All fight, no sight: Island man beats retro game blindfolded
It was during the snowstorm two years ago that Jack Wedge decided to try to defeat Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! blindfolded — and succeeded.
It's a boxing video game that was originally released in 1987 that was notorious for being difficult to beat.
"Compared to every other fight in the game, one punch from Mike Tyson will knock you out in the first minute and a half of the fight," said Wedge.
Wedge, an assistant manager with a Charlottetown delivery service, said he first got the idea after watching a player attempt to beat the game without looking at the 2014 Games Done Quick marathon.
'Better chances of winning the lottery'
"He basically said that it was just completely impossible, he had better chances of winning the lottery than guessing [Tyson's] correct fighting pattern that he'll do in any particular fight and I took that as a challenge," said Wedge.
The marathon has players compete in speed-running, a method of playing video games where the objective is to beat a game as fast as possible.
"The idea just kind of sat with me for about a year and then that one week where I was snowed in, I was like 'Well I've got nothing better to do. Let's give that a try,'" said Wedge.
Wedge said he was able to discover a pattern of moves that would get him through the first minute and a half of the fight.
"After that, you know, he's not too different from any other fighter in the game. A little faster, a little stronger but you're not going to go down in one hit," said Wedge.
Hundreds of thousands of YouTube hits
Once Wedge learned the pattern, he recorded himself beating the game in 31 minutes, blindfolded and uploaded the video to YouTube.
"I wake up the next morning. My phone is just beeping nonstop. It's like 'New Message received on YouTube, new comments on YouTube.' I'm like, 'Is this real?'" said Wedge.
Wedge said he quickly gained attention in the online gaming community and since uploading his video, has gotten more than 425,000 views.
While he doesn't hold an official record, he's believed to be the first person to record himself beating the game blindfolded.
Wedge also said that his record has since been beaten but is still receiving wide-spread attention, having been recently interviewed in the New York Times.
Wedge said he'd like to get his title back, but it's not his top priority.
"I mean I won't be redoing it constantly because there is a lot more in life than just video games … this is just something that I do for fun," said Wedge.
"But you know it's like 'Hey you know I was the first so I should still be first.' Pride kind of thing I guess."
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