It takes a lot of guts to get in the ring with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. But a Charlottetown, P.E.I. man found the courage and finger dexterity to knock out “Iron” Mike while blindfolded.
Okay. So it was the 8-bit version from the Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! Nintendo game.
Still, 30-year-old Jack Wedge’s ability to beat the boxing game with a 14-0 record in just over 25 minutes was not lost on the gamer community as blindfolded speed attempts at classic 2-D titles become the fast-paced new way to enjoy yesterday’s hottest titles.
“It seems to be picking up a lot of steam in recent years. It was more of a niche oddball thing maybe three or four years ago,” he told CTV News Channel. “There are definitely a lot of people that are trying to challenge themselves, (and) push themselves to that extra limit.”
Wedge’s passion for blindfolded gameplay was the product of a harsh winter storm that kept him inside for a full week in 2015.
“I wasn’t able to leave the apartment I was living in because of the snow. There was nothing better to do, so I figured I’d give this a go. I guess I pulled it off.” he said.
Blindfolds have long been used to heighten one’s ability by forcing increased awareness of other senses. The technique has been proven in a variety of disciplines ranging from martial arts to wine tasting.
While gaming without sight may seem counterintuitive given the amount of visual feedback players rely on, practiced blindfolded speed-runners have managed to complete entire games in minutes using nothing more than memory and audio cues.
U.S. gamer Alex Tan holds a Guinness World Record for completing Super Mario World while blindfolded in 15 minutes and 59 seconds in August 2016.
Wedge, a musician by trade, found memorizing the punch and block combinations he needed to beat Tyson -- the final boss in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! -- was a lot like playing with a band.
“You have to know exactly what to do at any given moment. You have to know what your cues are to come in, to stop, to crescendo and so forth,” he said.
Like any noble pursuit, persistence is the key.
“This was my favourite game when I was growing up as a child. I have a lot of fond memories of Dad letting me stay up late,” he said. “Muscle memory is definitely a huge part of it.”
