Nintendo’s notoriously single-player boxing game SuperPunch-Out!! was released to nearly universal praise 28 years ago. One issue for some reviewers, though, was the game’s lack of a two player mode. Through numerous re-releases on consoles, there has never been a way to play the game with a friend—except there actually was the whole time. This week, UnlistedCheats on Twitter revealed a hidden multiplayer mode in the game, accessible with cheat codes, that allows it to be played with two people for the first time.
While start menu cheats for the game have been found before, they affect sound and name input rather than gameplay. The first newly discovered cheat, which can be accessed by pressing Y+R (on the second player controller) and then A or Start (on player one’s controller), gets you to a secret menu which allows you to fight a free match as any of the opponents in the game. Subsequently holding B+Y and pressing A will allow the CPU to be controlled from the second joypad, and allows two players to play against each other.
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
Released for the SNES in 1994, Super Punch-Out!! is a sequel to the 1987 NES Punch-Out!!, which originally starred Mike Tyson. You play as a boxer named Little Mac as he tries to become the champion of the World Video Boxing Association. In the two-player cheat, you can play as any opponent from this game, including the Special Circuit, the selection of elite boxers you can fight at the end of the game. All of player two’s moves correspond to whatever character they’ve picked, as well, meaning that it’s possible to use special moves from the CPU characters that players would normally be unable to access.
Almost 30 years after release, people are still discovering secrets in this game, which makes you wonder what else has been hidden in popular games for decades.