The Strategy Section - Piston Honda 2

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Stage 1: The Standard KO

Übertragung unterbrochen

...here is the new strategy for piston 2 to tko him by landing the last uppercut everytime

Prologue:
For a long time it was thought that Pison 2 could not be beaten before he started his 1:00 attack. However back in October of 2002 RedTom came up with a strategy that put Honda down at 0:59 of R1 called the TKO Royale. Tom believed that this could be faster if someone found a way to land the last uppercut. Brian Sulpher set a time of 57.00 by landing the last uppercut. However whether or not Honda dodged or acccepted the uppercut remained a mystery. It seemed to be random. Back in April of this year Eric Feliciano started a topic on gamefaqs.com MTPO message board called "Discussion on Piston Honda 2" dedicated to trying to figure out when Honda would take the last uppercut. Many people provided an opinion but no one could seem to find any regualarites and it seemed to be totally random. One night though I made 13 .nsm files and looked for regularities as to when Honda would take the last uppercut. I found 2 cases where Honda takes the uppercut everytime and I soon went to my NES and hammered out a 56:48 to get the record at that time. Here is how I did it.............

Phase 1:
As Mario starts the fight hold up on the control pad to raise Honda's guard and give him a right to the gut. (Note: only use Mac's right glove when executing this strategy.) Do not continuously hold up on the control pad while doing this or Handa will block your second attempt. The best way to do this is to to hold up momentarily and let go as Honda raises his guard and then deliver the gut shot. Do this 3 more times for a total of four. The fourth hit should produce a star (you need to be very fast in delivering these four shots or else Honda will go into his eyebrow pattern without you inflicting enough damage and you will have to reset). As soon as you have the star push START and it will hit Honda. When Mac is in the air delivering the star hold up again so that when Mac lands on his feet Honda's guard is raised again. Give him another right to the gut which will produce a second star. Now wait just a tad (about a second) and unleash the star. If you timed it right the star should hit Honda right as he is going onto his eyebrow pattern to cause maximum damage. If you timed it too late it willl not cause the maximum damage and you will have to reset. Mac should techniclly be in the air and before Honda starts to move his eybrows and the uppercut should land just as he is starting to move his eyebrows. So immediately after the uppercut has landed follow up with 2 right face jabs to stop his 2 straight jabs the first of which always produces a star (100%) and the second of which only sometimes produces a star (50%). Once again if you timed the second star too early into the eyebrow pattern Honda will sneak a third jab in that will hit Mac. Ouch!!! After you have successfully landed the second right face jab wait and hope that Piston bends down quickly for the uppercut. So as soon as you see him bend down dodge left and retaliate with a right face jab followed by a star uppercut to send Honda down for the first time between 0:30 and 0:33. If Mac has 0 stars remaining after the first kd then read phase 2 case 1. If Mac has one star remaining then read phase 2 case 2.

Phase 2 case 1:
Follow this strategy when Mac has 0 stars remining after phase 1.
As soon as Honda comes back into the fight raise his guard and give him a right gut shot for a star. Once you have it let it go and it will hit Honda. Now raise Honda's guard and give him a right to obtain belly star #1. Raise his guard again and give him antother belly shot and hope for belly star #2 (50%). Finally do this a third time and hope for belly star #3 (50%). Honda must give you all three stars in order for him to take the last uppercut. I recommend counting them. In other words it is the number of belly stars that determines whether or not Honda will take the last star. Immediately after obtaining belly star #3 pause for about a second and then unleash the star into another one of Honda's eybrow patterns. Once again the timing of this is important. If you let the star go too early then honda will dodge. If you let it go too late then you will not inflict enough damage. So if you timed the uppercut correctly then give Honda 2 fast right face jabs the first of which should produce a star to send him down between 0:52 and 0:55. Note: it might require a third face jab for the knockdown after the uppercut depending on how you timed the uppercut.

Phase 3-case 1:
Honda will get up at the one count. Mac should have 3 stars in reserve. So as soon as Honda comes back into the fight let go of one of the uppercuts and if Honda gave you all 3 belly stars in phase 2 then the uppercut will hit him and send him down for tko between 0:56 and 0:59 everytime. If Honda only gave you 2 or less belly stars then you will have to use RedTom's phase 3 TKO ROYALE strategy. When Honda lowers his guard give him a fast face jab jab which may or may not produce a star (50%). If he gives it you let it go to send him down for TKO between 0:58 and 0:59. If he doesn't give it you you will have to reset.

Phase 2-case 2:
Use this strategy when Mac has one star left after Phase 1. As soon as referee Mario restarts the fight hit START and let go of Mac's one star and it will hit Honda. When Mac is in the air hold up on the control pad. As soon as Mac lands on his feet Honda's guard will be raised and use this opportunity to give him a right to the belly to produce belly star #1 (100%). Raise his guard again and hope for belly star #2 (50%). Do the same again and hope for belly star #3 (50%). Repeat again and hope for belly star #3 (50%). Do it one more time for belly star #4 (50%). Note: Once again you need to get belly stars off 4 of these gut punches. If Honda gives you stars on the first 3 hits it does not matter whether he gives you the fourth just as long as you get at least 3. So after delivering the fourth gutter, wait just a second and unleash an uppercut into Honda's eyebrow pattern followed by two quick right face jabs to send him down between 0:52 and 0:56. Note: On rare occcasions Honda may go down at 0:50 or 0:51. This is bad as Honda will dodge the last uppercut everytime if this happens.

Phase 3-case 2:
Honda will get up at Mario's count of 1. As soon as he comes back into the fight let go of a star and it will hit him everytime if he managed to give you at least 3 belly stars in phase 2. The last knockdown should occur between 0:56 and 0:59. If Honda gives you 2 or less belly stars you have to utilize phase 3 of RedTom's TKO ROYALE strategy. See his strategy above.

Well you have done it. You have TKOed Honda 2 in under 1:00. Consider yourself an addicted Punch-Out maniac. Since I released this strategy on the gamefaq's message board several people have gone under 57.00 using it. Most notably jedi samuari (56.00), chrome virus (56.82), and myself (56.00). Will you be the first to try and go under 0:56?

Dedication:
I would like to dedicate this strategy to Eric Feliciano for bringing up this topic in the first place and for testing this strategy on NTSC while I was at college with only my emulator. Bald Bull 2 is calling your name. Thanks to RedTom for proving that the sub 1:00 TKO was possible on NTSC as well as on PAL. Thanks to Brian for sending an initially outstanding time (57.00). Finally thanks to all the Gamefaqs board members for making this board one of the best to be a part of. So good luck with the strategy guys and remember practice makes perfect. Don't forget to count those gutter stars. Use the code 777 807 3454 to go to Honda 2 and practice.

The Japanese PrinciPAL aka The Samurai Summit

the story of how I TKOed Piston Honda 2 finally at 0:52.00, R1 on MTPO-PAL
(0:51.xx should be possible)

tested on MTPO-PAL

written by RedTom

Note:
Only use right hand for maximum damage except final Door Knock and star getter (if needed when Mac has only 2 stars remaining for Phase 3  beginning)!!
For 100%  everytime  final uppercut acceptance Mac needs 3 remaining stars at beginning of Phase 3 !!

Phase 1:
Execute 4 gutters, 4th produces star #1 (read above strategies for details). Deliver star #1 immediately, then face jab Honda when he lowers his guard after the star has connected to get star # 2.(quite difficult move to time but very cool - be faster than you might espect and it will work.)  Wait a second to deliver star #2 right into Honda's upcoming eyebrow pattern, continue attacking with two face jabs (will produce 1-2 stars). When Honda hits you after those two jabs with his third straight eyebrow pattern punch, then you delivered star #2 too early. Wait that second.
Finally quick dodge his next uppercut (hope for Honda to do the uppercut without delay), stun him with a right face jab and send him down ultra fast with the star uppercut at 0:28 (fastest) - or 0:29 or 0:30 (depends on Hondas uppercut attempt timing......)
 

Phase 2:
Depending on the two eyebrow pattern counter jabs Mac has one or sero stars in spare at beginning of Phase 2. If Mac has one star left welcome Honda with the START button pressed to deliver the star immediately. If Mac has no star left, await Honda with the Pad predded up and do one gutter to get a star (100%). Deliver this star immediately without any preperation.
For both cases continue after you landed the star with 4 more gutters for 2-3 stars. Do them fast. Your 4th gutter must be finished before Honda starts another eybrow pattern as you must deliver a star uppercut right into this eybrow pattern preparation (same timing importance, read above).
Sometimes your timing can be that perfect that Mac floors Honda with this star uppercut. Clock shows 0:47 (on MTPO-PAL). But it is better and faster when the star uppercut does not the max damage and Mac needs to counter the following eyebrow pattern jabs with 1-3 more face jabs to send Honda down again. Those Phase 2 final face jabs are the key to the everytime final uppercut acceptance as Honda will give away at least one star so Mac will have 3 stars remaining when he sends Honda to the mat for Phase 2 end. Clock shows 0:48-0:51 (depending on Phase 1 speed and Phase 2 case 1 start left or 0 stars left).
 

Phase 3:
Piston Honda 2 will be up at Mario's count of 1.
If Mac now has 3 stars remaining than do nothing but welcome Honda with the START button pressed to deliver the final uppercut. He will accept it and hit the canvas (as fast as 0:52.00 for me. Knockdowns occured at 0:29 (0) and 0:49 (3), 0:51.xx should be possible on MTPO-PAL with this stategy...)

If Mac has only 2 stars remaining, then welcome Honda with a left face jab (he will block that one, I call this The Door Knock), then wait a second and Honda will lower his guard. Use this moment to land another face jab for the required 3rd star (100%), then press START and send Honda down to the canvas.
 

Dedication:
Inspired by my TKO Royal strategy and the Kamikaze Knockout;

Prologue- Piston Honda 2 is Little Mac's first opponent in the World Circuit. Although not extremely difficult to defeat he can still pose some problems for Little Mac. It was long though that he could not be beat in under 1:00. Red Tom however invented "The TKO Royale" for PAL and made the sub 1:00 victory possible. Matt Turk followed up with another strategy for NTSC entitled "Khamikhaze Knockout" which also made possible a sub 1:00 victory. However it seemed that everyone was stuck at 56.00 until 1 day.................
 

Phase 1- Little Mac needs to be extremely quick with his phase 1 punches in order to get this strategy to work. As soon as Mario starts the fight hold UP on the control pad and deliver a left body blow. Now quickly press Up+B to deliver a left face jab. Note: This body-face jab combination is called a Dizzy Destroyer and must be executed extremely fast or else Honda will block the face jab. Also make sure you only use Mac's left hand. As soon as Mac lands back on his feet execute another Dizzy Destroyer. Finally execute another Dizzy Destoyer. Note: The fourth (100%), fifth (100%), and sixth (50%) punches should yield stars. Honda sometimes only gives 2 stars away which is okay too. As soon as you have executed the last Dizzy Destroyer press START to deliver one star uppercut which Honda will take. Press Start again to deliver another star uppercut which he will also take. As soon as Mac lands back on his feet after the second star has landed press Up and execute a quick left gutter for a star (100%). Immediately press Start to deliver this star into Honda's upcoming eyebrow pattern for maximum damage. Note: You need to let go of the star as soon as possible or else the star will not cause the maximum damage possible (see nsm file if you are confused). As soon as the uppercut has landed into Honda's eyebrow pattern follow up with two more left or right face jabs to intercept his following two jab attempts for 2 more stars. Note: The second star is random (50%) but it does not matter for phase 2. Honda will now be down to one small sliver of energy remaining so after the second jab interception has landed wait just a tad and time a perfect punch just as Honda is lowering his guard to get the first knockdown at 0:28-0:30. Mac should have 1 or 2 stars in reserve.

Phase 2- Honda will get up between a 3 and 8 count. Notice that Honda's guard will be low and not high as he comes back into the fight. So just as Mario restarts the fight press Up+B to deliver a quick face jab which Honda will not block for a star (100%). Immediately press Start to deliver a star uppercut which Honda will take. When Mac lands back in his feet execute a Dizzy Destroyer (quick left gutter followed by a left face jab). One or both of these punches should give Mac an additional star. Execute one Right gutter following the Destroyer for another star (100%) and then wait. After about 3 seconds press Start to deliver a star uppercut into Honda's eyebrow preparations. After the star has landed continue with another face jab for a star (100%) followed by a second face jab to knock him down a second time. Note: You must time the star slightly early into his face jab to inflict minimal damage to keep him standing for the final two face jabs. If you time too late you might knock Honda down and will have to reset as Mac must have 3 stars to start phase 3. The second knockdown should range from 0:50-0:52. Mac should have 3 stars left.

Phase 3-  Honda will get up at Mario's count of 1. As soon as Mario restarts the fight await Honda with the Start button pressed and deliver a star uppercut which Honda will take for the third and final knockdown. Note: If Mac only has 2 stars Honda will dodge this fiinal uppercut attempt so give him an additional gutter after second knockdown and hope for and additional star (50%) and then use it do knock him down. Clock will read 0:54-0:56 for third and final knockdown.

Well you did it. You TKOed Honda 2 under 56.00 and destroyed his legendary 56.00 status. I got the NTSC record of 54.82 using this strategy with knockdowns at 0:28, 0:50, and 0:54. It might be able to be improved but only by a small margin.

Dedication- I would like to dedicate this strategy to Red Tom for coming up with the first strategy to TKO Honda 2 under 1:00 and also to Jedi Samurai for hinting to me that 56.00 on NTSC might be able to be improved.

I really like this strategy because it is the first strategy other than Glass Joe where the opponent does not even get a punch off cleanly before being defeated. It is just 55 seconds of Mac beating the hell out of Honda 2 rendering him totally defenseless. Phase 1 is by far the hardest part of this strategy to execute properly but an experienced MTPO player should be able to pull this off pretty easily. Take a look at the nsm file for tko at 55.00 for help. Remember to always have fun and enjoy playing this great game. So go give Honda his "Blinded Barrage" and have fun doing it. Take care guys.