It turns out Super Punch-Out!! was a competitive multiplayer game all along — it just took fans 28 years to figure it out.
Earlier today, the Twitter account Unlisted Cheats revealed two new previously undiscovered cheats for Super Punch-Out!!, the sequel to Punch-Out!! released in 1994.
The first cheat offers access to a free single match with any fighter in the game. It can be accessed by holding Y+R on a controller plugged into the player two slot, then pressing start on the player one controller.
The second cheat, remarkably, makes it possible to actually play as one of the 16 characters in Super Punch-Out!!, and even perform their special moves. Want to use Bald Bull’s charge attack? Just press Down + B and away you’ll go (just pray you don’t get punched at the wrong time).
At the title, hold Y+R, then press A or START. Following screen will appear instead or regular menus. Here you can select any character to fight a free single match. See, even fighters from SPECIAL CIRCUIT are available here. -> pic.twitter.com/Hh7AtPdTcK
— Unlisted Cheats (@new_cheats_news) August 8, 2022
To access the two-player mode, you’ll need to enter the free match mode screen; select a fighter, and when it goes to the character info screen, holding B+Y on the player two controller while pressing start on player one. You should be able to control the second fighter from that point onward.
Both cheats have been confirmed to work on the Nintendo Switch Online version of Super Punch-Out by IGN. You can see the full list of confirmed cheat codes on our SNES Cheat Code Guide.
It’s unclear why this secret mode has been hidden away all this time, though it’s likely there for testing purposes. Whatever the reason, it adds a whole new dimension to this 16-bit classic, allowing players to unleash the full might of Bear Hugger and Gabby Jay.
This isn’t the first time a Punch-Out!! game has had multiplayer, granted. The Wii’s Punch-Out!! also had multiplayer, though you fought a clone of Little Mac instead of one of the actual boxers. Super Punch-Out!!, by contrast, now allows you to play as a crazed circus clown.
You can read our review of Super Punch-Out!! as well as where it lands on our list of the Top 125 Nintendo Games of All Time. And if you want additional news from the world of Nintendo, check out the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, where we recently reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
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