Hello, John from Hermits Quarters here. I just posted my 18:35 Mysterious Warrior story mode run and a jump start run for 100F tower with him as well. Thought I would share some of the small things I used, tried, implemented and discarded in an effort to pool knowledge and get the best runs we can!

Mysterious Warrior(MW) has a faster than Billy/Jimmy walk speed. This game has just enough portions where you are just plain traversing ground in addition to the platforming that walk speed is a fairly important consideration.

One drop, one kill. Killing foes in as few knock downs as possible is general best practice. Enemies (and players) lie on the ground for a not insignificant amount of time before getting up dragging out the time to kill.

One drop wont kill. For the most part MW kills in one fireball.(FB) This doesn't hold true for Burnov, Jake, Abobo(s), Right Arm, Kodani, Ashida, Shanon & Casey. In tower mode you can add Chin Seimei, Ranzou, Mysterious Warrior and "Bimmy" to this list. In story mode foes also gain hit points(HP) as the game progresses, particularly Abobo.

For the most part MW can just fireball his way through the game. This is despite having a limited stock that replenishes by 6 on any screen transition and to a full 20 on death or end of level. The fireball has a moderate are of effect (AoE) on impact that can hit as many foes as you can manage to line up. On PS4 the fireball can pass through an enemy that is very close to MW dealing damage on its way.

MW 3 punch combo.(PC) MW has a very rapid punch which will chain twice then has a moderate knock back ender. More useful in the tower challenge where it can kill a lot of foes all on its own. The kick ender seems to do slightly less damage? Be careful firing off rapid punches waiting for foes to wander into them, it often goes straight to the ender after a single punch for less damage.

MW Spinning Clothesline/Lariat.(SC) Deals about the same damage as his 3 punch combo in a single quick activating, high priority, decent AoE with considerable knock back. Great for positioning foes including knocking them into pits. The knock back is based on the facing of MW so you can quickly switch facing near the edges of the screen to avoid knocking foes to where you can't follow up and for other uses. In tower mode, where enemy HP is more constant, it does slightly less than the PC. This is probably true in story mode but harder to test.

MW has a Handstand Kick(HK) that does slightly more damage than the FB. I would hazard a guess at about 150 percent of FB damage? Maybe less. Slow to start, HK lacks the range of a FB plus has significant knock back meaning it can be hard to follow up. As a tool for positioning foes the lariat is generally better. Using HK can help speed up kill times and replace a FB for one shot foes, if you can land it.

All characters have two while standing (WS) attacks, executed with punch or kick at any point where they are in a kneeling animation. If a WS attack is done early after a hard knock down it will gain invincibility for a couple seconds while the character sprite flashes in and out. For MW, WS with punch is a leaping version of the SC, with kick he does his kick ender which is basically the FB animation without the projectile. You can perform the FB, SC or HK during WS instead and they will inherit the invulnerability, if applicable.

WS with punch for the leaping SC has decent use and it is basically identical in properties of damage and such to the standard SC. WS with kick is useless when you can just do a regular SC, or even a FB or HK. It might have ever so slightly more knock back so if you are gambling on knocking an opponent into a pit, perhaps use it then?

WS with FB is a powerful option after knock down, gaining invincibility long enough to get the FB out even under pressure. WS with SC instead of the punch version is handy when the leaping SC will mess up positioning. WS with HK is decent way to try and land the HK as the invincibility helps you to land it.

Enemy spawn placement operates under certain rules and appears to be pseudo random. The game does not want to spawn dudes in "silly" spots and this has some small speedrun use in a couple of spots.

Since a lot of scenes end based on the last kill you can recover lost time from earlier bad enemy engagements if you can line up a kill on the last enemy and any other enemies still standing simultaneously.

Some scenes enemies spawn based on kill and others they spawn on a timer. The multiple Ayumi fight in front of the three doors is on a timer for spawns, for example.

Level break downs and comments.

Level 1. 13 enemies, 14 fireballs total (2 for Burnov) if you don't land any multi-FB AoE kills. The first six enemies before the door take FOREVER, need to test if they spawn after a kill or on a long timer. The random placement when they spawn makes it tough to guess where they will be and throw an early FB so you can dash to the door and move on.

After the door you can spam 4 FB as fast as you like to kill the 4 enemies here. Jumping on the idiotic, slow boat doesn't help anything I don't think. If you time a FB before jumping you can nail the two enemies simultaneously before the elevator.

Mashing FB on the elevator can lead to a bug, I have a video snippet up on my channel if you want to see it. This makes timing a FB on the Burnov asap somewhat sloppy. He needs two FB and does his take forever thing when he dies, sigh.

Any tricks to sequence break or speed up the boat ride or Burnov animation would help immensely. Figuring out enemy spawn placement would help here and for the game in general.

Level 2. The placement off the bat fools me into trying to FB the Cody every time. Since Cody has no attacks before level 6 you should probably hit Mason first. The 3rd and 4th enemies seem pretty static in their spots, good for a early FB. The Linda(5) seemed static for about 10 runs but moved on me once but otherwise chucking a FB and running for the ladder can save time.

The two goofs(6+7) that spawn off screen after the ladder can be hit with a single FB if you time it right. I don't know why but they can be a full second late spawning sometimes? 8 is a Mason in prime position to be knocked in a pit but if you don't do a jump attack to set it up he may intercept you and slow down the run a tick. 9+10 can be killed with fireballs from the platform you climb the 2nd ladder saving some time if done right.

After the long jump 11-14 spawn under the helicopter. They spawn right about when you walk in front of a building in the background so use that as a marker to chuck a FB then follow it up moving forward landing a triple header AoE. Follow it up with 2 more FB asap to kill a Chin and finish the Abobo. Second level is actually shorter than the first without the stupid boat ride and Burnov defeat dance!

Level 3. 1-6 spawn lined up with your FB. If you are lucky they will clump up for AoE but it doesn't really matter. A small delay on the FB to time out the death blink is needed.

Rowper (7) spawns backwards sometimes, if we can figure out how we can engage him quicker safely. Dies to a PC too which is easier to time than a FB which will disappear when it hits the tail fin on this rocket car truck thing. 8-9 need a FB for fastest kill time, true from here on out for normal enemies. 10-11 spawn when 8+9 are dead. You can hit an AoE FB on them both if you time it right.

After the screen transition you fight 2 Abobos and 2 Mason (12-15) with a fresh stock of +6 FB. Their spawn locations can be swapped but spamming a FB right away will hit someone. Prefer the Abobos to rush you to save time and maybe line up some AoE FB.

Level 4. 4 enemies with level 1 boring slow spawns, spawning behind you no less, ZZZ. Screen scrolls, advance to a Linda (5) that likes to trick me spawning high/low. Then a Mason(6) from behind. Next a Cody(7) and Williams(8) that you can manipulate into spawning on the right if you like. I think that technically saves time, especially the Williams. Race for the door.

4 normals (9-12) spawn at random heights on a timer in the casino. Staying near the right screen border can get them to engage quicker making landing a FB easier and you want to get a jump moving in on the Bosses.

3 bosses, Burnov, Jake and Abobo(13-15) next. They don't activate or become vulnerable until you close in to the edge of the 2nd/3rd slot machine. The Burnov activates first, then Abobo then Jake. The Jake takes so long you really have to time any FB attempts. Jake takes 3 FB, the rest 2. Killing the Burnov early eliminates his death animation dance penalty. Using a SC to try and stack some/all of them up for an AoE FB sequence is a decent tactic.

Level 5. Starts with a variety pack of 5 norms.(1-5) One Cody in there is a good spot for a HK since this level is tight on FB. Screen scrolls slightly, take advantage to move to the right with it for the next bit.

6 enemy pack, 2 Abobos and 4 norms (6-11). FB from mid screen is a good bet, the Abobos might dash in and stack up for AoE. Without AoE or non-FB kills you are down 13 FB if you haven't missed. Screen scrolls a lot more to the ending encounter.

Cody, China and Mason spawn.(12-14) Good place for a HK on the Cody. A Right Arm (15) spawns that will die to a single FB. He is quickly followed by a Chin and Burnov(16-17) that you can usually land a AoE FB on the pair dropping the Chin and setting up Burnov for his demise. This Burnov is blue and takes 3 FB making it really difficult to kill him first to save time on death dance time.

Level 6. Walk toward the left (omg, left) towards the ladder to the boat, encountering a Cody, Mason and red Burnov.(1-3) After Burnov is down a Rowper and Williams spawn.(4+5) Cody will have an actual attack now and Rowper will throw a bolas from now on so be careful about that. Up that ladder. Platform jumps then another ladder.

A Mason and Williams (6+7) guard the top of the ladder. They are really fidgety making a FB hard to land. Maybe best to just pray for a double SC and follow up. Oh, and the Mason will throw bolas too, sigh. Platform some more and climb a long ladder to a single Mason.(8)

This Mason will, 100 percent, jump kick you at the top of the ladder, if you are playing on PS4, killing himself. On PC, you stand a chance of getting the first hit in but sometimes he behaves similarly. Might actually be faster on PS4 when he kills himself. A Cody(9) will spawn to avenge Mason's death, time a FB as soon as the Mason is dead to hit him as he spawns and dash into the doorway.

FB immediately to drop the Cody(10) on the left then quickly jump up and FB the Rowper(11) so he can't annoy you with his bolas. Climb down and eyeball the crusher trap. The first is super slow. Throw a fireball at the Williams(12) slightly faster than letting him kill himself in the 2nd trap. Move through the trap and a Cody(13) will spawn when the Williams finishes blinking. FB and move down the ladder, don't wait for nothin'!

If you have gone quickly the next 3 traps will be more or less timed for you to move through. Walking is faster over all than jumping, but more important to try not to get hit for ~1/2 your life. If you do consider WS punch for invincibility and forward momentum.

After the 3rd trap drop to the moving platform and time a late jump, land and WS punch to move off the 2nd rolling platform quickly. Make the next jump and FB the two Chins (14+15) then wait out the timer until the screen transitions to the final fight.

2 Burnovs and 1 Abobo (16-18) in the helm room of the ship. Theoretically you could use a SC to keep the Abobo at bay without killing him while you murder the 2 Burnovs asap then finish the Abobo saving a lot of death dance time. These Burnovs need a minimum of 2 FB and 1 SC to die. The Abobo dies to 2 SC and 1 FB which may be true for the Burnovs too?

Level 7. 4 "karate guys" (1-4)3 Yamazaki and 1 Soeno, all get FB. The game doesn't want to spawn them near the beginning stage side if it can help it and it should be faster if you manipulate positioning to get them to spawn from the right. You then need to walk to the right until the screen locks at a doorway.

A Linda and Yamazaki spawn followed by a Soeno when defeated(5-7). After the Soeno a red Rowper(8) that you can FB from afar while closing in on the doorway to transition to the next screen. All of the enemies in the doorway scene can spawn at random placements, high or low, eating up time and FB if you guess wrong.

Kill 4 karate men (9-12) on the moving sidewalk, spawning in pairs of Yamazaki and Soeno. Usually, if you stay near the bottomless pit on the moving sidewalk they will spawn parallel to you. This lets you get to the ladder quickly.

Jump and use the WS punch to platform navigate for maximum speed rather than fighting the rolling platforms with simple walking.

The up and down moving platforms have some interesting properties. You inherit some kind of momentum to your jumps depending on their movement. Useful when they are moving upwards to make long jumps. The screen will not scroll until you land on the second platform of the first pair meaning you are pretty safe to let 'er rip and fly.

The second pair has not screen scroll restrictions so be careful. There may be some time saving if you time a jump off the second platform in either pair for some air time.

Jump close to the rolling platform then WS punch to move to the next platform. This platform rolls the right way to speed up walking so use this. Land off the platform and wait a tick before unleashing a FB at the Yamazaki here.(13) Climb down the ladder to the odd little ledge then to the final fight of the level.

4 Karate men spawn here (14-17) 2 green Yamazaki and 2 standard Soeno. Assuming the green Yamazaki has more moves or HP it matter little since he still dies to a single FB. The screen has a little give in the scrolling making the trick for spawning them on the moving sidewalk trickier in a time saving regard.

Level 8. 5 enemies (1-5) in front of Tower Records... I mean Okada Tower, ending with a Linda. If you are accurate with your FB spam you'll be back at 20 by heading inside. Inside 4 enemies (6-9) ending with a Linda, again. Screen scrolls to an elevator and 5 (10-14) more enemies, ending with a Linda... again. Head in the elevator and +6 FB stock.

1 Abobo spawns behind you in the elevator. Awesome. Recomend a SC then a well timed FB or HK if you want to be fancy, either will kill. Elevator ride ends and you get another +6 FB stock.

Platforming time. The timing for the first disappearing platform and cog jump is set up correctly if you go immediately. The second, not so much. Some characters may find it useful to jump out while the disappearing platform is flashing in so they can time the 2nd cog jump. If you are moving quickly you want to wait on the disappearing platform for the cog to spin once then jump.

Drop down to platform with access to another elevator. Beat up the Chin and Abobo (15+16) pairing or knock them in the bottomless pit for maximum speed. The Chin frequently kills himself if you ignore him. Ride the elevator up and get psyched to the music for the end fight.

Casey floats up to her LXIII chopper as 5 norms and 1 Jake(17-21) arrive in a staggered fashion. Notable is the pair of Rowpers ready to throw a whole mess of bolas while you try to deal with Jake. Luckily all these transitions have given us plenty of FB stock to spam. A risk-reward decision must be made to bait out Jake and knock him off the platform for a quick kill which is a significant time bump.

Level 9. A fight on the streets of Japan with 5 enemies (1-5) ending with a Chin. These screen is notable in that moving to the bottom is not a safe zone unlike most of the game. The slow staggering of enemies makes it super easy and boring. Moving on to the Rinka bar.

Inside Pub Linka (diphthongs!) 5 enemies (6-10) are staged waiting for you, some hiding behind pillars or off screen. The Right Arm here is tough generally needing at least 2 FB and a SC to finish, maybe just 2 FB. The first Kodani in the game is also in the mix needing around 4 FB for a kill.

You may be tempted to start with the Kodani or Right Arm to speed things up but the spacing is poor and you might get surrounded, overwhelmed and waste time. If you can pull it off though? I focus on dropping all the weaker enemies then trying to herd the Right Arm and Kodani for maximum effect. You have plenty of FB due to the short ass level an transition to Pub Linka restocking you.

Level 10. Welcome to slow ass spawn town. Start with 2 Ayumi (1+2) a ladder climb, 2 Ayumi (3+4) and another ladder climb. Not entirely certain but it seems like the 2nd Ayumi in each pair spawns when the first has been dead for 3 full seconds, or they spawn REALLY slowly. I generally throw a FB at the first Ayumi around the time I have walked over to a ladder.

5th Ayumi(5) spawns as you get to the black shadow near the spear trap. FB early and jump up to the 4 spear traps, they will kill you if you mistime them but I doubt you will, they are well telegraphed. 6th and 7th Ayumi (6+7) is back to the pattern of the first two pairs spawning around the time the second spear is appearing and getting ready to stab. HK use is recommended for #7 if you have the timing down as FB spam can get a bit intense on this level.

Climb up from the spear trap level to the top of the screen with a bright doorway and get ready for 4 slow, slow spawns of 1 Ayumi (8-11)at a time. The spear tips from below can't hurt you. Again, if you are good at the timing HK would be great here. 3-5(!) seconds in between each Ayumi... yawn. In the door with you!

2 Ayumi (12+13)immediately charge in, usually from the right but the left is not impossible. 3 more Ayumi (14-16) will spawn as a single, then a pair, on a timer so be on your game or risk fighting 5 at once. There is a pattern to the doorways for progression, I've chosen door 1, then 2 then 3, left to right, for the sake of simplicity.

Door 1 spawns 2 Abobos (17+18) that die to 2 FB each or use a HK after a FB if your FB stock is hurting. Each door transition gives you 6 more FB so you will get at least 18 more on the way through all 3. The Abobos usually spawn on the right then the left and sometimes rush you so be on guard for that. Using a FB to kill is preferred so you can move in on Door 2 while it is in flight.

Door 2 has 2 Kodani (19+20) and usually they spawn like the Abobos in door 1. They have the same HP as Pub Linka and their slow foot speed means you want to try to accommodate with positioning and knock back management so you can get to door 3 quickly.

Door 3 has our first Ashida and two pink gi wearing Yamazakis (21-23)as the end of level fight. Despite their awesome Dan cosplay the Yamazakis still die to a single FB each. Ashida eats 3 full FB before dying. Timing FB well is important as he may use his counterattack move invincibility to avoid damage. He tends to do it more if you are close so learning good timing for doing it at range is also handy. If you are having trouble, position yourself so you will be behind him when he stands up, giving you larger window for timing. Ashida has a fairly wide sprite so timing isn't as strict as it might seem.

Level 11. Dramatically lit fight against 2 Burnov and a granite stone colored Abobo(1-3) to start. A FB and HK kills these Burnovs otherwise you need 2 FB and something more, which will likely stretch the fight into the arrival of the super aggressive Abobo. 4 FB and a SC will put the Abobo down but this is not a place to slack, this Abobo can kill you in two hits. Experimentation shows 2 FB, 1 SC and 1 HK won't kill but maybe 2 HK and 2 FB will optimizing that fight by 1 knock down if so. Don't forget to run up the screen into the door to transition after the fight.

Platforming mania! Another pink Yamazaki (4) shows up, throw a FB about the time you hit the small mark in the floor graphics. Power walk to the right and time another FB for the Ayumi (5) about the time you cross the red part of the floor. As she blinks for the final time throw a FB to catch the Yamazaki (6) off screen as he spawns in. No more fighting for the rest of this level.

If you have been moving as optimally as possible you could do this cog jump and the next without hesitation just making it to the first moving platform in time. Otherwise, waste 3 seconds for it to spin and then proceed. There is an odd amount of forgiveness for the second platform so don't be overly timid. Once you make it to the second platform the screen will scroll.

One time, I timed a jump from the second platform to the middle of the 3 cogs after it. I believe I used the momentum of it going up at about the last possible moment. If you leap from the top of the middle cog you land on the right most cog and can do a WS punch to make it to the original Double Dragon style punching block traps.

The punching blocks seem super random. Just hold right and be ready to let go if you see one in your path move. If you are lucky you just walk straight to the end. Good lord don't go in the dark doorway it starts this whole sequence over!

After punch blocks is the ladder climb with spike squishers. The timing is perfect for MW to just hold up immediately and bypass the first trap. Trap 2 and 3 are fair but I have had them catch me even with a one rung gap between my head and their graphics.

Trap 4 I swear is just a tiny bit faster than the other 3? I usually time it so I press up as the jaws of the trap release to avoid it safely. Could be bias. Hold up for victory and why is there no victory music here? It just cuts straight to the Mission 12 title card, always makes my splits messy.

Level 12. Two big fights, no nonsense. Soeno, Yamazaki, Ayumi and 2 Ashidas arrive, with only the 2nd Ashida giving you any time to prepare. They all arrive whether you are killing fools or not so get to work. Although these Ashida are in blue I believe they still die to 3 FB, definitely to 2 FB and a HK. They do seem really keen to swim up and down through your FB at range or use their counter attack to avoid it so if you get one down finish it if possible. You will get 6 FB stock for walking up into the next and final scene.

Final Fight, Kodani, Jake, Shannon and Casey. Kodani here will die to 2 FB, 1 SC and 1 HK. Jake to 2 FB and 1 SC. Shanon and Casey to 4 FB and 2 SC. My best fight here came with a early FB to Kodani, he is usually up in the right corner, running over and HK him towards the oncoming trio and herd them all into a big pile for a SC then FB spam as they try to stand.

Need to test if you can kill Shannon/Casey in 4 knockdowns, 1 FB into 3 HK? May be that 5 knockdowns would be more realistic (5 FB or 1SC + 3FB + 1HK?) 6 knock downs (2 SC + 4 FB) is pretty easy and leaves a lot of room for SC spam to group everyone up but is slow. Also, PC?

Way too long, I'm going to play some video games!

Replying to my own post, how gauche!

Looking over some of my recorded, aborted, runs I'd say MW can narrow that time down to 18 flat without developing any new tech just putting together a solid run with good FB guesses for enemies spawning off screen and such.

Level 11 if you can one shot the 3 enemies before the cogs and platforms you could probably shave 5 seconds off by never stopping of hesitating and getting a monster dunk jump off to land in the middle of the 3 cog part. Would be interesting to see if the punching blocks trap is consistent over time rather than on a rng pattern, maybe if you make it there at a certain time you can always walk straight through?

As I say repeatedly above, figuring out enemy spawn would help a ton. There are the few tricks I know about left/right spawns but their random height levels is a challenge to overcome.

Thinking about trying a Jake run, depends on how his damage works vs. tower where it is very high.

I'd be interested in s Tower 100F guide, doing it post-patch.

Also, can you post this to the Guides section if it allows you?

-James

You got it, James!

I have a video up on the same channel that is an annotated Tower guide and I can write up a guide for the guide section here soon.

I've a new submission for a 10 second faster run with some new platforming tech/patterns and some inspiration from the runs A1Major did with Kodani, Jake and Shannon for tightening up combos. Got to defeat those enemies in as few knockdowns as possible to save time!

I noticed that every Fireball you miss and have to throw again is ~1 second of wasted time on a run, now it drives me up the wall, ha ha!

Some specifics. MW (everyone) throws two punches before chaining into his punch or kick finisher. The first of those two punches doesn't have much stun but the second leaves foes open long enough to link into the handstand kick special. This sequence can add up really fast on a high HP opponent like Casey, Shannon or Kodani. Even the two Ashida on Mission 12. Unfortunately the game has a bug with MW punches that make this a little harder to use, if you are jamming out rapid fire punches it often skips the first punch and goes straight to the second meaning you will likely spam out the punch finisher before you can link into the handstand kick. Also, enemy hit boxes just don't cooperate well for this combo from behind, particularly Ashida, too bad because it would be a lot safer to do from behind on him to avoid his counter special.

This bug combines with the random spawns to make the 3 mooks on the roof of the Mission 3 truck before the Chin and Linda guarding the Abobo boss fight annoying. You COULD just spam punch them all to death safely but you might get the 2 punch knockdown which is insufficient to kill and now you are wasting time. Speedrunning~!

You can also two punch then link into a fireball which is nearly as good and a lot faster but obviously is limited by stock and in a lot of situations just doesn't add up to a faster sequence in the long run. Two punches into the spinning lariat/clothesline seems to be about the same damage (or less?) as just doing a punch finisher. My mental rule of thumb is 3 spinning clotheslines equal one fireball and a handstand kick is a fireball and a clothesline.

Enemy health is all over the place but generally increases as the game progresses. For example, the enemies right at the beginning of mission 5 still die to a simple punch combo for the first two that spawn but need just a touch more damage for the next three that spawn. A few in the big gang after the screen scrolls are then back to one punch combo. Usually this is obvious due to a different color palette on the enemy, like the dark rocky Abobo on Mission 11, but not always. Or I'm just old and not paying good attention!

Platforming. Using the rudimentary physics in the game you can make shorter or longer jumps on the, up and down, moving platforms. This is very useful on Mission 11 for Mysterious Warrior you can jump from the right hand platform all the way to the middle of the 3 cogs. The timing is nearly perfect for him to go as fast as possible with barely a moment to waste. The timing on this jump is a bit tight but not frame perfect or anything. These physics jumps also help on Mission 7 a bit too but nothing quite as amazing as 11.

I don't know how much more of this game I can handle but when the speedrun bug bites you just got to sweat it out that fever you know? I'd love to get some more runs in and shave that time down to 18:15 or 18:00 flat but the game is just so uncooperative and filled with guessing. Although I'm really starting to get a feel for where enemies are after seeing a couple spawns. If anyone can crack the code I'd love to hear it!

I'm still grinding away at 1 credit running SoR2 on Mania, co-op, with my channel partner so I splitting my time between this, that and a couple other features on my youtube channel so it might be a while again before I update.

Thanks Anthopants, NightmareJames and A1Major and good luck!

I don't think the punching is a bug. While hitting an enemy you'll preform your three punch combo. If you're not and just punching the air, you'll do a two punch. So, if you spam you might catch them on punch 1 or 2 and then finish with 3. The problem is that punch 1 and 2 look identical.

Actually that makes sense, Jake cycles his over/under punches makes it obvious. Good call.