Decades later, a new Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Easter Egg has been found
Ars Technica 2016-04-12
You might think that gamers have combed through every secret and available strategy in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (aka simply Punch-Out!!) since its original release on the NES in 1987. You'd be wrong, though. Just this weekend, word first started to spread of a previously unnoticed background Easter Egg that can help players with the split-second timing needed for some crucial knockout punches.
The three-minute video explanation from YouTuber midwesternhousewives lays out the specifics, but in short, the newly discovered secret hinges on a bearded man on the bottom row of the on-screen audience, near the left side of the screen. If you watch his face closely during the first fight with Piston Honda and the second fight with Bald Bull, this one audience member will duck slightly at the precise moment you can throw an instant, body blow knockout punch.
While the general timing for those one-hit knockouts have been well-known for decades, this is the first time anyone has publicized the existence of this specific timing clue. The animation timing could theoretically be a coincidence, but since the man doesn't seem to react at any other point in the game—and ducks consistently whenever the knockout opportunity presents itself—it seem highly unlikely.