuts, and after [music] each

[04:03] one, you can hit him twice. If you delay the second punch to the last 60th of a second possible, it deals five times normal damage. A frame late and he blocks. A frame early and you barely deal any damage. It has to land on this

[04:18] one magic frame. For a perfect phase one, you have to do this nine times in a row. Building the muscle memory to hit incredible process, [music] but it's mandatory if you want to get a perfect

[04:32] Tyson. Phase two is more of the same, but shorter. Tyson throws more uppercuts, and this time landing five frame perfects is enough to send him down. Finally, we arrive in phase three. The clock is now ticked past 130, so

[04:46] Tyson switches to hooks. You can punch him twice after [music] each hook, but if you instead just throw one punch on the last frame possible, it too deals extra damage. If you land eight consecutive frame perfect hooks, that's

[04:59] enough to drop Tyson for the third [music] and final time. 9 + 5 + 8, that's 22 frame perfect punches. There's no wonder it took nearly three decades for this to be done the first time. But now that Zard had done it, how could

[05:14] this be beaten? Well, the answer lies in three little [music] letters. R NG. three little [music] letters. R NG. This fight is incredibly random. Tyson can randomly delay after nearly every punch he throws. Even with the same

[05:28] execution, your fight can vary by huge amounts of time just based on how often amounts of time just based on how often Tyson delays. In Zard's 210, his first knockdown was at 56 and his second knockdown was at 132. These were both

[05:42] good, but with better RNG, they could have been faster. The fastest first knockdown recorded on video was a 55, and the fastest second knockdown was a and the fastest second knockdown was a 129. Matt Turk reportedly once got a 54

[05:55] and 128 in [music] an unrecorded fight. The difference was Zard got a perfect phase three off [music] his 132 while Matt Turk did not off his 128. Phase 3

[06:07] is the hardest part of the fight by far. In fact, this fight was the first time Zard had ever achieved a perfect phase 3. And to beat his 210, [music] you'd have to get a faster second knockdown time by being luckier than duplicate his

[06:21] perfect execution [music] in phase 3. It was just staggeringly unlikely. So that's why most considered it unbeatable. And the perfect Tyson fight was the holy grail of Punch Out Records. >> I don't know if I want to do any more

[06:35] attempts or anything. Tyson's pretty dead, I think. >> Over the following several months, Punchout players occasionally fought serious attempts to break the [music] record. The top three players were

[06:48] record. The top three players were Zallard 1, Sinister 1, and Ouija. Of the three, Sinister and Zard were veterans, while Ouija was a relative newcomer who wasn't quite on their level yet. For instance, Sinister and Zard's best

[07:01] second knockdown on Tyson was a 129, while Ouija had only managed a 131. But although Ouiji was behind them overall, there was one specific thing he was [music] better at, the frame perfect hooks. While Sinister and Zard had only

[07:17] gotten a couple perfect phase 3es across years of playing, Ouija had matched that over just a [music] few months, his consistency was more like 1 to 2%. It wasn't much, but it gave him hope that maybe something could happen. And then

[07:31] maybe something could happen. And then on July 12th, 2015, Ouiji tied his on July 12th, 2015, Ouiji tied his fastest ever second knockdown.

[08:02] [laughter] I can't believe that just happened. Jesus Christ. Oh, I have tears. >> A 208 out of nowhere. [music] This was the most unexpected record in Punchout

[08:17] history. A relative newcomer had beaten Zard's perfect Tyson. What's interesting is that Ouiji was actually behind Zallard after phase 1, but he got amazing luck the rest of the way, saving 2 seconds in phase 2 and a second in

[08:32] phase three. And most importantly, on an amazing pace, [music] Guui once again hit all eight hooks. Zallard's 210 Tyson was supposed to [music] last for years. Instead, it didn't even make it to the one-year mark. So, the attention turned

[08:48] back to Zard. He'd finished one perfect fight before. Perhaps he could do it again. But even if he did, it wasn't likely to be faster than a 208. To do so, he'd have to beat Ouija's second knockdown time. That meant getting a 129

[09:04] or 130, an extremely fast pattern from Tyson that Zard had only gotten a handful of times before. He'd have to get it again, then hit all eight hooks in phase three. Within days, Zard was back to doing Tyson attempts. Even if he

[09:19] didn't beat Ouija, getting another perfect fight would be huge. He started to build up his consistency [music] again. And on July 16th, he managed to make it past phase 2 with a 132 that now seemed a lot less impressive.

[09:33] >> 132. That sucks. >> But in this fight, he nearly hit all eight, only missing the final hook by being a single frame late. A that's so

[09:47] >> this would have been a 209. Not beating Ouija, but coming close. Zer began to feel like his second perfect fight was right around the corner. And then 3 days right around the corner. And then 3 days later, this happened.

[10:08] a 54 phase 1. This had only been done twice before. Once by Matt Turk years ago and once by Zard about a year ago offline. This was just the third 54 ever [music] achieved and the first one on video.

[10:37] >> This was quickly getting out of hand. There'd only ever been one [music] other 128 second knockdown. Matt Turk back in 2007. Now, eight years later, it had happened again. Zard had only a few seconds to think. He'd only have one

[10:52] shot at this. Hitting all eight hooks right now was almost unfathomable, but right now was almost unfathomable, but Zard had to try.

[11:13] [laughter] You got to be kidding, dude. 955 207. >> This was unbelievable. On his fastest pace ever, Zard clutched up and hit all

[11:27] eight hooks, getting the record back with a 207. Ouiji's record only lasted for a week. The only bad part of this fight was that Zard got a very slow phase three pattern. Tyson delayed between nearly every hook he threw. It

[11:42] led to a 39se secondond phase 3 versus Ouija's 37second phase, but the rest of the fight was so fast that it didn't matter. I really can't overstate this. A 128 had never been seen on video before. And not only did Zard stay calm, but he

[11:59] kept it together enough to play flawlessly for the rest of the fight. I'm still in awe 10 years later. Zard was very clearly the best Punchout player on Earth. To beat this run, you'd need to get close to this 128 second

[12:13] knockdown, then get luckier in phase three, all while not missing a frame perfectfect input the entire time. The odds of anybody else doing that was super low. But still, the Tyson record was popular enough that other players

[12:26] were going to try. Ouiji occasionally threw attempts at Tyson over the rest of 2015. Being the only other player in the world with a perfect fight, he at least had a shot at beating it. The problem was that even when he did make it to

[12:39] phase three, he very rarely hit all eight hooks, always either getting blocked or being early somewhere. That's what's a bit misleading about the 210, the 208, and the 207. All you see is the end result, a perfect phase three. But

[12:54] for each perfect phase, there were dozens and dozens and dozens of misses. It was so hard to hit all eight hooks. You may have noticed a sequence of dodges before the first hook. This is a buffer that Zard developed that helps

[13:08] consistently land the first hook, but for the remaining seven, you're on your own. Unlike uppercuts, there's no consistent rhythm or timing you can use to help you. It's just a 160th of a second window that you have to pick out

[13:21] after every hook that Tyson throws. One error and the attempt is thrown in the error and the attempt is thrown in the garbage. And that's why Zard's 207 was so miraculous. He actually hit all eight on that amazing pace. Even though other

[13:35] players did Tyson attempts through the second half of 2015, they hit all eight infrequently enough that they stood little chance of beating 207. The best hope to take the record under 207 was Zard himself. He started messing with

[13:48] Zard himself. He started messing with Tyson again in 2016. And when he did, he had a breakthrough. Almost exactly a year to the day after his 207, Zard posted the following to Twitter. [music] Mike Tyson had an

[14:02] accident. linked was a video of Zard beating Tyson in 206. This fight was kind of like the inverse [music] of his previous record. Tyson's pattern was slower through phase 2 with a 129, [music] but he got a very fast

[14:16] phase 3 pattern to make up for it. Once again, Zard hit all eight hooks under pressure to close out the fight. And then a few hours later, he posted this two 206s [music] in one day. This second one came off a slightly higher 129, but

[14:33] had an even faster phase 3 pattern. The man hadn't played Tyson in a year, and in a single day, he beat the world record twice. There was nobody else on Zer's level. But this created a bit of a conundrum. The world record was now tied

[14:49] between these two 206s. Which one was actually faster? Well, for most fights in Punch Out, the game gives you a decimal for more precision once the fight is complete. There are seven increments for this decimal. 0.2548

[15:09] If the fight lands in the first few frames of a second, it'll spit out 0. If it lands in the next few frames, it'll say 0.25 and so on. The problem is that the Tyson fight never [music] gives you these decimals. Instead of the postfight

[15:23] screen, the end credits roll. But in 2014, a man named Omnigamer created a solution, the Tyson Finder. This is a tool where you enter frame data about your Tyson fight, and it frame counts it for you, telling you what decimal you

[15:38] would have gotten had there been a post-fight screen. Zard entered his frame data for these two 206s. The first was a 206.97, and the second was a 206.82.

[15:51] It was only one frame faster, but enough to take it to the next increment. So, two world records in one day for Zard. His record streak was intimidating. Although Ouija briefly snatched the world record from him last year, it only

[16:05] lasted a week. And now Zard was taking it to [music] new heights. Sinister One had never managed a perfect Tyson. Ouiji only had the one, but he couldn't replicate it. Zard now had five perfect fights and counting. The community

[16:20] watched with baited breath to see what he'd do next. But then all of a sudden, a wrench was thrown into the works when a third player pulled off a perfect Tyson fight. Someone fairly new who was making a push for the world record. That

[16:34] making a push for the world record. That player's name was Summoning Salt. player's name was Summoning Salt. [music] ropes, but improving quickly. Eventually, I realized I had to focus on

[16:51] Tyson if I wanted to reach the next level. So, I did. After months of level. So, I did. After months of practice, on May 7th, 2016, I achieved my first ever perfect Tyson fight. And here's the video.

[17:10] recording despite having a tape loaded in my VCR. I scrambled to press record the instant Tyson hit the mat [music] and only got a little max celebration. Luckily, I redeemed myself a few days later by getting a 210 Tyson. This time

[17:24] fully captured in all its glory and then a few weeks later, I got another. And then another a few days after that, and then another later that same day. It reason, I had a knack for landing the frame perfectfect hooks. By this point,

[17:41] Zer had upped his perfect phase 3 consistency to about 10%. But mine was closer to 15 or 20%. [music] I was able to finish off a lot of fights that made it past phase 2. However, Zard still had one massive advantage over me. [music]

[17:56] His dodging was far and away better than mine. The tighter you cut each dodge on Tyson's uppercuts, the sooner you can start to counter him. In other words, ideally, the instant after Tyson throws his uppercut, you want little Mac to be

[18:10] back to center so he can punch. Here's a comparison of the same pattern with both tight and loose dodging. The difference between dodges may only be a few frames, but across an entire phase, the time can really add up. By the end of the phase,

[18:24] the difference might total multiple seconds, which is obviously a gamecher if you're going for a world record. Tight dodging is risky as if you're too early, you get knocked [music] down. Zard was better at it than me. A pattern

[18:39] where I'd get a 55, he'd get a 54. Part of the difference was that Zard had mastered double quick dodging. [music] He'd preemptively dodged just in case Tyson did the short delay and then did a second dodge to account for [music] his

[18:52] long delay. This took reaction time out of the equation, letting Zard focus on cutting his dodges as tightly as possible. So, even though I was able to get as many or more perfect fights than Zard, his were faster on average. After

[19:05] a handful of perfect fights, I managed to get a 207, but Zallard, [music] of course, had a pair of 206s. As things stood, I didn't have a great chance of beating him. Yet, I wasn't discouraged because even though he was ahead, I had

[19:19] my eyes set on the ultimate prize, the time that I knew would be the end of the road for Mike Tyson, if it was ever achieved. My goal was to be the first person to set the unbeatable Tyson record 205.

[19:38] like Zard did a year earlier, then get an extremely fast phase 3 pattern, you can get a final time of 205. What if you knock him down at 127? Well, here's what

[19:50] happens. [music] To begin phase three, Tyson stands still for a couple seconds preparing to throw an uppercut. Then the timer hits 130, his pattern switches and he throws hooks. He can't start before 130. So knocking him down before 128

[20:05] just means he stands still longer. As long as your second knockdown is by 128, you're going [music] as fast as you can go. So there were three components to getting a 205. First, get a very fast uppercut pattern to get a 128 or

[20:19] earlier. Second, get an extremely fast phase 3 pattern, which is about 1 in and phase 3 pattern, which is about 1 in and eight likely to occur. Third, hit all 22 frame perfects through the entire fight without missing. A 205 was effectively a

[20:33] perfect perfect fight. There was no going under it. Zard and I both knew this would be the ultimate Tyson record. We each had our strengths and weaknesses. He was a little faster than me, but I was a little more consistent.

[20:47] Over the summer of 2016, we both ramped up our Tyson attempts in an effort to get the 205, and we began getting perfect fights like they were nothing.

[21:28] achieved a total of 66 perfect fights. None of them had beaten his 206.82. We didn't realize how lucky he was at the time to get that fight. I was frustrated. For all these perfect fights I'd gotten, what good was it if I

[21:43] couldn't beat [music] Zard? And then came September 2nd.

[22:07] Holy cow. On my 44th perfect fight, I finally got On my 44th perfect fight, I finally got a 206, and it was a new world record. Although my recording setup at the time didn't work with the Tyson finder, it

[22:20] most likely beat Zowler by four or five frames, some sort of mid 206. But what I was most proud of was my execution. I'd mastered the double quick dodge, and I was cutting things fairly tight. Even though this wasn't the 205, I felt that

[22:34] the fight showed my improvement and that a 206 had been a long time coming. But what I wasn't expecting was what happened next. Let's just say that day happened next. Let's just say that day ended up being quite significant for me.

[22:59] Oh. Whoa. What? What? What? What? What? What?

[23:12] I I have no words. I do not have words. I don't have words. Just another one. You know, no big deal. My first 43 perfect fights were all 207

[23:27] [music] or above. The next four in a row were 206s, all on the same day. Clearly, there had been some sort of breakthrough here. Of the four, the fastest was likely the [music] third one, and it was probably a 206.25,

[23:43] but again, there's no certainty since my recording setup was bad. [music] Either way, we were now just frames from the 205, and I was more confident than ever. I continued getting perfect fights over the next couple weeks, including a

[23:56] couple [music] 206.00. 00. The big difference was my dodging. I'd finally shaving time off that previously was impossible for me. Chances at the 205 were increasingly common. It all culminated on October 1st when I got a

[24:12] first knockdown of 54 and a second knockdown of 128. In phase three, he gave a very fast pattern. I hit all the hooks and it was over. Finally, a 205,

[24:25] the fastest Tyson fight possible. It took 64 perfect fights from me, plus a few dozen from Zard to achieve this time. A couple years earlier, the first ever perfect fight was considered an unbeatable record. But through faster

[24:39] dodging, better luck, and increased consistency with the frame perfects, we'd shaved another 5 seconds off. And now, no matter what we did, we couldn't lower it another second. But, okay. Technically, it could still be beaten by

[24:55] a tiny bit. [music] pattern, but at the very end, he did an 8 frame delay. It was still fast enough

[25:09] 8 frame delay. It was still fast enough for a 205, but the decimal was a 205.82. Had he not done this 8 frame delay, the time would have been 205.25. This [music] was the actual fastest possible time. There are several paths

[25:23] to getting a 205.82, including the one I had, but there's only one very narrow path to a 205.25. You need the fastest phase 3 pattern possible [music] with zero delays anywhere. The odds in a phase 3 pattern

[25:37] anywhere. The odds in a phase 3 pattern for a82 is about 1 in8, but for a25, the for a82 is about 1 in8, but for a25, the odds are just 1 in 41. In other words, on average, you'll get five 205.82s A2s before [music] seeing a 205.25

[25:50] and getting a 205 just once took months of effort for me. I was pretty satisfied with the time that I had, but a small part of me did want that truly unbeatable. 25 fight, so I decided to throw attempts at it every now and then.

[26:05] And just to shake things up on a few of these attempts, I played on Mr. Dream instead of Mike Tyson. When Tyson's contract expired in 1990, Nintendo re-released Punch Out with him replaced by Mr. dream. He's just a sprite swap of

[26:19] [music] between them, and the two fighters behave exactly the same. Now, most people think Tyson is way cooler, and I agree. But I figured there was no harm in doing a few attempts on Mr. Dream since the vast majority of the

[26:33] time I still played Tyson. Well, on March 1st, 2017, that backfired a bit.

[26:53] Yep. Yep. That's a world record, I think. >> I was not expecting to actually set a record on Mr. Dream, and the community wasn't too thrilled about it. Nobody wanted the world record to look like

[27:05] this. But fortunately, this wasn't the end of the road. This fight got the 1 in41 phase 3 pattern, but it was off a low 129 instead of a 128. It was definitely a new world record, but likely a 205.61,

[27:20] not a 205.25. There was still a chance to redeem [music] myself. I had to make sure the.25 was on Tyson. So, I kept playing off and on through 2017 and early 2018, but the 205.25

[27:34] never showed up. I duplicated the 205 numerous times, but it was always the82 numerous times, but it was always the82 pattern, not the 25. I grew frustrated as although my consistency got better, I never got the pattern I needed. Still, I

[27:48] figured if I kept going, I'd get it eventually. After all, I had to get the record off of Mr. Dream [music] and ensure that the ultimate 205.25 was set on Mike Tyson. But then out of frustration one day when Tyson wasn't

[28:02] giving me any luck, I impulsively switched back to Mr. Dream. And a half switched back to Mr. Dream. And a half hour later, this happened.

[28:27] phase 2 and the [music] 1 in 41 phase 3 pattern. It was the exact fight I'd been looking for, but it wasn't on Tyson. There was a mix of celebration and frustration among fellow Punchout speedrunners. If I or others kept

[28:42] playing, we could tie this time on Tyson, but it would be an afterthought. The 205.25 would always have been done first on Mr. [music] Dream. Nothing would change that. It was my own decision to play on this fight, however

[28:57] briefly, and now I had to live with the consequences. At least I'd finally consequences. At least I'd finally gotten the 25. But now the fun was over. This was the end of the road. The time I've been chasing for 2 years, and it

[29:11] I've been chasing for 2 years, and it was officially perfect. But hey, you're [music] smart. You know that's not the title of this video. And you're probably well aware I've been lying to you for the past half hour. The

[29:24] 205.25 was perfect in a way, but there's one extremely [music] difficult thing you can do to beat it by a mile. It's time to talk about the phase 3 uppercut.

[29:47] knock Tyson down by 128 or earlier, it's all the same. He just stands there and all the same. He just stands there and waits until 130. But what if we go way earlier? Well, if you knock Tyson down by a mid 125 or better, his move timer

[30:01] advances enough to throw an uppercut before 130. This lets you deal extra damage and you ultimately only have to land six frame perfectfect hooks after [music] instead of eight. This is known as the phase 3 uppercut and it saves

[30:15] several seconds over a normal phase 3. The phase 3 uppercut had been talked about as a theory for many years. Even Matt Turk mentioned it back in 2007 as a potential improvement for a future world record. But through all the time Turk,

[30:29] Sinister 1, [music] Zallard One, and myself held the record, the phase 3 uppercut was like a meme, something we joked about that was impossible to obtain, while 205 was the human limit. But now we had no choice. The phase 3

[30:44] uppercut was our only option to lower the record further. We had to figure out how to do it. The key was getting a second knockdown by a mid125. We'd seen 127s and even 126s for years, but this was a step further. You'd

[30:59] essentially need no delays from Tyson throughout the entirety of phases 1 and two. A pattern that on its own would be one in a few hundred. Then on top of it, your dodging had to be incredible, each within a frame or so of perfect. The

[31:14] only bright side was that now the phase three pattern didn't really matter. If finish the fight, it would be a guaranteed big world record. We knew it should be possible. We'd come close before, but in over a decade of

[31:29] actually gotten one. The path was a 53phase 1 and a 125 phase 2. Any delay killed the attempt. I poured hours and hours just trying to see a phase 3

[31:41] uppercut. 99% of attempts died within the first few punches as I needed a blazing [music] fast pattern, but every now and then I got past phase one. And then things got real [music] intense. Well, how about that? How about that?

[31:56] Well, how about that? How about that? 52. 52. I've never gotten that. Oh man.

[32:09] Oh my god. That was it, dude. >> On this attempt, I lost the very last coin toss of phase 2. He was 50/50 likely to delay here. [music] Had he not delayed, it would have been a phase 3 uppercut. As the months went by,

[32:23] this became a common theme. When I made it deep, he delayed at the last moment. And if he somehow didn't, then I usually threw it away myself.

[32:37] Here, I missed the second to last punch early, which wasted seven frames. It led early, which wasted seven frames. It led to a high 125 instead of a mid 125. And I missed the phase 3 uppercut by frames. But at least I was getting close. And

[32:51] once I got it to all line up, I'd then have to execute under the most pressure of my life. I'd have just one chance to land a frame perfectfect uppercut and land a frame perfectfect uppercut and six frame perfect hooks. If I missed, it

[33:04] might take weeks, months, or even years to see another phase 3 uppercut. My consistency in a perfect phase three was about 30%, but I was really hoping to clutch it out, even under the enormous pressure. And then on July 9th, 2018, it

[33:20] pressure. And then on July 9th, 2018, it was suddenly go time.

[33:46] could have gone worse. I hit the frame perfectfect uppercut, hit the first three hooks, but I was early on the fourth hook, [music] meaning I hit him twice for less damage instead of once. Honestly though, I wasn't too upset.

[33:58] It was so hard spending hours and hours fighting Tyson with nothing exciting. insane pressure with very little warning. I kind of figured I'd mess up the first time I [music] made it there. My focus now was getting there again.

[34:13] Since I'd seen it once, now I could be just a little bit calmer. [music] Maybe on my next chance, I'd be able to lock in and hit all the frame perfects. I played Tyson off and on through the rest of 2018. And then in January, the

[34:27] second ever phase 3 uppercut was achieved, but it wasn't by me.

[34:55] just assume we are. [music] >> This was an amazing moment in Punchout history when Pap became the second

[35:08] player to pull off a [music] phase 3 uppercut. Pap was a skilled speedrunner, but not quite on world record level. He was in third place for full game [music] speedruns, and his personal best on Tyson was a 206. He preferred to grind

[35:21] more niche categories like high score. But Pap was good enough at tight dodging to get a phase three uppercut. And you never know when the right pattern is going to strike. So being suddenly faced with this insanely rare situation, Pap

[35:36] had the responsibility to try and close it out. He missed the frame perfectfect uppercut and both of the first two hooks. But the fact that he got one at all was very impressive. It served as a reminder that although I had the Tyson

[35:48] record, it wasn't guaranteed to stay that way. All it took was one person getting a phase three uppercut and clutching out the end. I was determined to finish my next fight that made it there. As 2019 went on, I ramped up my

[36:02] Tyson attempts. [music] It became monotonous. Hours and hours of fighting Tyson with nothing exciting, but I had to stay on my toes because I knew at any moment I could get the pattern and have to execute. There was no warning when it

[36:16] was coming. The 52s and 53s were mixed in with hundreds and hundreds of bad patterns. Each time I entered the Tyson password, I knew it was almost certain to be a failed attempt, but I had to keep trying. And then on July 20th,

[36:31] keep trying. And then on July 20th, 2019, I got my second ever phase 3 2019, I got my second ever phase 3 uppercut.

[36:45] that with two weight frame delays. Holy. Okay, this is happening.

[37:14] Oh my god. Where did that come from, man? Tyson record since Zard's 210. It was absolutely surreal [music] to see a

[37:27] phase 3 uppercut in a world record speedrun. The fact that I pulled it off on just my second time making it there made me very proud. The community celebrated and cheered me on. Even past record holders stopped by to see what

[37:40] happened. I had my fun watching it all pour in. But as crazy as it sounds, given the circumstances, this was actually a very slow fight. In phase three, Tyson has a total of 20 different patterns he can give, each with a

[37:55] different amount of delays. The [music] pattern I got was the very slowest of pattern I got was the very slowest of all 20 delays at every opportunity with the slowest sequence of punches. Additionally, to get a phase three

[38:07] uppercut, you must knock Tyson down within the first 13 frames of a 125. Anything higher and the phase 3 uppercut doesn't come out. Well, this fight knocked Tyson down on exactly the 13th frame. So, it was the latest possible

[38:23] phase 3 uppercut combined with the slowest phase 3 pattern, and the result [music] was a 203.00 time on the first frame of the increment. This was quite literally the only combination that could yield a time

[38:37] as slow as a 203, and it happened to be what I got on my first finished fight. But honestly, I didn't care. I'd gotten another phase 3 uppercut and executed when it mattered the most under a ton of pressure. What did it matter if Tyson

[38:53] screwed me over in phase 3? That being said, I knew that if I could finish another phase 3 uppercut, it would almost certainly be faster. I wanted to try and get more phase 3 uppercuts. Even if it took a while, I might [music] need

[39:07] just one more chance at phase 3. There had been a full year between my first and second phase 3 uppercuts. But as it turned out, to get my third, it only turned out, to get my third, it only took about 2 months.

[39:24] I was playing offline but recording to VHS. And this is footage that I took from that tape. I managed a 52 first knockdown [music] and then Tyson gave a super fast phase 2 pattern. The result was a low 125 second knockdown. I was

[39:41] ahead of the record by about 10 frames. [music] This was guaranteed to be a new world record if I could finish. I hit the uppercut but rushed the first [music] hook. It was all over in a matter of seconds. My third phase 3

[39:54] uppercut was a failure. This was a tough pill to swallow, but the one positive was that [music] this phase 3 uppercut took months instead of years. I was rarely miss frame perfect [music] uppercuts. I capitalized on fast

[40:10] patterns when I got them. If I kept going, maybe this trend would [music] continue. So, I did. And just a month later, I saw my fourth phase 3 uppercut.

[40:22] later, I saw my fourth phase 3 uppercut. [music]

[40:50] What? Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. The 203 was a good first step, but this 2011 was actually a really solid phase 3 uppercut time. My pace was a bit quicker

[41:04] after phase 2, and then the phase 3 pattern I got was much better, 30 frames faster, in fact, which was above average luck. The frame counted final time was 2011.48. Perhaps most importantly, I was really

[41:18] happy with my phase 3 consistency. It was a small sample size, but I was now two for four on executing phase 3. That was 50%. Higher even than the 30% [music] that I saw during practice. I've been able to clutch out a 203 and a 2011

[41:34] on just four phase 3 uppercuts. I think my reaction at the end of the fight says >> Oh my god, it's done. >> It's done. This fight was exactly what I was looking for. Not only did I not get awful luck at the end, but I actually

[41:49] got pretty good luck. A 2011, let alone a 2011.48, was another huge improvement. I felt that if I kept going, I'd be unlikely to beat this anytime soon. So, I stopped Tyson attempts and moved on to other

[42:04] projects in Punchout. But something about the Tyson fight has always drawn me to it. I think it's the rapid restarts. If an attempt dies, you can another chance, and you never know what's about to happen. It's an

[42:18] addicting [music] feeling. So, although I took a break for a few months, by early 2020, I was ready to come back. But since the record was so optimized, I decided to implement something new to help me save a few more frames. Ducking.

[42:39] to dodging that is very rarely used throughout the game. It's performed by quickly pressing down twice on the D-pad. It's harder to be precise with a duck than a dodge, and it's a more awkward input in general, but it has one

[42:53] benefit. A frame perfect duck is one frame faster than a frame perfect dodge. I looked at all of Tyson's uppercuts and analyzed the difficulty and randomness of ducking each one. In the end, I found five uppercuts through the first two

[43:08] phases that I felt I could duck instead of dodge, potentially saving me five frames. This at least made it a little more realistic to beat the 2011.48. punched, [music] but the attempts that did make it would be faster. In early

[43:23] 2020, I came back and did more Tyson attempts. And sometime in late March, I got my fifth phase 3 uppercut. But unfortunately, I didn't save the recording. All I remember about it is that it happened live on stream and then

[43:37] I messed up phase 3. That lowered my phase 3 consistency to 40%. But I was still happy with that. I took another break from Tyson after this, but it was becoming cyclical. I always came back to Tyson. I'd messed with other fights for

[43:52] a while, but I just couldn't stay away. By July, I was itching to fight him again. With the record already being a 2011, I mentally prepared myself for a long grind. I did a couple offline sessions and struggled, making mistakes

[44:07] and throwing away good patterns. And then out of nowhere, this happened.

[44:19] was recording to VHS. So, we have footage of the first ever two flat on Mike Tyson. I did the ducks and had a [music] decent pace after phase two, but this fight was made by the phase three pattern. He barely hesitated at all

[44:33] [music] and I gained 11 frames over the already fast pattern in the 2011. Beyond that, the fight wasn't amazing. Most notably, I missed the third uppercut of the fight to lose seven frames, and Tyson did a small delay in both phases

[44:48] one and two. [music] Yet, the amazing phase three made up for it all. And it was a good thing I added in those five ducks. The final time of this fight was a two flat.97. Add five frames to that and it would

[45:01] have been another 2011. I really wasn't expecting to get a two flat so soon. By sheer luck, each of the three phase 3 uppercut times I'd set had been new world records. And perhaps most importantly, my phase 3 consistency was

[45:16] importantly, my phase 3 consistency was back up to 50%. I didn't think that was frame perfect punches, but it was certainly a good sign. And now, after all these improvements, after six phase 3 uppercuts, I was just a second away

[45:31] 3 uppercuts, I was just a second away from the ultimate Tyson barrier, the sub 2. We talked about this for a few years in a theoretical sense, figuring it would probably never happen. Now, here I was, seemingly right on the cusp of the

[45:45] most legendary achievement in Punchout history. But looks can be deceiving. This one remaining second was special. It was different than all that came before it. Despite being a second away, I wasn't even close to the sub, too. To

[46:01] understand why, we need to take a deep dive into the Mike Tyson fight. On screen is the tass of Mike Tyson made by a tasser named Phil in 2004. A tass

[46:14] is a theoretically perfect speedrun [music] created using tools like save states and frame by frame. The final time of the Mike Tyson task is 158.61 and humans will never achieve this time. The task gets perfect luck of roughly 1

[46:29] The task gets perfect luck of roughly 1 in 150,000 and it ducks under every uppercut frame perfectly, not losing a frame through [music] the entire fight. So, how close can humans get to this? Well, 158 is out of the question, but

[46:43] Well, 158 is out of the question, but 159 is just barely possible. The task goes for 10 additional ducks that I chose to not go for in my two flat 97 due to their difficulty or other various reasons. Adding those 10 frames to this

[46:56] reasons. Adding those 10 frames to this task puts us at 158.99. Therefore, to get a 159, we could [music] lose no more than 20 frames across the task's perfect luck and execution. How realistic is that? Let's

[47:10] start with the luck. In phases 1 and two, after nearly every uppercut, Tyson has a 50/50 chance at [music] giving a delay. These delays are either 8 or 24 frames. He can also do what's known as a switch back, where he pauses and

[47:24] switches sides, and the dreaded 8-second delay. Now, winning every coin toss and getting no delays across phases 1 and two is extremely rare, about 1 in,600.

[47:36] I didn't necessarily need this, but it had [music] to be close. The faster the uppercut, and the more likely I was to break the world record. Phase three also has lots of luck, and it's quite interesting how it works. He throws six

[47:51] hooks, and there are three main patterns he can throw them in. zero switch back, one switch back, or two switchbacks. He always starts with a right and then a left. And then usually he does two more lefts followed by two more rights. But

[48:06] 25% of the time he instead switches back to right and then does another left. Then he has a 25% option to switch back a second time. The fastest are the one switch back patterns with zero and two being roughly the same speed. He can

[48:22] also delay eight frames between most punches. So ideally, you want one switch back with as few eight frame delays as possible. Taking all this into account, Tyson has 20 different options for phase 3, ranging from 0 to 49 frames total of

[48:37] delay. You want somewhere on the lower end, but getting no delays at all like end, but getting no delays at all like the task is quite unlikely. 1 in 85. Multiply it all together and you get about 1 in 150,000. [music]

[48:50] And that's not taking into account the execution. Dodging and ducking every punch frame perfectly is close to impossible. In a typical phase three uppercut fight, some of my dodges and ducks are frame perfect, but many others

[49:03] are one to two frames late. Finally, you're allowed to miss one uppercut early in [music] each phase, but it means you have to do one more delayed hit at the end of the phase. This costs seven frames. So, how did my record

[49:16] seven frames. So, how did my record compare to a perfect time of 158.99? Well, I lost 16 frames from [music] the phase 1 and two pattern and eight frames from the phase 3 pattern, which was actually incredible luck. On the

[49:29] execution side, I lost eight frames from imperfect dodging and ducking and seven frames from a missed punch. That was 39 frames off of perfect, 24 from luck, and 15 from execution. To get a 159, I'd

[49:44] have to lower that number down to just 20. It seemed unlikely. More probable was I could either get a little luckier or play a little better and get a lower two flat time. And that's exactly what I set out to do. In July 2020, I began

[50:00] keeping track of my stats on the side of the stream. Anytime I made it past phase one on pace or past phase two on pace, I added it to the counter. My ultimate goal was to break the record, but I was also very content just getting more

[50:13] phase three uppercuts and seeing what happened. I hoped I could keep up my phase 3 consistency. Well, just a day into attempts, I got my first test. Wow. Uh, this is the seventh phase three uppercut ever, guys. This is it. Here we

[50:29] uppercut ever, guys. This is it. Here we go.

[50:48] This was my first finished fight that did not result in a world record, [music] but I was now 4 for seven on my phase 3es. Just a few days later, I got another phase 3 uppercut, and I again successfully executed [music] phase 3 to

[51:02] successfully executed [music] phase 3 to get a 2011. This was now a 62 1/2% consistency [music] of phase 3, much higher than I saw in practice with the pressure off. I wasn't sure why this was happening, but I wasn't complaining.

[51:15] enough phase 3 luck, but if I could keep this up, a new record might be right around the corner. But little did I know the streak that was about to kick off. A few weeks later, on August 20th, I had another first. Two phase three uppercuts

[51:31] on the same day. Unfortunately, this time I wasn't up to the task as I missed the hook on both of them. This was just the beginning. From August 2020 through the beginning. From August 2020 through June 2021, I saw 10 phase 3 uppercuts on

[51:45] June 2021, I saw 10 phase 3 uppercuts on Tyson. I messed up all of them in phase 3. It started as legitimate mistakes. [music] I rushed the uppercut. I was late on the hook. Whatever. But after a few in a row, it had entirely become a

[51:59] mental block. Every time I made it to phase three, I desperately wanted to end the streak, which just made it harder. My phase three consistency, once at 63%, gradually [music] fell further and further. Finally, on June 2nd, I ended

[52:15] the streak by hitting all six hooks off a 125, getting another 2011. It was a huge weight off my shoulders. Still no new record, but at least it was something. And just like that, the mental block was gone. Over the summer

[52:30] of 2021, I settled into a more reasonable consistency. I didn't execute every phase 3 uppercut, but my mental game was stronger. I racked up a number of 2011s, as well as a 202 and a two flat.99 that missed world record by one

[52:47] flat.99 that missed world record by one frame. Then on July 31st, 2021, I got a low 53 phase 1 that suddenly turned into this.

[53:08] >> 125s are exciting, but 124s are really serious because it means that you actually have a chance at a 159. Off a high 124 like this, you need the fastest phase 3 pattern. But unlike 125s, it's

[53:23] at least in play. And to just break the record of two flat 97, well, any of these patterns would work. [music] 124s are golden opportunities 124s are golden opportunities as long as you can execute phase three.

[53:51] the heck is that? He didn't switch back, but he [music] was really fast. That might be a record. At long last, I seemed to have a new record. I didn't know the exact time, but I had a good feeling. Zard in the chat certainly

[54:05] thought it was fast enough. I quickly went to frame count the fight. I was hoping for a two flat.61, but even a two flat.82 would be great. I typed in the flat.82 would be great. I typed in the frame data, pressed enter, and it was

[54:19] just a two flat.97. Technically, it was one frame faster than my previous two flat.97. So, I guess Zard had a good eye. But it was pretty disappointing that it didn't even reach the next increment. Compared to

[54:32] the last record, my execution was far better, as I lost only five frames from dodging and ducking and didn't miss a punch. But Tyson's uppercut pattern was comparable, and the phase 3 pattern, while still decent, was significantly

[54:46] After more than a year of fighting Tyson and 13 completed phase 3 uppercut fights, all I had to show for it was a one frame improvement. I took a break for a few months after this, but by late 2021, I was back and more motivated than

[55:02] ever to break two flat 97. I threw thousands of attempts at Tyson and saw many more phase three uppercuts. But the frustration continued. I got 202s, I got

[55:14] two 01s, yet nothing was ever fast enough to beat the record. Anytime I successfully finished the fight, I called it a win because at least I did my part. But they were certainly hollow victories. Meanwhile, my record wasn't

[55:29] totally safe. Other punchout runners were beginning to get phase three were beginning to get phase three uppercuts. Most notably, Hefe Man 82. Hefe was another highlevel punchout runner. And over the course of several

[55:41] months in 2021, he too got a few phase 3 uppercuts. With a fast phase 3 pattern, any one of these could have broken the record. But he never correctly executed record. But he never correctly executed phase 3 to find out. Entering 2022, I

[55:55] was still the only player to have finished a phase 3 uppercut fight. 2012 finished a phase 3 uppercut fight. 2012 2011 too flat.99. I was getting killed in phase 3. It was constant delays any time I made it

[56:11] there. I guess I didn't appreciate how quickly I got that initial two flat.97. It was just my third completed phase 3 uppercut fight. By the end of 2022, that number was up to 31, and I still hadn't beaten it by more than a frame.

[56:27] Throughout 2021 and 2022, I was seriously motivated to get some sort of lower two flat time, but it just never happened. At least my phase 3 happened. At least my phase 3 consistency settled in at a solid 40%.

[56:40] But it didn't matter if I never got the luck. I finally threw in the towel at the end of the year after 80 phase three uppercuts, a 203, nine 202s, 17201's,

[56:52] uppercuts, a 203, nine 202s, 17201's, and four high two flats.

[57:23] Is that it? Is that it? Is that it? I I Dude, last time I got a two flat, I think it was Zard who was like, "Oh, record." And then I rettimed it and it was [music] a two flat 97. So, I am not

[57:38] believing anything until I ret time this. Okay. Okay. Before I ret time it, let's go look at phase three cuz I want to know if I should be hopeful or not.

[57:55] [laughter] Yes. That is so a new record. Oh my god. >> Upon replay, I could tell from the timer that this was definitely it. I went ahead and entered the data into the Tyson finder and out popped a time of

[58:09] two flat.61. Finally, a sevenframe cut off the record. I was overcome with relief. I've been trying to beat the two flat 97 for more than 3 years, and this was a substantial improvement. It was about

[58:25] time. What's more, this fight just so happened to have some of my best happened to have some of my best execution ever. Since the two flat.97, I of the fight, meaning the best possible time was now a frame lower, 158.97.

[58:40] Compared to that, I only lost five frames from ducking and dodging, and my uppercut pattern was perfect. The phase 3 pattern was the leak point, but it wasn't awful. Good enough on this amazing pace. Perhaps the key to this

[58:53] fight was my preparation beforehand. In the months leading up to it, I spent hundreds of hours playing full game speedruns. When I made it to Tyson at the end of a run, I was under immense pressure, knowing that a single mistake

[59:06] could cost me a world record. It felt a lot like when I made it to phase three on two flat pace, and it made me just a little bit more comfortable. I got this fight within a week of coming back to Tyson attempts. Now I turned my focus to

[59:20] beating the two flat dot 61 hoping to do it in under 3 years. This time in my mind there were two paths to doing so. This fight got the ultra rare 1 in600 perfect uppercut pattern. I could get that again then get a luckier phase 3.

[59:36] [music] Alternatively I could get an uppercut pattern with a small delay which was much more common then get a very fast phase three. One of the four fastest patterns. Either way, I'd have to duplicate or get very close to my

[59:51] execution level. Losing only five frames across 16 uppercuts was a tall order. I with rapid fire attempts in the fall of 2023. My phase 3 consistency was the

[1:00:03] best it had ever been, and my [music] long-term average began to rise from 40% up to about 47%. There were a lot more 2011s and 202s. I even got the second fastest fight ever of two flat.82. 82. But as I passed 50

[1:00:19] finished fights, no new record. We were at the point where I only made it past phase 1 a couple times per hour, and I made it past phase 2 once every few days. I had to stay mentally sharp when a rare scenario presented itself, then

[1:00:34] pray for good luck down the stretch. Each day, I did hundreds of attempts, and the numbers on the side got bigger and bigger. Yet, it seemed like the year was going to come to a close without any notable follow-up to the two flat 61.

[1:00:47] notable follow-up to the two flat 61. But then, on December 28th, 2023, But then, on December 28th, 2023, something very interesting happened.

[1:01:10] god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I did it. >> This is Funkmeister. [music] And in late 2023, he became the second person to successfully complete a phase 3 uppercut fight. He'd been running the game for a couple years, and his Tyson consistency

[1:01:26] gradually built up to rival anyone in the world. This was actually his fourth phase 3 uppercut, but the first where he hit all the hooks after it. He didn't duck any punches, which was safer, but slightly slower. Yet with a luckier

[1:01:40] phase three pattern, he could have had a 2011 or even a two flat. This was really the first time since Zard in 2016 that I had a rival on Tyson. Funk hadn't played as much as me, but if he had the talent to get a 202, he had the talent to break

[1:01:55] to get a 202, he had the talent to break the record. So even into 2024, I kept fighting Tyson trying to break two flat 61. But again, it just wasn't happening. I got plenty more 2011's and 202s, but nothing faster. By mid January, I'd

[1:02:11] nothing faster. By mid January, I'd amassed 62 completed fights on 131 phase 3 uppercuts. It was maddening to duplicate my efforts that many times without really breaking through. I had to take a step back and look at my

[1:02:24] situation. Ignoring [music] the exact decimal, the record on Tyson had been a decimal, the record on Tyson had been a two flat for nearly 4 years. During that time, I'd spent hundreds of hours performing tens of thousands of attempts

[1:02:36] to lower it. And across all that, I'd gotten just two minor improvements. The sub 2 was still a long shot, but surely getting under two flat 61 had to be doable. But the more time that passed, the more I began to doubt that. So, in

[1:02:52] January 2024, I once again stepped aside from Tyson and just hoped that Funk or to the record. Instead of fighting Tyson, I spent a lot of evenings trying to killcreen arcade Donkey Kong, which is like the exact opposite of Tyson

[1:03:08] attempts. Each game can take two hours, not 2 minutes, as you work your way through 117 boards, and your nerves build up the entire time rather than hitting all at once. I sort of unlearned a lot of habits I'd acquired from the

[1:03:23] past 4 years of Tyson. Eventually, one day in early June, I had some time to kill and instead of DK, I decided to try fighting Tyson again. I hadn't played Punch Out in about 5 months and was really just doing this for fun.

[1:03:37] Typically, when I did Tyson attempts, I practiced extensively beforehand and usually prepared through my previous weeks or months of attempt sessions. But, of course, here that was out the window. I hadn't done this in a long

[1:03:50] time. This time I was totally unprepared if anything happened. The first hour went about as you'd expect. Lots of misses as I tried to build back my consistency with the frame perfects. But suddenly I found myself on a killer pace

[1:04:05] during phase 1 and scored a really nice first knockdown. Okay, that was really good dodging and ducking. That was actually really good dodging and actually really good dodging and ducking. A low 52. This meant a perfect

[1:04:18] phase 1 pattern as well as tight dodging and ducking. Phase two began and to my shock, it was more of the same. Tyson wasn't delaying and my execution wasn't delaying and my execution remained impeccable. [music]

[1:04:35] and suddenly all the nerves came rushing in. Despite being heavily out of practice, I'd somehow just seen one of the only low 124s [music] ever on Mike Tyson. This was not only a great chance at the record, but it actually had a

[1:04:50] reasonable chance at [music] being a sub, too. There was no time to think. I had to let the muscle memory kick in and hope that I could close this out.

[1:05:17] That's a world record. That is a world record. record. Oh my god. I knew right away this was a big one. He didn't switch back in phase three, but he didn't delay much either.

[1:05:30] off of that pace. This had to be a low two [music] flat time. I quickly punched it into the Tyson finder and out popped a time of two flat. 0 on the third It was unbelievable. I'd spent the last few years trying to be as prepared as

[1:05:46] possible for this exact scenario. And it ended up happening during a rusty one-off attempt session in front of hundreds of viewers. Let's take another look at phase three. He opened by not delaying after the first hook, then

[1:05:59] didn't delay after hook two, but also didn't switch back at this point in time. Sub two was still in play, but he has three different delays after hook four, and he gave me the second fastest one, which lost eight frames. Good

[1:06:13] enough for a big record, but had this delay been the fastest one, the fight delay been the fastest one, the fight would have been a 159. Instead, now I was just three frames away. This was so tempting. A pursuit that had taken up

[1:06:26] eight years of my life was that close to being complete. But the simple fact is in the past I'd never fought Tyson for more than a few months at a time before taking a break and playing [music] something else. Even if I fought Tyson

[1:06:40] every day for the next 3 months, it was very unlikely that I'd break this new record. In one sense, I was closer than ever. But in another sense, what I needed for Sub 2 hadn't changed. I had to decide what I wanted to do. And

[1:06:54] here's why that was such a hard decision to make. To get a sub two, I basically would need the perfect uppercut pattern. That's 1 in600. Then I'd need a very fast phase 3

[1:07:07] pattern. If I was really tight with my dodging and ducking, I'd have a 17% chance at getting such a pattern. If I was a bit slow, it was just [music] 10%. That's 1 in 9,400 if I played really well, or 1 in6,000 otherwise. Then there

[1:07:25] was the small task of needing 21 frame perfect punches, many of which had to be done while under ridiculous [music] pressure. So, let's call it 1 in 10,000 to get the luck, then factor in the execution. How often could I land all 21

[1:07:39] frame perfects while dodging and ducking tightly? It quickly became clear that this could take many, many tens of [music] thousands of attempts. In my 9-year career playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out, I'd fought Tyson roughly 75,000

[1:07:53] times already. I might need to duplicate that to get the sub, too. But if I did pull it off, this world record would transcend all others in Punch Out. The combination of skill and luck would push it beyond any other IIL. It would be the

[1:08:09] highlight of my speedrunning career. It even sounded cool. The sub 2. What an amazing [music] coincidence that this perfectly difficult barrier happens to reside exactly [music] on a minute mark. If it was even 1 second off, it would

[1:08:24] either be too easy or completely unrealistic. And besides, Funkmeister and others were right behind me. They were good enough that if they happened to fluke the luck, they could capitalize on it and beat me to the sub, too. The

[1:08:37] only way to ensure being first was to do this right now. So, I made my decision. I was going to do Tyson attempts nonstop until I got sub 2. It could take many

[1:08:49] until I got sub 2. It could take many months, even years, but I was committed. It was sub 2 or bust. My plan was to play nearly every day, an average of 6 days per week for about 2 hours per day. I built that time into my

[1:09:04] daily routine, usually playing in the evening. Even though I'd just gotten a huge record, I was still a bit rusty. Over the next couple weeks, I alternated getting a phase three uppercut, ultimately adding another 202 and 2011.

[1:09:21] But notably, all these uppercuts came off of 125s, [music] which meant they had no chance at sub 2 to begin with. Then on June 15th, I got another 124, but it was a high 124 since I got a small delay in phase 1. Sub 2

[1:09:37] was possible from here, but extremely unlikely. The only way this would work would be if I got the task phase 3 pattern, which I had never seen before. pattern, which I had never seen before. The chance was just 1 in 85. I needed

[1:09:51] right, left, right, left, left, left with no delays anywhere. Imagine if I just got this right here. And the grind ended after 2 weeks.

[1:10:14] Oh my god, I almost got it. Holy. I lost the last coin flip. Oh my god. Unbelievable. The last possible thing that could have gone wrong did go [music] wrong. He delayed before the fifth hook. It pushed the final time to

[1:10:28] fifth hook. It pushed the final time to a two flat. 255 instead of a sub two. This was still the second fastest Tyson fight ever, but it was hard to process how close I'd just come. I was literally a coin toss away from sub 2. If I'd had

[1:10:42] these two amazing fights just 13 days apart, maybe sub 2 was more likely than I thought. I pushed onward. Over the next few weeks in June, I finished more fights, all 2011's and [music] 202s. But in July, I suddenly went cold. I had a

[1:10:59] bad streak where out of nine phase three uppercuts, I only successfully executed once. Streaks like this really got in my head. In any sort of sequence where you're 50% likely to succeed, there's bound to occasionally be long streaks of

[1:11:13] bound to occasionally be long streaks of misses. But every time I worried that my consistency was ruined and that if I ever made it deep into phase three on sub 2 pace, I was bound to mess it up. Eventually, I pulled out of it and had

[1:11:26] more success. At this point, it had been 2 months since that two flat. 0. Day after day of fighting Tyson over and over and over, [music] people often wonder, why enter the password every time? Why not use a save

[1:11:41] state just before the fight? Well, using a safe state can lead to unintentional a safe state can lead to unintentional or even intentional RNG manipulation. The only fair way to do it is resetting and entering the [music] password. So,

[1:11:53] that's what I did hundreds of times per day. It took until August 2nd to get another good chance. After a low 52 phase 1, [music] Tyson did what he almost never does, a perfect phase 2 pattern. This was another low 124 and

[1:12:09] another chance at sub 2. The pressure was instantly turned up as I anxiously was instantly turned up as I anxiously awaited my gameplay and Tyson's pattern.

[1:12:31] >> [sighs and gasps] [panting] I think. So, here's the thing. Remember before how I said depending on your execution to get sub 2, you either needed one of these patterns or one of

[1:12:45] these patterns? Well, Tyson had just given me this pattern and the timer read given me this pattern and the timer read too flat, not 159, so my dodging and ducking was slow. I could have had sub two from here. I rewatched the fight on

[1:13:00] stream and the cope was real at how I played. Those are a little slow. That's pretty good though. That's really not bad. Okay, that's phase one. That was a slow duck, but that's such a low 124.

[1:13:16] Oh man, dude. Well, as a consolation prize, I was pretty sure that this was still a new world record. The record was two flat. 0 on the third frame, and I had confidence that this fight beat it

[1:13:28] by a frame or two. I entered the data into the Tyson finder. End frame. Are you guys ready? I don't know if I'm ready. 5611. I tied record. How can that be? How, dude? How can that be? It says it's tied

[1:13:45] record. Fortunately, I really haven't played very well. Tyson gave me a perfect uppercut pattern and 16 frames of delay in phase 3. This was three frames faster than the previous record, but my dodging and ducking was slow

[1:13:58] enough to make up the gap. Off of this pattern, you can lose no more than five frames and still get sub 2, and I had lost eight. This particular pattern was right on the borderline. Anything faster and sub 2 is pretty much guaranteed.

[1:14:14] anything slower [music] and I had no chance. So to help, I decided that going forward, I'd go for two more ducks in phase one and make it a bit more likely that I'd be fast enough off of this pattern. The two extra ducks came on

[1:14:26] punches three and nine. I didn't go for them in the past because for whatever reason, it seemed to make Tyson more likely to switch back shortly after, which kills the attempt. But I decided it was worth it. I'd get slightly fewer

[1:14:40] attempts past phase one, but on average they'd be two frames faster. The first two months of the sub two grind were in the books, and honestly, it had gone really well. But my luck was due to regress. The next two months weren't the

[1:14:55] same. Through August and September, I had many more finished fights, but they were all far too slow. The fastest was a two flat. 82 on August 31st. This trend remained the same into September. My execution was pretty good, but weeks and

[1:15:11] weeks passed with nothing too great. The only time things got really exciting was only time things got really exciting was whenever I got a low 124 phase 2. These were golden opportunities for sub 2, and they were very rare. On average, one

[1:15:25] happened about every 3 weeks, but there was lots of variation. Sometimes I got it twice in one week. Other times, I'd go well over a month without seeing one. So, every time I did get one, [music] the pressure was enormous. I better not

[1:15:41] mess up because I could easily go a month without being in this spot again. At the 4mon mark of the grind, I'd seen a handful of these low [music] 124s. One resulted in the tide record, one resulted in a 2011, and the rest I

[1:15:56] messed up under the pressure. It was so hard to hold it together knowing the stakes. All the other 2011's and 202s were practice for whenever I made it there on sub 2 pace. I didn't know when it was going to be, but I wanted to be

[1:16:10] mentally strong. And once every 3 weeks or so, a low 124 showed up and I'd be or so, a low 124 showed up and I'd be put to the ultimate test. [snorts]

[1:16:22] Come on, dude. [sighs] [music]

[1:16:34] Every time I failed the test, it was agonizing. Nothing I could do but play for weeks and try to get there again. In October, I managed to successfully execute phase 3 six times in a row, which tied my longest ever. But they

[1:16:49] were all 2011's and 202s. No close calls with the record. In November, I was a bit more up and down, finishing off some fights, but messing up others in phase three. I remained committed to the task at hand. I wanted to be the first to

[1:17:03] sub, too. No way could I give it up after putting in this much time. And all of a sudden, in January, my luck began to come around again. On January 10th, I got the third fastest Tyson fight ever of two flat. 25. It even came off a high

[1:17:21] 124. And this fight was in the midst of an amazing streak of execution. Throughout January, I rattled off phase three uppercut after phase three uppercut and successfully finished almost all of them. This was the best I

[1:17:35] had ever played. I desperately hoped that this was the final push and that during this streak, the luck for a sub 2 would come around and I'd finally finish it off. For a couple weeks, it seemed like another mirage with lots of 2011's

[1:17:50] like another mirage with lots of 2011's and 202s. But then on January 21st came and 202s. But then on January 21st came the best chance I'd ever had at sub 2. Just a short while into my session, I got the once every 3 weeks perfect

[1:18:04] uppercut pattern. My dodging and ducking was good. So at this moment, I had a 17% was good. So at this moment, I had a 17% chance at sub 2, a golden opportunity. I hit the phase three uppercut, the first hook, and then he chose to not delay

[1:18:19] before [music] hook two. This improved my odds to over 26%. my odds to over 26%. Then the amazing part. Tyson switched back, albeit with an 8 frame delay. My odds in a sub 2 pattern were now over

[1:18:34] 56%. This was unprecedented. Tyson's next punch had to be from the left side. The only question was whether he'd delay eight frames before it or not. He did [music] not delay. This

[1:18:48] meant I now had a 75% chance at getting a sub two pattern. Tyson only had two hooks left to throw. If I didn't miss a punch, there was only one thing left that could kill this. If he switched back a second time, which was just one

[1:19:04] and four likely, as long as the next hook was from the left side, [music] hook was from the left side, [music] then sub two was guaranteed,

[1:19:20] guys. That was it. He was going to do it. I was so close, it. I was so close, guys. I had it, dude. He switched back. Dude, I had a

[1:19:32] 75% chance of sub, too. Right there. Back in June, I'd made it to the last Back in June, I'd made it to the last delay and missed. Now, 7 months later, it had happened again. I'd gotten unlucky both times. The odds that

[1:19:46] neither fight resulted in a sub two, just 1 in8. I was completely devastated. More than that, I was [music] angry. I was in the middle of my best execution was in the middle of my best execution ever on this fight. Had come so close

[1:20:01] only to get it ripped away at the last moment again. As it turned out, that fight was in the middle of an insane streak where I hit 194 consecutive frame perfectfect hooks across several phase 3 uppercut fights and practice. I'd never

[1:20:16] even come close to that before. This was the most prepared I'd ever been if the luck happened to line up. I was almost sure I'd execute if I made it there again, but it didn't happen. The hook streak ended in late January.

[1:20:31] streak ended in late January. And then my execution got shaky. I messed up several fights that got phase three uppercuts. That confidence that I'd be able to execute if I saw the luck faded away. That double switchback fight

[1:20:44] was my chance, and he just couldn't give it to me. It took me 8 months to get that close. And now based on the evidence, even if it happened again, there was a good chance I'd be unable to hold it together.

[1:21:00] Then on February 8th, I got the perfect uppercut pattern again. All right, don't uppercut pattern again. All right, don't get excited and get in the rhythm.

[1:21:28] first time ever, after 5 years of trying, Tyson had just given me the trying, Tyson had just given me the pattern for a 159. This fifth hook from the left side meant that he'd switched back once, but not [music] twice. With

[1:21:41] back once, but not [music] twice. With exactly 16 frames of delay, there was only one option remaining. Tyson was going to throw two more quick punches [music] The luck was done. Standing in my way

[1:21:55] from the 159 was having to land two more frame perfect punches. This was all happening so fast, but in my head I was keeping track of it all. I knew exactly what the situation was, and I knew what I had to do, but I didn't know if I

[1:22:11] would be able to. I had spent the last 8 months trying to prepare for the nerves [music] of these last two frame perfectfect launches. But actually being in that situation, I realized I was completely unprepared for this. If I

[1:22:26] messed up, it could take many months, even years before I saw this again. even years before I saw this again. Please, just please land these last two Please, just please land these last two frame perfectfect punches. [music]

[1:22:45] I thought I'd be a lot more excited about this. Holy, dude.

[1:22:57] Dude, am I dreaming right now? It's over.

[1:23:11] Zard and others had been going for even longer. Why was my reaction so quiet? Well, to be honest, I was in shock. After this long, part of me was expecting it to never happen. Looking up and seeing 159, it took a while to set

[1:23:26] in. Since the year 2020, I'd done about 75,000 Tyson attempts. Those were countless hours spent not knowing if it would ever pay off. I just kept going in hopes that one day it would finally happen. When I got the first phase 3

[1:23:42] uppercut in 2018, I had no idea what it would turn into. I didn't know that I'd eventually get over 200 of them, successfully finishing 138. I had no idea the agony of every time I messed up and the triumph of the few times I set a

[1:23:57] new record. When my first finished fight was a 203, my second was a 2011, and my third was a two flat, I had no idea it would take 135 more to take the next

[1:24:09] second off. But in the end, I can unequivocally say the quest for 159 was unequivocally say the quest for 159 was [music] worth it. Thanks for watching.

[1:24:24] >> Don't forget to click the link below to purchase a Summoning Salt Mega Man 2 VHS tape. [music]