The problem was that I used an European NES with European cartridges that work with PAL TV standard running at 50hz, while most of  the Punch-Out!! fans out there visiting my Punch-Out!! page and trying to apply my strategies came from outside Europe, namely from Northern America. They all used NTSC (the North American TV standard) NES systems running at 60 hz with NTSC cartridges. This fact causes slight timing differences at the two cartridge versions. And right for the most important pattern of my Mr. Sandman (PAL!) strategy this timing difference prevents the NTSC players to execute it !!

So what ?? I claimed myself as the first person who TKOed Mr. Sandman in Round 1 and now it seems that only on European systems this is true...
Meanwhile I found a strategy to TKO Mr. Dream (PAL) in Round 1. You can not imagine how glad I was when someday I got email from a stranger telling me that he applied my Mr. Dream strategy on Mike Tyson and got him down for TKO in Round 1. And most important, this guy played the NTSC version. This was the final evidence that it was possible to invent great - unknown strategies for various opponents- here on my PAL NES that can be applied on NTSC systems, too....

But back to Mr. Sandman. He was the only opponent in the whole game that was never beaten on NTSC in Round 1 (I purchased a NTSC NES with carts meanwhile). I do not know how many of the almost 2 millions cartridges have been played again and again from ambitious Punch-Out!! maniacs in order to get him down R1 but failed. I know of very good players who just claimed one day: Well, it is DEFINITELY NOT POSSIBLE to TKO Mr. Sandman Round 1.
I must admit that I was not far away from this point of view. Too many attempts had been made, too many men failing....
But always there have been voices (mostly from one person) speaking of positive thinking and showing confidence in YOUR own strength. For me, those words have been great support, anyway.

Then in November 2002 there was a conspiring convention of final power: The last incorrigible ones gathered to provide all their knowledge, experience and experimentation abilities to get behind the last mystery of THEIR game. They discussed methods, patterns and debated from about slight improvements to confirmed strategy failures. But the pressure upon Mr. Sandman grow and grow. Was it a matter of time until he won't resist any longer or will they have to realize that there is ONE who will NEVER fall ?? The battle was fought with ultimate toughness. No side showed signals to give up, the tremendous showdown had to bring it to an end, one way or the other.

And finally:
Thinking about him again and again - THERE IT WAS - the idea - the unnoticed tidbit, the final peace of the mosaic. Putting this last brick right into the center of my mental image of the upcoming fight, I felt the power - an incredible power rising deep inside calling  to be freed. Then the unavoidable came up. The last showdown. Just me and the Philadelphian Myths. It was the battle of equals but just one could stand it. So it had to be. I smashed him down, finally, after all ! Doing the last punch, clock-Sandman-Mac-the screen,  everything was like delirium, as in slow motion all the efforts, disappointment and death ends went by,...there he was DOWN FOR TKO AT 2:57 R1. It was done, nothing more, nothing less. Just the end.
 

Anyway, here we go:

Phase 1:
For the first 50 seconds, Mr. Sandman does his straight ones in sets of 5. Dodge them and counter with one face jab each. If you do well then you will get 11 punches on him. When the clock jumps to 0:50 then force him to punch with a straight left face jab attempt. He will dodge and counter with a hook. Left dodge the hook and counter with a right face jab followed immediately by a right body blow. Then WAIT a moment. Then deliver another, delayed second right body punch. Your timing is right when this second body punch causes (pretty much!) damage and when he does NOT await a third body punch. When you deliver the second body punch too early then it causes no damage, if you hit him too late, then he will block/dodge.
So learn this pattern as it is the only pattern you need for this strategy.
It is called Sandman's Nightmare:
Force hook with left face attempt - dodge left - counter with right face jab and quick fast and delayed second right body blow.
That's it !!!
Repeat this pattern until Mr. Sandman falls down for the first knock down. In any case you must be fast enough to get him down before he starts preparing himself for his 1:30 Midnight Sleepers.

-If you really wanna be fast on Phase 1 for 1:27-
Answer Sandmans 10 openers with little delay, so you come fine along to force him right at 0:50 to start the first nightmarer. Now for  the second pattern do the extended nightmarer !! (=2 fast and then a  delayed 3rd right body blow). Then continue with the standard nightmarer untill you came to the last patter. Again do the extended nightmarer (the standard one will not be enough and you need another punch!) and Sandman will go down for 1:27 !!
I like this method cause you do not have to spend half a pattern in order to put him finally down. Reason for this is the different damage the first body blow causes from pattern to pattern !!!

Phase 2:
If you start fine at 0:50 and do not leave out one pattern then you might floor him at 1:27 to 1:28. Then immediately execute ONE more Nightmarer, then wait for his 3 Midnight Sleepers. Dodge them in time and deliver a face punch followed by 15 quick left body blows. After the last one go back to the pattern of Phase 1 starting with forcing him to hook. You should get him down for the 2nd time at 2:10.
If you get Sandman down at 1:29-1:32, but BEFORE he prepares his 1:30 Midnight Sleepers then he will not perform his Midnight Attack. So as soon as Sandman comes back to fight for Phase 2, continue exactly the Phase 1 Nightmare pattern !! . Do not leave out any attempt and he will kiss the canvas at 2:20-2:23 again for the second knock down.

Phase 3:
Hope that Mr. Sandman will come back with less energy. It seems to be random but Mac will TKO him also when he brings back a little more energy. So do not care if you just want to finish him off in Round 1 (This fact is only important for ultra fast TKO attempts - credit to DanielT.).
Anyway you know what to do for the final. Just keep on preparing Sandman for his most evil nightmare ever. As clock comes close to the end of Round, give him the final punch to blow the lights out. Do not forget to wish him sweet dreams while he sinks down to his hard place for the night.
Mr. Sandman is TKOed Round 1 - finally.

Still no idea how to do it ?? Get Nesticle Emulator and download my recorded file for Sandman TKO at 2:58 R1 here.

Prologue 2:
Mr Sandman was first TKOed in R1 back on November 18, 2002 by RedTom. He actually developed 2 strategies. His first one failed to work on NTSC and the other one did work. Brian Sulpher revolutionized fast times on Sandman using Tom's strategy and recorded a 2:43.00 and later perfecionized to an unbeatable record of 2:42.99. This past May (2003) though I received an email from PO friend Jack Wedge about an idea of forcing Sandman into a second sleeper pattern that could lead to a time under 2:40. So one night I popped in MTPO and could not get the strategy to work. After working out a few loopholes the unthinkable ocurred though. I got Sandman down at 2:41.25 for TKO in R1. Here is how I did it.....

Phase 1:
The first part of this strategy requires Mac to be hit. Yes that is right. You cannot go flawless and expect this strategy to work. Sandman always opens up with the combination left,right,right,left,right. Jack and Me discovered that no energy goes away when mac answers Sandman's left attempts. In other words get hit by the lefts and dodge the rights and answer with a left or right face jab. The pattern therefore is : get hit, face jab, face jab, get hit, face jab. Sandman will pause at about the 20 second mark. Once again do the same pattern described above for the second set of 5 jabs. At about 0:40 Sandman will finish his 10th jab. He will attempt another left jab at about 0:44 which you must get hit by. Then at about 0:47 Sandman will throw a right which Mac must dodge and answer with a left or right face jab. Note: You must be extremely fast in dodging and hitting Sandman on his 10 openers or else he may not throw that last right you need. It took me quite a while to solve that problem. At 0:50 throw a face jab at sandman which he will dodge and he will try to reatiliate with a hook. Dodge his hook and perform an Extended Nightmarer. The Extended Nighmarer was invented by RedTom and basically you dodge sandman's hook and hit him with a right face jab followed by 2 quick right body blows followed by a delayed third right body blow. After performing the Extended Nighmarer throw another face jab at Sandman which he will dodge and perform a standard Nighmarer. A standard Nighmarer involves forcing Sandman to throw the hook and then dodging and answering with a right face jab followed by a quick body blow and a second delayed body blow. Note: Only use Mac's right glove when performing the Nightmarers. Continue the standard Nighmarer until the clock hits about 1:20 and then perform an extended nightmarer to get the first knockdown at 1:27 (1:26 if you are really fast. Mac should hav about 1/5 of his total energy left).

Phase 2:
Sandman will get up between 3 and 8. Right when he comes back into the fight execute one more Nightmare pattern. The clock will pass 1:30 and Sandman will pause in front of Mac. Do not try to hit Sandman when he is doing this as he will block everytime. At about 1:37-1:40 Sandman will flash and dodge left 3 times to avoid Sandman's three fast uppercuts (these are called the Midnight Sleepers). Immediately after Sandman finsihes the third uppercut give him a right face jab and continue with 15 left jabs to his stomach. It is important that you make the most of this opportunity to drain his energy with no delay in beween the jabs. As soon as Sandman has taken the last gut jab immediately throw a face jab and execute a standard  Nightmarer. Do one more standard Nightmarer. Finally throw one more face jab and dodge his following hook and anwer with a final right face jab to get the second knock-down between 2:08 and 2:12 (.nsm file shows 2:08).

Phase 3:
Well you are almost there. You have to hope that Sandman's energy will not fill up too much after the second knockdown. As soon as Sandman comes back into the fight throw a face jab which he will dodge and answer with a hook. Now do not dodge it. If you executed Phase 1 right Mac should be knocked down with this punch. Try to get up before Mario's count of 5. When mac gets up Sandman will once again pause in front of him. Sandman will be preparing once again to go for his Midnight Sleeper attack. Hope that Sandman throws the uppercuts after about a 3 second delay rather than an 8 second delay. If he throws then after 8 seconds you can still get him Round 1 but your time will be slower (credit to Jack Wedge for the idea of forcing Sandman into a second sleeper). Once again after Sandman has finished his third uppercut answer with a right face jab followed by 15 quick left body blows. After Mac has finished the last body jab immediately execute another Nightmarer and Sanmdan will now be down to a tiny sliver of stamina. After finishing the nightmarer immdeiately throw a body blow at Sandman which he will block and try to retaliate with a straight jab. Dodge it and answer with a face jab to send Sandman down for TKO between 2:38 and 2:48 provided that his energy did not refill too much. If his energy does refill back to the first dot after the second knock down you will need 2 more Nightmarers to put him away between 2:50 and 2:58.

Make sure to download the nesticle file for this. Well you did it. You TKOed Sandman using the most bizarre strategy ever. You defintitely deserve to be in the MTPO/PO hall of fame. Sandman doesn't look so tough now, does he?  My best time and current NTSC record is 2:38.61. Can you beat that?

Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this strategy to Girth for first coming up with the idea of a faster Sandman strategy. I also want to dedicate is to Brian Sulpher who really revolutionized fast times on Sandman using Tom's original strategy. Maybe you can snatch the record back. I think you are going to get away with the Flamenco 1 record. Finally I would like to thank Jack Wedge for his original ideas and collaborative spirit. Well, until next time Tom.........

TKO Mr Sandman between 2:36 and 2:40 using this strategy
Tested on NESTICLE emulator and MTPO (NTSC)

The story of how Martin and Matt TKOed Sandman under 2:38
-Introducing The Krueger

Phase 1:
Follow phase 1 of the Philadelphia Sleeper by Matt Turk and Jack Wedge to get 1st knockdown at 1:26-1:27 (Martin Chalebois and Brian Sulpher have done 1:25)

Phase 2:
Follow phase 2 of the Philadelphia Sleeper to get second knockdown at 2:08-2:11 (Martin has even done 2:07).

Phase 3:
As soon as Sandman comes back into the fight throw a jab at his face which he will dodge and retaliate with a hook. Dodge the hook and do an extended nightmarer (face jab followed by 2 quick body blows followed by a delayed third). Immediately throw another jab at Sandman's face and and do not dodge his following hook but instead this punch should knock Mac down. Clock should read 2:17-2:21 depending on the the time of the second knockdown.
Sandman will get up between 3 and 8 and you have to hope that he does not come back with too much energy or else this strategy will not work (energy should be just past the second dot). So as soon as Little Mac gets up Sandman will go into his midnight express pattern. You have to hope that he throws the 3 uppercuts quickly with no delay in order to get a fast time. So dodge all 3 of Sandman's uppercuts and give him a face jab followed by a 13 quick body blows and end with one final delayed body blow (13 +1 delayed body blow), the so-called Krueger (Sandman's worst nightmare after Freddy Krueger). The Krueger was first done by Martin Charlebois. If you did everything right then Sandman should go down on the last delayed punch (you can also use a delayed face jab after 13 body blows to take him out as well).

Note: It is very hard to tell when to stop punching Sandman in order to delay the last punch. The best way to do this to keep your eye on his energy bar and delay just slightly before landing the last punch to take away the rest of his energy. Clock will read anytime ftom 2:36-2:43 depending on the time of the second kd.

Well you did it. You gave Sandman his worst nightmare ever and retired him from the WVBA. Super Macho Man is the only one who stands betweebn you and the Dream Fight now.
My best time and current world record on NTSC is 2:37.00 and Martin Charlebois has hit 2:36.97 on emulator. Can you beat those times?

Dedication:
I would like to thank Martin Charlebois for being the first person to do the 13+1 delayed hit combination and noting that it could save time in phase 3. Also  I want to dedicate to RedTom for inventing the concept of a nightmarer when the Sandman was first beaten in Round 1. I also want to dedicate to Brian Sulpher for revolutionizing fast times on Sandman,  Well practice makes perfect. Watch the .nsm file which shows 2:37.61 and then try a few games for yourself. The best way to get to Sandman is type in the code for Super Macho Man and lose on purpose. Then beat Don Flamenco 2 and you will get 2 fights against Sandman. Good luck.

Prologue- Sandman is one of the toughest boxers for Mac to overcome on his way to the Dream Fight with Mike Tyson. Due to programming Sandman does not give up up stars until round 3 and cannot be guttered or doorknocked until round 3 also. Tom Roth came up with the original Sandman R1 tko in November of 2002 which has a fastest time around 2:43. It seemed that a time under 2:40 was impossible until a stroke of genius by Matt Turk and Jack Wedge produced a sub 2:40 time on him in a strategy called "The Philadelphia Sleeper." However I have found that the time can even be lower. The following is the story of how I tkoed Mr. Sandman at 2:34 on NTSC..........
 

Phase 1- At the character introduction screen hold the SELECT button and then press start to take away half of Mac's stamina. For the first 50 seconds of R1 Sandman will throw rolling jabs in sets of 5. As soon as Mario starts the fight let Sandman hit Mac with a rolling jab. Dodge Sandman's next 4 attempts and answer with either a left or a right face jab. After Sandman throws his fifth jab there will be slight pause by Sandman. Sandman will then throw a 6th jab which Mac must get hit by again. Dodge and counter Sandman's following 2 attempts (jabs 7 and 8) and answer with face jab for each. Quick dodge his following jab (number 9) and do not answer with a punch. Dodge jab 10 and answer with a single face jab. Sandman will pause again and Mac must quick dodge his followoing jab attempt (number 11) and once again do not answer it. Sandman will throw one final jab (number 12) which Mac must counter with a single face jab. After countering jab 12 the clock will hit 0:50 and Mac must throw a punch at Sandman's face which will cause him to dodge and Mac must dodge his following hook attempt and follow up with a face jab followed by a quick body blow and then one delayed body blow (This manuever is called a nightmarer and was invented by Red Tom). Throw another punch at Sandman's face and execute an extended nightmarer (one face jab followed by a 2+1 delay to the body). Do four more nightmare patterns and Sandman should go down on the last delayed punch of the  4th pattern. The clock will read 1:25-1:27 (nsm file shows 1:26) depending on how fast Sandman throws the jabs. Credit to Martin Charlebois who first knocked down Sandman at 1:25 on emulator and who came up with most of phase 1.

Phase 2- Sandman will get up between a 3 and 8 count. As soon as Sandman comes back into the fight execute an extended nightmarer. Then Sandman will pause for his Midnight Sleeper Pattern. Note: Do not try to hit Sandman while he preparing for his special attack as he will block everything. Sandman will then flash briefly and throw  3 quick uppercuts which Mac must dodge and answer with a single face jab followed by 13 left body body blows and one delayed right body blow (this move is called a Krueger and was invented by Martin Charlebois and Matt Turk). Also, you can do another combination called an "Extended Wacky Waker" which was invented by Matt Turk and is 13 left body blows followed by a delayed face jab after Sandman's Sleeper uppercuts (nsm file shows a "Wacky Waker). Immediately after the delayed body or face jab has landed execute another extended nightmarer. Finally execute one more extended nighmarer and Sandman should go down on the last delayed hit of the second extended nightmarer. Note: Sandman tends to block sometimes the last delayed punch of each extended nightmarer. My advice is to be fast and do not get frustrated. The clock should read 2:06-2:09 for the second knockdown (nsm file shows 2:08).

Phase 3- Phase 3 is exactly the same as "Enter Sandman" (see above). Note: You must get the minimum amount of energy refill in order for phase 3 to work (just past the second dot) and you can choose once again to use a "Wacky Waker" or a Krueger to finish Sandman off. The clock should read 2:34-2:37 for the third and final knockdown which tko's Sandman (nsm file shows 2:35.82).

Well there you have it. A near perfect Sandman strategy which clearly tko's him under 2:40. I got the world record of 2:34.97 using this strategy. My knockdowns were at 1:25, 2:07, and 2:34.97. Can you beat that? You can defintitely consider yourself  a MTPO master if you can pull of the sub 2:40 victory on him. The lowest I have gotten using savestates is 2:34.25 on NESTICLE emulator so there is a little room for improvement.

Dedication- I would like to dedicate this strategy to Tom Roth, Jack Wedge, and Martin Charlebois whose original ideas helped me piece together this perfect Sandman strategy for NTSC.

Okay time to go TKO Sandman. It is important to note that this strategy can be very frustrating due to Sandman pausing and sometimes blocking randomly but with a little practice a good player should be able to pull it off. Just do not get discouraged and soon enough Sandman will cooperate. Also this strategy should work on the PAL versions of the game so European players can try it also. I do beleive this to be the fastest and most likely final Sandman strategy for NTSC so enjoy it guys. It is time to go and read Sandman his last rites now. Take care guys.

p.s. See if you can get this to work on PAL Tom if you get time. It may yield a time faster than 2:29.