I still haven't managed to get a 10 stars ranking, not for a speedrun, I just felt that I could complete that challenge eventually, especially now that I have everything fresh in my memory. I think it's now or never. ;) I read Punchy's very helpful guide about the matter and I have a question about-what else, the kill count.

I read: "You need a large number of both kinds of kill (shooting and melee), but in a roughly even ratio". In my last run I had 84 melee kills and 90 with a gun. Both categories in White at the results screen. And I haven't touched any of the bonus weapons. So the game is so punishing that this small difference of 6 kills between the two sub-categories is unacceptable? Or am I doing something else wrong? For instance I'm not 100% sure what endings I have unlocked in that save file. (I've transferred it from a PS1 memory card, I don't quite remember what I had done back then. :)) So is it mandatory, as I have read in some fora, to have first gotten all the endings? It's not so clear.

The guide does contain the formula by which this is calculated.

A = Melee Kills / 5 = 84/5 = 16.8 B = Shooting kills /5 = 90/5 = 18

since B is greater than A

Your score (calculated out of 30) is A + (B/2) = 16.8 + 18/2 = 25.8

this is short of 30 by a few points

So you were short by some amount of kills. It's not really the ratio I just think you're a bit short on total killcount, generally.

Fwiw the absolute baseline minimum you probably need is about 100 in both categories, as 100 exactly in both melee and shooting kills will give you exactly thirty.

For the record, I tested it and the time limit is not 120mins, but 90. If you exceed 1h 30m you lose 0.5 points. At least on the PAL version.

It's 1:30 in all versions.

I directly translated the minute requirement out of a reliable japanese strategy guide (official Konami/Famitsu resource and has otherwise proven accurate about a host of other figures and facts), so it could be 120mins in the Japanese version, or the guide might just be wrong about this thing?

I'll change it, but still, wack.