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Speedrunner Beats Mike Tyson in Under Two Minutes

A Historic Moment in Speedrunning

Since 1987, countless players have battled Mike Tyson in the NES classic, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. Many have tried, but only a few have ever defeated this formidable video game boss. Even fewer managed a first-round knockout.

For years, a sub-two-minute TKO on the in-game clock (which runs faster than real-time) seemed impossible. But speedrunner Summoning Salt recently achieved the unbelievable, clocking in at 1:59.97 after nearly five years and around 75,000 attempts.

The Perfect Storm: Skill and Luck

Breaking the two-minute barrier required a combination of incredible skill and unbelievable luck. Summoning Salt needed to land 21 frame-perfect punches, each within a one-sixtieth-of-a-second window.

Beyond skill, the game’s random elements had to align perfectly. Tyson can pause between punches for varying lengths of time. Summoning Salt needed, and received, the shortest possible pauses throughout the fight.

Summoning Salt’s Reaction