Punch-Out strats

~~~~~~~~~~ Glass Joe: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 42.00(tas)]
P1) (all buffered) 22 face punches / 2 right guts / 2 left guts

~~~~~~~~~~ Von Kaiser: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 38.61]
P1) buffer a face punch / dodge / buffer 7 face punches / dodge / face punch / buffer star
P2) when Kaiser goes down to throw an upper, hit B to counter / do this again / buffer star
P3) same as phase 2

~~~~~~~~~~ Honda 1: ~~~~~~~~~~  [potential for 47.97]
P1) raise his guard and throw 3 left gutters / buffer all 3 star punches / raise his guard and throw a right gutter and 2 left gutters
     ------ if all 3 land, dodge his next attack, throw 3 punches and use a star
     ------ if only two land, dodge his next attack, throw one punch and use a star, then dodge his next attack and punch him down
     ------ if no guts or only the first right gut lands you should reset or go for the 1m counter punch in p3
P2) hold start
P3) you do the exact same first 6 punches as phase 1 except you do not buffer the 2nd star punch

~~~~~~~~~~ Don 1: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 14.97(tas)]
P1) (all buffered) left gut / slow left dodge / quick left dodge / face punch / star
P2) dodge and knock him down with right face punches

~~~~~~~~~~ King Hippo: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 37.61(tas)]
P1) open with 3 slow right dodges then face punch. if he opens it's a frame perfect blow and you get 9 free gut punches. after that just don't be bad/slow
9
~~~~~~~~~~ Great Tiger: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 47.99]
P1) buffer face punch / buffer a slow dodge / delay gut punch for a star / do this until you have 3 stars / buffer 2 star uses /
    get one more star the way we opened the fight with / delay face punch into his gem flash to get a 3rd star / buffer a slow right dodge / buffer a quick right dodge / buffer star
P2) buffer star
P3) buffer star

~~~~~~~~~~ Bull 1: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 1:03.61]
P1) (buffered) 2 face punches / star / face punch / star / face punch / star / face punch / DELAY face punch
P2) buffer face punch / guard manip 3 more face punches / dodge / star / dodge / punch twice / delayed late hit for a star / 2 slow left dodges / dodge punch till he goes down unless rolling jabs
     ----- if rolling jabs, throw a star then buffer 2 face punches
P3) buffer 2 right slow dodges / buffer quick left dodge / buffer star / dodge / star / buffer 2 slow left dodges / star / dodge / punch to win
     ----- if rolling jabs, buffer 2 face punches / buffer star

~~~~~~~~~~ Honda 2: ~~~~~~~~~~ [guaranteed 1:00.99]
P1) (all buffered) 20 right guts / 10 slow left dodges / 9 left guts

~~~~~~~~~~ Soda Popinski: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 49.97]
P1, P2 and P3) right face punch to counter his hook / buffer right gut / hold down to block / left gutter soda if he goes down / hold down to block / left gutter again / buffer start
     ----- if more hooks instead of uppers, block the 1st / right face punch to counter the 2nd / hold down to block and hope for uppers

~~~~~~~~~~ Bull 2: ~~~~~~~~~~  [potential for 1:29.00]
P1) dodge / delayed right gut / dodge / delayed right gut / buffer star / face punch (blocked) / quick left dodge / delayed right gut / face punch (blocked) / quick left dodge / delayed right gut
    dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star
P2) buffer star / face punch (blocked) / quick left dodge / delayed right gut / face punch (blocked) / quick left dodge / delayed right gut / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star
P3) face punch for a star / face punch (blocked) / quick left dodge / delayed right gut / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star

~~~~~~~~~~ Don 2: ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 1:45.00]
P1) buffer slow left dodge / quick left dodge / 4 face punches / right gut counter / right gut counter / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star
    dodge / 4 face punches / right gut counter / right gut counter / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star
P2) buffer slow left dodge / quick left dodge / 4 face punches / right gut counter / right gut counter / dodge / 1 face punch / buffer star
    dodge / 4 face punches / right gut counter / right gut counter / dodge / 2 face punches
     ------ if he isn't on the mat yet save the star for phase 3 and just get him to retaliate then knock him down
P3) buffer face punches until he retaliates / dodge / use the LLR combo on his face for 13 punches / use the star

~~~~~~~~~~ Mr. Sandman ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 2:31.00]
before the fight begins press select to go to half health
P1) block / delay face punch / dodge / face punch / dodge / face punch / block / delay face punch / dodge / face punch / take damage twice from the next two jabs /
    block / delay face punch / dodge / face punch / block / delay face punch /
    now use this "Buffer Combo" to knock him down: [buffer face punch / buffer quick left dodge / buffer face punch / buffer quick right dodge / buffer right gut]
P2) use Buffer Combos until the 1:30 mark, then wait for his triple uppercuts, slow dodge the first two, quick dodge the 3rd. buffer face punch / buffer 15 left guts
    use Buffer Combos to knock him down
P3) buffer a face punch and get knocked down
    get up, wait for his triple uppercuts, slow dodge the first two, quick dodge the 3rd. buffer face punch / buffer 15 left guts
    use Buffer Combos to knock him down

~~~~~~~~~~ Super Macho Man ~~~~~~~~~~ [potential for 1:30.00]
P1) raise his guard and throw a left gutter / buffer a face punch and as it is going off but before it hits him let go of up. this is called a "Dizzy Destroyer"
    from here macho's pattern varies wildly so we react to what he does using quick right dodge combos:
    if macho throws a hook ------> [dodge / face punch / buffer a quick right dodge / buffer a right gut]
    if macho throws an uppercut -> [dodge / face punch / buffer a quick right dodge / buffer a face punch]
    if macho throws a single super spin treat it like it was a hook.
    the plan is once you get a star, use it the next time you stun him. only use 2 stars in phase 1. after that he will dodge them all.
    note what macho's last punch was before you knocked him down. this is important to start phase 2
P2) if macho's last punch was an uppercut ---> buffer up and start to start phase 2 but let go of both as soon as mac starts revving up the punch. this should land a star punch on macho
    if macho's last punch was a hook --------> buffer start and as mac starts revving up, quickly tap up.
    after the star lands attempt to do one or two "Dizzy Destroyers" on macho if possible. dodge all of his super spins, spinning one extra time for safety. you should gain rapid face punches.
    after between 3-8 rapid punches if you are holding a star you can safely use one. from here just use the quick right dodge combos until phase 3
P3) exactly the same as phase 2

~~~~~~~~~~ Mike Tyson ~~~~~~~~~~
tyson is all about frame perfect inputs if you are aiming for a round 1 tko. to get one you should feel very comfortable with his varying patterns and this will require a good amount of practice.
The Uppercut Phase: for the first 1:30, if tyson throws a right uppercut, you must retaliate with a left face punch. this will do 5 damage. if you used a right face punch you'd do 1 damage instead.
    so make sure you punch tyson on the same side he threw his punch from. delaying your second punch is important. if you can hit him on the last frame of his stun you will do 5 damage.
    if you were 1 frame too early you would instead do 2 damage and if you were 1 frame too late tyson would block and you would do 0 damage. if you are super efficient and lucky with his patterns
    you can knock tyson down twice during his uppercut phase.
The Hook Phase: after 1:30 tyson will start throwing hooks instead of uppercuts. you can choose to dodge these and quick hit tyson twice for 4 damage, each punch doing 2 damage, or you can go for
    frame perfect inputs by landing a face punch on tyson during the last frame of his punch animation, which deals 5 damage with 1 punch. you know you get it when tyson is no longer stunned after it lands.
    this phase is probably the hardest phase in the game to execute perfectly. a perfect phase 3 or hook phase is to counter 8 frame perfect hooks in a row. there is a buffer you can use to start a phase
    that you know a hook is going to be the first punch and that buffer is [slow left dodge / quick right dodge / buffer face punch] this buffer is even usable in round 2 after either you or tyson take a knockdown

~~~~~~~~~~ Credits ~~~~~~~~~~
The strats presented in this walkthru/tutorial were chosen by me, Ouijawii, as a combination of the easiest and safest strats you can use while also going fast. Some of the strats in here you won't find in
any tutorials as I modified older strats for the sake of simplicity or safetly at the expense of time. Strat development has been and always will be a community effort and it continues to evolve to this day.
If you find any errors in this tutorial or have any questions, ask on the message board or feel free to whisper me on twitch. If you want more in-depth tutorials I have a series on YouTube that covers many
different strategies for every fighter, including the current speedrun strats for the top runners. Thanks and good luck running MTPO!