Super Punch Out!! - Mad Clown [0'09'01] (NTSC WR)

Lixunis was finding strategies for the PAL version of Super Punch Out recently, which actually has several wildly different strategies from the NTSC version, but ended up checking the NTSC version for things recently for full game speedrun stuff. On 3/14/2022, he posted an improvement from 9"05 to 9"03 in the Super Punch Out speedrunning discord server.

That strategy involved 6 frame perfect things you needed to time, as well as an extra unstunned jab, which increases the luck needed greatly. However on 4/4/2022, he found *another* improvement that cut it down to 9"01, but requires *another* frame perfect punch, bringing the total to 7, making this fight the most difficult strategy to execute that this game has to offer.

I had a weirdly hard time matching this tied record, because despite how quickly I hit the 9"03, I kept messing up phase 2 every time I got there on pace during attempts. The phase 2 counter was the main culprit, as I just didn't have a great cue that worked for me consistently.

Usually you have to resort to "feel" on punches like this, but I simply wasn't great at getting the feel for that spacing down. I ended up not playing the game for ~2 weeks, but came back to it today and thankfully got it very quickly with no practice.

This fight starts with you pressing nothing for the first frame, and then pressing "Up" and "Y" to throw a left jab on the next frame. Follow that up with another buffered left jab, with Mad Clown hopefully standing still without random retaliations and not randomly blocking. From there, Clown will throw a jab on your left side, and you'll need to do a delayed left jab to counter it.

Once the jab is countered, you'll have to land a right jab on the same frame that Clown's stun ends, which is a very awkward timing. I opted to do a pseudo buffer by timing a quick duck shortly after I visually see Clown's sprite change into his stunned sprite. Then you have to throw a left jab with a *very* small delay, then delay a right jab by 1 frame so Clown's move timer advances just enough to do buffered rapid jabs on Clown's upcoming hook.

Buffering rapid jabs requires pressing A, letting go when you see your character start his super, then repressing it. That rapid jab will hit him out of that hook animation and make him instantly go dizzy. Since rapid jabs made him dizzy, the buffer strategy needs to be different than the one in the 9"05. Hold left, and don't let go until your character centers himself, then press "Left" then "Up" in rapid succession, along with "A" to throw an uppercut to knock Clown down.

Clown opens phase 2 by either him doing a taunt where he's pointing to his stomach, which means he'll retaliate when you attempt to throw a punch, or by standing there. Start by pressing nothing on the first frame the fight starts back up, then press "Up" + "A" to throw an uppercut (there's a 3/8 chance he dodges). Once that lands, Clown will do a jab on your right, that you need to counter with a right jab, and then buffer another uppercut for knockdown 2.

If you got this far, then congratulations, because you've basically finished the fight! For phase 3, Mad Clown always opens with "Show Time", which involves him throwing really fast jabs. Because of Show Time, you can easily counter his first jab by buffering a right jab as soon as the phase begins, and because of how fast phase 2 was, he'll come back with so little health that he'll go right back down when the jab lands.

Also here are some stats on how many frame perfect phase 1's I got, as well as how each of them failed to net me 9"01.

Frame perfect phase 1's: 35
Dodged in phase 2: 9
Taunted in phase 2: 10
Too slow in phase 2: 8
Too fast on phase 2 uppercut: 3
Too fast on phase 2 counter: 4

Anyways, thanks for watching!

[gmikey]

I love to see these records still become smaller and smaller. Way to master what most are not willing to do

[diegodankquixote-wry]

The devil shivers when a Mad Clown starts morbin'. Luckily for Little Mac, the power of dizziness was on his side and Mad Clown was prevented from morbin' his balls. Mad Clown was never able to arrive upon the truth.

[kinghippo]

0:14 That fast transition to his dizzy animation made me laugh a lot

[glassta]

i noticed that zallard really likes fist-bumping spo characters in the thumbnails.

[saikoddlc]

I always appreciate your SPO speedrun videos, even though they aren't single segment runs, I still really appreciate watching them, it is kind of fun and they always help me when I wanna try the strats in game. Thank you zallard, you're the best.

[realausome]

Zallard, you never fail to amaze us. It seems that you just casually pick up records every couple of days. If you guys don't know, Mad Clown is a pretty RNG-Based fight, so being able to get records on it means you need to get good RNG and you need to compensate for that with playing well, too. Some fights take thousands of attempts to get even close a WR, but Zack just makes it look too easy.

[Idk-oj]

Having the world record of something would feel so amazing

[mr.dappermarsh]

Mad respect for you zallard, incredible to watch!

[Usako_]

Before Summoning Salt: you just have to punch fast

After Summoning Salt: PERFECT LUCK LET'S FKING GOOOO

[kinghippo]

Only Narcis Prince is left to get a new WR from Zallard

[antarcticpenguin]

i love how the fight evaluation took longer than the fight itself xD

[MorkedUP]

This guy is still speedrunning? What a legend

[pxkos]

Bro and i thought my 20 second run was impressive, you did a sub 10

[Geobeetle]

This is NOT easy. I can’t believe you can actually hit clown in these windows without him dodging every time

[olivernehmer]

I remember watching those streams! Congrats on the time!

[Lurdiak]

That first knockdown is so wild. It feels like you've barely hit him and he's already dizzy.

[jdurg]

Yo, congrats zallard! I know how much time went into achieving this. Must have felt great when you finally got it. (Or awful considering that means back to Narcis. Heh).

[journey]

only narcis stops you from the 16/16 now!

[meteorytekrenaryte]

When using cheats to achieve a ko, Clown seems like he's gonna get back up but then he just passes out from a migraine!

[docrackkids]

Year 3078: nick bruiser [0"0"0]