Super Punch-Out!!'s secret two-player mode uncovered after 28 years

Purveyors of video game secrets have something new to get excited about following the recent fuss around Nier: Automata’s ultimately rather underwhelming church mystery; a hidden two-player mode has been uncovered in Super Punch-Out!!, 28 years after its release on the SNES.

As explained by Unlisted Cheats – a Twitter account specialising in video game “secrets nobody heard about until now” – the discovery was made “while doing some request work” on Super Punch-Out and has revealed two additional cheat codes on top of the sound test and Japanese name input cheats previously known.

The first cheat unlocks a stage select screen enabling players to take on any fighter, including Special Circuit fighters, in a free single match. This can be accessed from Super Punch-Out’s title screen by holding down Y and R on Controller 2 and then hitting A or Start on Controller 1.

Things get even niftier, however, when you select one of the fighters on this newly revealed screen then, from their details page, hold down Controller 2’s B and Y buttons and hit A or Start on Controller 1. This makes it possible for a human player to take control of the ordinarily CPU-driven opponent character using the second controller for a spot of two-player fun.

This, in case you’re wondering, works with the Nintendo Switch Online version of Super Punch-Out (I just tested it myself in the name of science, and also in the name of having an excuse to play some Super Punch-Out), and others are reporting equal success with the SNES Mini.

So there you go! Join us in another 28 years when someone discovers a picture of Miyamoto’s favourite bassoon in Stunt Race FX after whirling a controller around their head in an anti-clockwise motion and tickling the Select button suggestively.