Super Punch Out!! - Bald Bull [0'08"24] (NTSC WR)

This run was done on an original Super Nintendo cartridge of Super Punch-Out, as well as an original Super Nintendo 1chip console that was recapped and modded with the Voultar RGB amp to restore the correct color intensity. For some more in depth information about my general RGB setup, you can check out this pastebin here: https://pastebin.com/TtXx1PQx

Additionally, I've decided to include a non-stretched version of this fight in an unlisted video. If you'd like to learn more about why I'm including this too, you can check out the description in the second video here:    • Super Punch-Out!! - Bald Bull [8"24] ...  

This is easily the most complicated and difficult fight that the Minor Circuit has to offer, especially when it comes to achieving an optimal fight. This was incidentally, one of the earliest records I tied the TAS on like a decade ago, despite it's relatively high difficulty among the TAS tie records in Super Punch Out. I wanted to aim for optimizing real-time too, so I opted to use an alternate buffer strategy to finish phase 1 with a low super, which is how McHazard's current TAS handles the first super knockdown in this fight.

However... as I was typing out that last sentence, I decided to double check how much faster the phase 1 low super knockdown was compared to the uppercut... and I found that the low super was 28 frames SLOWER than the uppercut. So, because I am a stickler for quality and feel like I should optimize these redone fights for real-time as well as game time, I decided to re-match the TAS time on Bald Bull again before uploading it. Ended up being busy for a while since my last upload too, which is why there was such a large gap between my last SPO upload and this one. If you want to see a comparison video I made with the other Bull video, you can check it out here to see how much faster an uppercut is for the end of phase 1:    • Super Punch-Out!! - Bald Bull [Real T...  

The TAS strategy for this fight requires you to do a couple of strict things in phase 1. You must start the fight by holding "Up" for the first frame of the fight, and throwing two consecutive right gut punches. Once you've landed the first punch of the fight, you need to maintain a very strict pace in order for Bull to get dizzy with this strategy.

There's a mechanic called the "Dizzy Meter" that determines when an opponent gets dizzy. The meter fills up every time you land a punch, which will add a weighted number to it depending on how strong it was, and then they'll go dizzy when a certain threshold is reached, which is different for every character. This meter will also go down by 1 point for every single frame that elapses in the fight, which means you need these punches to land fast in a short period of time to get them dizzy.

By the time you've landed the first punch in this fight, you cannot lose more than 2 frames collectively on EVERY punch up until you throw the low super that gets Bull dizzy, otherwise the dizzy meter just barely doesn't reach Bull's dizzy threshold.

After the first 2 right gut punches, you need to counter Bull's hook with a delayed right gut punch. From here, you need to perform a frame perfect delayed punch so that Bull's recoil animation is very slightly faster, and your punch gains you a couple of extra arrows. If you're too early, Bull's recoil will be a normal speed, but if you're too late, Bull ends up blocking you. I time this punch right around when I see Bull's mouth make a circle the 2nd time while he's stunned.

Once you land the frame perfect delayed punch, then you need to counter Bull's jab with a left jab of your own, then buffer another left jab and immediately throw a low super to get Bull dizzy. As he gets dizzy, you have a variety of buffer strategies that work, but the simplest and fastest way is the one I used here, which is left jab, right jab, uppercut.

For phase 2, you pretty much start the exact same way you start the fight, by holding "Up" for the first frame of the phase, then buffering a right gut punch. However, this time you want to just do one gut punch, and immediately buffer an uppercut out of it. If you do the gut punch within the first 2 possible frames, then Bull will still be idle when the uppercut tries to hit him, which means he has can randomly dodge the uppercut, and it feels like this is the case roughly 50% of the time.

Phase 3 is just the bull charge, which is totally free because there's a buffer that counters both delays he can do, which is throwing a right jab into a quick duck, and then 2 left body blows, which will counter both delays. However, because I'm opting for real-time optimizations too, I decided to commit to Bull doing the faster delay, which means I might as well go for the low super bull charge counter for the TKO, which thankfully has a nice buffer that I used in my 2014 blindfolded run. This just involves throwing a left hook into a low super, which gets you the TKO!

Anyways, thanks for watching!