Hello, I was wondering if we could get leaderboard established for SD Circuit? I've reached out to DBCade on discord, but figured I'd make a community post for the request. Thanks 😁

I have a run to submit as soon as it's ready 👍🏼

This is something we have been thinking about and it is currently in discussion i will keep you updated

Hey! Thanks for your patience while we were setting up the new categories. I have added two SD Mode categories for now: Normal Tournament and Championship Tournament. Just make sure you submit your run(s) to the appropriate category. Glad to see some interest in Flying Dragon :]

By any chance, will there be a leaderboard for a full new game run? Starting from a file with virtually nothing unlocked and reaching the end of the SD Circuit mode with one character.

This will probably be something that would take 5+ hours, depending on luck for unlocking Bokuchin on the way, as well as the quality of items unlocked/evolved on the way to that point.

I plan on doing something to this extent hopefully soon, though I'm thinking of doing one attempt with no weakness items unlocked, and an any% full run that may unlock some of the weakness items to make the metal fights easier. No cheat codes will be used for these attempts.

Apologies for the slow response. Yes, I have been interested in creating a full-game category for SD Mode! If you complete a run, please let me know. Once there is a completed run to be submitted, I will then create the category.

As for the details, I'm not sure about the "no weakness items" idea you mentioned, as some of the items can easily be unlocked on accident (by playing with certain settings, etc.). For example, I seem to remember one of them being unlocked at random after winning a round with the easiest settings on, and unlocking it would conflict with the "no weakness items" category. For now, let's start with just an any% full-game category, from a totally new file.

I think it makes sense for the any% full-game run to allow any settings the player wants, including Very Easy difficulty, 1 round, etc. It should be an entirely new file, with NO items or character levels unlocked in advance. As for timing, time will begin upon pressing END to create a named file, and time will end on the first visible frame that shows “K.O.” (or "PERFECT" if applicable) upon winning the final battle against Ryu Maou (the battle that then leads to the credits).

If you notice a problem with any of this or have another idea, feel free and respond here or send me a private message! I'm always happy to see more interest and activity in Flying Dragon!

Ah. You mean the weakness item for Bokuchin. Unlocked by setting the rounds to 1, difficulty to very easy, and time set to 30 seconds. Each of the weakness items have relatively specific unlock requirements, though some are more vague than others in the hints the game gives about them.

For those that I remember, they were as follows: Shouryu (Secret Mantle): Time set to 90 seconds, 1 round. You must win by time out in each match.

https://imgur.com/a/H0wBA8K

Robo-no-hana (Mr. Virus): 1 Round. You must win each round without using secret techniques (supers) or items.

Hayato (Ring of Houou): 3 Rounds. You cannot lose a round.

Yuka (Demon's Necklace): Throws only. 1 round. You are allowed to attack, so long as none of them connect with the opponent.

Ryuhi (Dragon Wing): (recent edit) 1 Round. Each win you get must have the star screen pop up (defeat each opponent in each round using a super as the finishing blow).

Powers (Hero Belt): (recent edit) 2 Rounds. You must defeat your opponents as fast as possible. Time set to 30 seconds. You cannot win any rounds by running out of time.

Wiler (Leaf of Revival): (recent edit) Set your max life to 100 in the options (default is 200). 1 Round.

Suzaku (Suzaku Eye): (recent edit) 1 Round. Defeat all your opponents only using basic punches and kicks.

Bokuchin (Magical Candy): (recent edit) Very Easy, 1 round, 30 seconds.

Ryumaou (Dragon Horn): (recent edit) Very Hard, 3 rounds, infinite time. If you have not unlocked Hayato's weakness yet, you'll need to lose 1 round in any match.

Many of these have very specific requirements, though many are much easier to get on accident than others.

My game plan for the speedrun is as follows: Character: Yuka Initial settings: Very Easy, Rounds set to 3, time set to infinite. Goals: Get the level 4 medal before the fight against Metal Shouryu (getting as many perfect rounds as possible in each tournament; 12+ in the first tournament), then set the rounds to 1 and the difficulty to Easy afterwards.

After that, it's just going through each of the fights... and hope the luck is favorable towards two things:

1. Weapon evolves twice before the Metal Yuka Championship tournament, and it evolves into the item Metal Yuka gives.
2. Unlock Bokuchin before the 9th Championship tournament starts.

If the former doesn't happen, then I aim to set the rounds to 2 and get Metal Yuka's weapon to equip on Yuka. Bokuchin is just pure rng for unlocking in a tournament (and only unlocks this way, at a very low rate), and can cause potentially hours of time loss.

Yuka's initial super and upgraded version has an interesting glitch of ignoring Metal Bokuchin's ability if used as the finishing blow for a health bar. This also applies to Shin Ryumaou 2.

By the way, Ryumaou's weakness item only applies against Shin Ryumaou 3. The other 2 forms are unaffected.

This was my main plan for the no weakness item run. During the tournaments with 3 rounds, I'd be forced to lose 1 round against any fighter. In a general any% run, I'd just avoid the loss and keep the difficulty at Very Easy the entire time.

The only reason for starting out at 3 rounds is to level up the weapon to increase the damage output early on. Around halfway through the run, I plan to unequip the armor and items (unless I get the robe of life; that stays on Yuka); I believe that the AI also weakens their equipment (outside of the bosses) depending on the overall rank of your equipment.

I agree with the timing suggested.

Thanks for compiling that weakness item info for us! I hope your runs go well, and that Bokuchin decides to show up sooner rather than later. I've never had good luck there personally.

Thanks. I should also mention a few other things:

On the topic of special attacks: there are a few hidden commands in the game for each character that act as unique attacks. These unique attacks do not count as special attacks, even if the attack itself is the same as the special version. The inputs for these are usually as followed (Does not apply to all characters):

Back, then Forward + Punch (or Kick; depends on the character) (must be entered in quickly). This usually translates to a forward special attack. Most characters have this as an option.

Down, then Up + Punch (or Kick; depends on the character) (also must be entered quickly). This usually translates to an up special attack.

https://imgur.com/a/pCiEsHq

These actions can be done to help deal with Metal Wiler and Shin Ryumaou 1. This was done on a fresh file, so I do not have the information for Bokuchin or Ryumaou at this time.

On the topic of 360 motions: the game doesn't actually focus on a full 360 motion, but rather, whether you pressed Up, Left, Down, and Right in a short timeframe. The way you go about pressing the directions doesn't actually matter; you can go Up, Down, Right, and then Left (within a few seconds), and it should still count.

https://imgur.com/a/yccUHHQ

Hidden actions: There are some characters with moves that are not listed in the game.

Robo-no-hana: 360 motion + special attack performs a unique throw that tosses the opponent upwards.

https://imgur.com/a/syndQrv

Yuka: (Close) (Air) Special attack. Yuka has an air throw, and this can be comboed into. The timing is somewhat precise to perform when comboing into it, but it does considerable damage from what I can remember.

https://imgur.com/a/c7Fz7kP

Note: This is more difficult to perform against Robo-no-hana, and quite possibly Shouryu as well, due to the differences in how they are knocked back when thrown into the air. It can be guaranteed with Yuka's projectile, but this costs health.

Gifs demonstrating what was mentioned are in the links provided.

Forgot to mention one thing: when prioritizing secondary items to unlock, the game will always prioritize a boss's weakness item over everything else, including unlockable supers (the only other secondary item I'm currently aware of).

Current focus: when unable to stream, updating the boss weakness information with the full unlock requirements, complete with hints provided by the game.

Plans for any%:

1. Reach level 1 and unlock Yuka's first super in the first tournament. 3 rounds, must take a loss in one round in the first tournament (to avoid losing access to said super).
2. Get Hayato's weakness in the 1st championship tournament and reach level 3.
3. Get Robo-no-hana's weakness in the 2nd tournament. Keep rounds at 1 after this. Level 4 should happen soon.
4. Defeat Metal Shouryu.
5. Get Wiler's weakness in the 3rd tournament.
6. Defeat Metal Robo-no-hana.
7. Regain Robo-no-hana's weakness in the 4th tournament.
8. Defeat Metal Hayato.
9. Complete the 5th tournament.
10. Check Yuka's current equipment. If the boss item is not equipped/unlocked, set rounds to 2 and defeat Metal Yuka without losing a round. Reset the rounds to 1 afterwards.
11. Continue as normal through the game. After beating Metal Wiler, regain his weakness item.
12. Finish the run.

Fantastic! I really appreciate your interest in finding and documenting this stuff. If I respond slowly it's just that I'm a little busy lately.

No problem. I will try to update here as often as I can.

The evolve system isn't something I have documented well. All I do know is that some equipment evolutions are dependent on your current level; the lower it is, the worse some evolution paths can become.

For example, take the Technique Headband. It has two evolution paths: Technique Headband X, and Headband of Expert (the item Yuka gives when defeated without a loss with rounds set to 2 or 3).

Focusing on Yuka: Technique Headband X: +3 attack/+3 throw. Yuka doesn't require a level to use this. Headband of Expert: +4 attack/+6 throw. Yuka needs to be at level 1 to use this.

As far as I know, equipment can begin to evolve around level 2 and higher, though at higher equipment levels, it will begin the next equipment at a higher level. If the character you are using cannot use one of the evolutions for an equipment, that path is blocked off (as said equipment is automatically equipped after evolution, and this cannot happen with an incompatible character).

It could be possible that the unlock system for better weapons/armor is also based on your character's current level. My ideal goal is to get Headband of Expert for Yuka, though an alternative item is Band of Devil.

Band of Devil: +4 attack/+5 throw. Yuka must be at level 3 to equip this.

I feel as though the unlock system for supers is also initially dependent on character level, with the exception of every character (except Robo-no-hana's) first unlockable super. I don't truly know the specifics for it, but as Yuka has the most supers to unlock, I think it goes as follows: First unlockable super: Complete a tournament. Second unlockable super: Reach level 4 and then complete a tournament. Third unlockable super: Reach level 4 and win a certain number of rounds. Yuka's final super: Unknown. Has not been documented and I have had no luck getting it in years past.

With Yuka, I want to unlock the first super and the 3rd super. The first has very high chip damage (great for bosses with high defense), and the 3rd just has high base damage, and is ideal for the Bokuchin/Shin Ryumaou 2 fights.

Found the information about Bokuchin. The game has it hidden in the Seven Wonders 2 item.

Appearance rate is 10% for any tournament in Circuit mode.

With a need to unlock him by the 9th tournament in the speedrun, you are given a minimum of 19 chances to get him before the 10th championship tournament.

If the calculations are correct, then that's an 86.5% chance that we will see him at least once within those 19 tournaments. The odds are in our favor, but at the same time, it's not that unusual that he arrives later.

Finished unlocking each of the weakness items. I've updated the previous posts to make sure it is as accurate as possible.

Current focus: setting up for streaming the game, and determining a good day and time to do a no reset speedrun (any% first, then on a later date, no weakness items%).

From some practice attempts, I can see the time for any% going as low as 2 hours. However... the luck for getting Bokuchin (one of the 7 Wonders items revealed it is a 10% chance) could easily bring this back up to 4 hours at the worst, maybe 3 hours on average.

One thing to note: You cannot get weakness items during a championship tournament; only normal tournaments. For the no weakness items% I plan to work on, this will make grinding a lot easier.

Any% Yuka:

0. Time starts when you press End.

1. Setup - Sell all weapons, armor, and Mr. Battle 1st, then buy Technique Headband and Fighter's Jacket. Set the number of rounds to 1 and the timer to 90 seconds (setting up for Teleport Mantle - Metal Shouryu's weakness item), and set the difficulty to Easy (Very Easy is an option, but I choose not to go for it).

2. Tournament 1 - Win by timeout in every match to get the Teleport Mantle.

3. Championship Tournament (Rival) - Set Rounds to 3, timer to infinite. Focus on getting perfects when possible to reach Level 1 as soon as possible, and to increase the stats of the weapon and armor.

4. Tournament 2 - same as Championship Tournament 1, only the end result will get me the Ring of Houou - Metal Hayato's weakness item.

5. Championship Tournament 2 (Metal Shouryu); every Championship Tournament from this point on - Set rounds to 1.

6. Tournament 3 - Equip a Sacred Water, then win every match without using it to get Mr. Virus - Metal Robo-no-hana's weakness item.

7. Championship Tournament 3 (Metal Robo-no-hana): See #5.

At this point in time, I want to have one of the following items equipped:

• Technique Headband
• Ball of White Tiger or Ball of Hermit
• Headband of Expert (low chance of occurring from evolving Technique Headband, must be at minimum level 1 as Yuka to gain the chance of obtaining this).

In addition, I now have to worry about my overall Rank before entering a tournament. As long as I keep my Rank at E, the CPU's equipment will be among the basic set. Higher ranks means dealing with increasingly rare (and proportionally more powerful) equipment. This may mean I will have to enter Tournaments and Championship Tournaments without armor.

8. Tournament 4: While the rounds are still at 1, reobtain Mr. Virus.

9. Championship Tournament 4 (Metal Hayato): See #5.

10. Tournament 5 Setup: Set max hp to 100 (normal is 200), then win every match to get Revival of Leaf - Metal Wiler's weakness item.

11. Championship Tournament 5 (Metal Yuka). Make sure to set max hp back to 200.

Option 1 (No Headband of Expert): Set rounds to either 2 or 3, then win without losing a round and receive the Headband of Expert from the Metal Yuka fight. This isn't guaranteed to occur for some reason in this speedrun, and I have yet to identify why.

One idea is that having the difficulty set to Easy (Could also happen on Slightly Easy) or lower turns off the ability to receive items from the Metal Characters. I know for a fact that you can receive them on Normal difficulty.

Option 2 (Headband of Expert, or could choose to skip this item in the hopes of evolving it through Technique Headband): Keep the number of rounds set to 1.

12. Tournament 6: Set time to 90 seconds and rounds to 1. Win every round to regain Teleport Mantle.

13. Championship Tournament 6 (Metal Ryuhi)

14. Tournament 7: Set time to infinite, set number of rounds to 3. Regain the Ring of Houou.

15. Championship Tournament 7 (Metal Powers)

16. Tournament 8: <If you want to go for Bokuchin's weakness item, this would be the best time to do so. Otherwise, this spot will be taken with unlocking a super or a random item.>

17. Championship Tournament 8 (Metal Wiler)

18. Set max hp to 100. Regain the Leaf of Revival.

19. Championship Tournament 9 (Metal Suzaku)

20. Tournament 10+: Attempt to unlock Bokuchin (10% chance starting from the very first tournament; optimal luck will be unlocking him at #2 on this list). If he doesn't pop up in a tournament, it is better to use these tournaments as grinding spots for weapon levels (3 rounds, aim for nearly all perfects); don't bother with armor unless the weapon alone forces D rank and the armor doesn't make it C rank.

21. Championship Tournament 10 (Metal Bokuchin):

As this is a Yuka any%, a unique thing about Yuka's base super is that it ignores Metal Bokuchin and Shin Ryumaou 2's Immortal ability. If you bring their hp to 0 with this super, they will be K.O.'ed, despite triggering the colored animation for Immortal. Their hp will just fail to go back up. This is the only reason why I do not go for Metal Bokuchin's weakness item (requires very easy, 30 seconds, 1 round).

22. Ryumaou Tournament. Rank does not matter here. Equip everything you need to get through quickly and safely. Time will be when you reach the credits (after the last item text box is cleared from the item reveal). Of note:

Shin Ryumaou 1: Very annoying fight. Healing items will help survive this phase; won't need them past this phase.

Shin Ryumaou 2: As long as you land the final blow with Yuka's base or enhanced version of the base super, Immortal will fail to trigger.

Shin Ryumaou 3: Just a standard fight against an opponent with super armor. Their unique ability doesn't matter as long as you keep up the pressure.

I plan to post a quick gif/video of a loop I found with Yuka vs most characters. One I tend to go for to get perfects effortlessly, once I get past the issue of the initial attack.

Characters this fails against: Hayato, Shouryu, Robo-no-hana, Wiler. No idea on Bokuchin or Ryumaou yet. Suzaku is especially gullible to this.

Yuka Loop

A loop that can be done against many characters as Yuka. It requires some timing to make sure you hit the opponent while they are crouched. Some opponents will attempt to react with the super defense for kicks, which automatically fails. This can work against Powers, though the timing is stricter. Too late, and he rises too far away (may require a dash before the air throw). Early enough, and he will rise up into the air next to you for an easy air throw. Too late, and you just knock him back face down, where he may react with an immediate attack (which can be jumped). Requires practice with each opponent to get the timing down.

This gif was done on a completed run, using the legendary sword I somehow got right as I unlocked Bokuchin. It was too late in the run for me to attempt to grind it. The unlock requirements for that weapon probably makes it impossible to go for in a speedrun, as I believe it requires getting a specific number of wins before it becomes an unlockable item, which we are attempting to keep low in the first place.

One thing to note with the air throw: it does not generate meter. As Yuka, I find using Supers to be incredibly slow to do, so I will most likely not be doing anything with the meter in my runs.

Exception: Metal characters encountered early on. I will use Yuka's second super if I have it at that time. Unfortunately, the weakness items have priority for being unlocked over all other items, including supers. Supers can only appear as either the first item (rare occurrences), or the second item in a normal tournament. As a result, I will be stuck with just her base super for most of the run.

Finished my first run. It has significantly good luck at the start, but Bokuchin effectively killed any chance of a good time. First time really using live split, so my splits are quite off at times. Final time was around 3:52:27.09.

If the luck for Bokuchin was much better, the time would have gone under 3 hours. Optimal luck would have led to a time under 2 hours.

Some other notes:

I did fall asleep mid-run. Time loss was around 40 minutes. This was during the Bokuchin split. I did take a couple breaks, taking up around 10 minutes for food and water. During these moments, the timer was not stopped. It is a single-segment run. I'm not used to using LiveSplit yet, so the timing on the splits were often significantly off.

Congrats on the run, and thanks again for yours efforts documenting the route/strats/etc for everyone interested!