He may have been replaced by "Mr. Dream" in some versions of the game, but for many people, Mike Tyson continues to be the star of the NES Punch-Out!!, released in 1987.
Tyson is the final character the player fights in the game and is as fierce an opponent as his real-world counterpart—so much so that nobody has been able to defeat him in under two minutes. Until now, that is.
After five years and 75,000 attempts, speedrun boffin Summoning Salt managed to TKO Tyson in 1:59.97—although it's worth noting that the in-game clock runs around three times faster than a real-world one (thanks, Ars Technica).
"This is the greatest gaming achievement I have ever accomplished," says Summoning Salt. "The Mike Tyson fight requires an incredible amount of luck and execution. I hit all 21 frame perfect punches (1/60th of a second), hit 10 perfect dodges and ducks, and got luck that has somewhere around a 1/7,000 - 1/10,000 chance of occurring."
As he explains, the fight with Tyson is broken up into phases, with Tyson's knockdowns indicating the conclusion of each one.
"I played very well during phases 1 and 2, losing only 6 frames across all 16 dodges/ducks, while hitting all 14 frame perfect punches," says Summoning Salt. "Tyson also gave me a perfect pattern with no delays, which is a 1/1600 pattern. I then played perfectly during phase 3, hitting all 7 frame-perfect punches, while Tyson gave me a fairly fast but not perfect pattern."
Despite it taking so long, Summoning Salt says he has "no plans to ever improve this time." He's also happy to admit that he "will be beaten by somebody one day, likely by matching this fight and then getting better luck in phase 3. I have no interest in competing for that, but am extremely proud to have gotten the first sub 2 ever on Mike Tyson."