Any% Co-op

The strategy is pretty much the same as one player any%: keep "walking" and kill all the 16 enemies fast on the end level

# What's different?

- screen scrolls base on the player most at the top. if both are exactly side by side the screen slowly scrolls
- each enemies shot 2 bullets, one for each players
- hostage bonus counter is common for both, it resets when one player die
- dropping dynamite would depend on the player most of the top

# General strat

In order to most bullets and grenade, it's best if both player are at the same vertical line. Each player needs to pay attention to the other player. To save time, players would be on opposite side and join back to one side whenever it's safe to do so

# Level 1



# Level 2



# Level 3



# Level 4



# Level 5

Maybe the most difficult part of the Co-op run. 

at the end level, it's fast to have players on each side



# Level 6

Player 1 get's the super bomb arrow for the final boss while Player 2 stays on the right. for the [?] item, it's good to scroll up a bit before taking it so the gate's bouncing bomb are killed. While the Player 1 is getting the super bomb arrow, the Player 2 can wait behind the trees. Both player merge after the first gate and stays on the right side

Any% Guide

# General

## Speed

the character walk on a constant speed regardless the direction (straight or diagonal). He only gets slow down while walking on high grass or water. It's clear that it's better to always walk and avoid those slow down zone. always moving up and shooting helps to have a longer range with the M-60, enemies move down faster

## Enemie Spawn

The less enemies spawn, the easier it is to go through them. For that reason it's actually much better to not kill any enemies especially the one who doesn't move (e.g. flamethrower). 

To avoid enemies it's better to stay on the far left or right, it's safer for unexpected fast coming bullet or running soldiers & motorcycle. Some cannot be avoid and shall be shot quickly, especially when they are very close or shoot fast (e.g. knife thrower)

Some scripted spawn can be annoying and can be skipped by killing some enemies a bit ealier.

## End level screen

The end screen has a kill count, for example 16 for level 1. Enemies needs to be kill as soon as possible, better clear the screen before a 5th enemy tries to spawn, it would be skipped and time would be lost. for the last kill, it's optimal to be close to the gate to throw the bomb arrow right after.

🆕(june 2022) end screen gate can be destroyed earlier as described [HERE](https://www.speedrun.com/rambo_first_blood_part_ii/news/1750). For each round (except round 6), after killing 16 enemies, the end screen gate can be destroyed with 16 shots (regular gun). it saves around 1 minute in total!

https://i.ibb.co/bdjkNZ0/endscreen-spawn-table.png

It's great to have some spawn on those end screen before the final scrolling up. Those enemies will be counted as regular end screen kill count and it helps to reach the min count faster.

there are some rocks or empty grenade launcher station that will protect you from bullet, very useful for safe runs but for faster strategy it's better to move around and kill asap

## Grenades

There are everywhere, a real pain ahah! Staying to long in one section in the level would trigger a dropping bomb, one more reason to never stop. each end level screen has dropping bomb after a certain time and the next drop would be 4s or 3s after.

it's important to learn how to avoid them and practice, especially for the last boss. The strat is to make the bomb explode and then stay on a safe spot

## Powerups

Not necessary to pick up, especially it's difficult to not die and it would need to be picked up again, especially the huts, there is a bit of a stop after shooting a bomb grenade. For some level it's better to get the super grenade powerup. The long range powerup would help for soome difficult part or for the end screen, but a bit risky since it requires to kill 21 enemies.


# Round 1

the easiest one, a death here should be reset.
keep the left the all time for safe strat or keep right for a bit faster by avoiding the grass.

For the end screen, there is a specific spot that allows to reach most spawn, except the to p right corner but moving a bit to the right does the job. Some enemies would despawn very quickly by walking out of the screen (top right), this is RNG

https://i.ibb.co/kDXwyRJ/Frame-1-5.png

# Round 2

First round with bridges and those has bomber spawn on it that would slow you down. Those bomber can be despawned by kill some enemies before. Those bridge are narrow and enemies will shoot at you, it's better to cross before they start shooting and kill the ones around that would shooot you.

The knife thrower are dangerous, they throw fast, it's safe if they are far enough but better to kill them (diagonally) after they throw the first knife.

# Round 3

# Round 4

Bridges are back, but this time there is 3 sets! same as round, try to clear the enemies around it and never stop to prevent receiving any shooting.

Because of the bridges, it's better to keep right

the end screen is same as round 2, the bomb spawn is earlier and faster

# Round 5

maybe one of the hardest level but it's probably the less random stage because of the big number of scripted spawn: 67 (stage 4 is 33). Those blue snipper needs to be killed asap, they shoot fast! 

The hard part is the end screen where there is no much place to hide and the spawns are everywhere. staying at the very top next to the gate is the only safe spot againts enemies bullet, but more risky for getting bomb

# Round 6

it's better to take the Stinger Bomb powerup for the final boss, it gives 7 damage instead of 3 with regular bomb arrow! The power can be obtain by blowing up some big rocks on the way

the bouncing grenages are difficult, first one is tricky but can be despawn with the [?] item. It works when you get close during the explosion and run after. Walking diagonal might help a bit sometimes

for the final boss, start with the right part then the left, for more damage smash B1 & B2 at the same time. those 2 part can be destroyed before the first bouncing grenage

Intro & Basic Information

Introduction

This game is a top-down run-and-gun style shooter for the Sega Master System. This was also released in Japan as Ashura (阿修羅) and as Secret Command in Europe.
All versions allow for one or two players at the same time.

# Versions

~~All three games only have minor differences in sprites and level end screens, so runs in these games should be the same.~~

Rambo and Secret Command(o) are pretty much the same except for some sprites and the main screen music. Need to do some research to confirm that

The original japanese version, Ashura, has different enemy count & bomb timer for the end part of each round. Any runs for the japanese version should be a different category

More details in [Version Comparison](https://www.speedrun.com/rambo_first_blood_part_ii/guide/dddpr) guide

# Gameplay

It is vertically scrolling and only scrolls on movement upwards; it does not scroll downwards. This is important to remember as you cannot go back to collect items or free hostages.

The players start with three lives, and one hit of any danger always takes a life. One extra life is awarded when a stage is finished, and there are life pickups as well. Colliding with enemy do not harm the player, except for tank and motor bike.

The player can only fire in 5 directions and cannot fire towards the bottom of the screen. pressing down, or down + right or left, only results in facing directly forwards.
There are only two actions.
• **Button 1** shoots the main weapon, M-60, only two of your bullets can be on the screen at the same time.
• **Button 2** fires a bomb arrow that does a small explosion that all enemies around, only one arrow at the time

# Level Structure

Everyround has the same height of 1920 pixels, or 30 x 64 pixels. Maps are available [HERE](https://i.ibb.co/xJBcyvJ/Rambo-SMS-rounds.png).

The last part of the level, the end screen, has a blocked / locked gate. In order to complete the round, the player needs to kill a number of enemies to make the gate flashes and throw a grenade arrow to open it. depending on the round, the count can be 16 (round 1), 24 (round 2) or 28 (round 3, 4, 5).

The end screen of the last round has 3 targets with a life of 10 each. the side targets need to be destroyed before the middle one

# Poweups

Only one powerup can be on the screen at a time. If a powerup is already on the screen, then no new ones can be spawned.
After each death, all the powerups are reset back to zero

## Main Weapon / Gun

There are two main weapon powerups:

- [L] gives the player long range bullets, 
- [S] allows bullets to go through multiple enemies. 
These appear after kill 21 enemies.

They also each give 2 more grenades to the player. When a player loses a life, all powerups are also lost.

## Hostage Huts

There are huts with hostages in the first 4 stages, then police cars in stage 5 and rocks in stage 6, that give out items after a short pause when hit with a grenade arrow.

These give out items in a sequence during a single life:
1) 5 more grenade arrows (2 arrows ),
2) 1st question mark destroys all enemies on screen (? on blue)
3) super grenades powerup that cause a much larger explosion (flashing arrow)
4) 5 more grenades again
5) 2nd question mark gives an extra life (? on red)
6) 5 more grenades again
7) 3rd question mark gives an extra life (? on yellow)

The game will just keep giving more grenades after that. The sequence restarts when the player loses a life.

Secrets

Here are some secrets not mentioned in the manual, at least not in the US one.
Those secrets are not considered as cheat or glitch and they can be use in the speedrun

# Destroy gate earlier

Instead of waiting for the game to blink and throw a bomb arrow at it, the game would allow you to destroy it with the M-60 bullets.
It works for every level (except level 6), when you are on the end screen (boss)

- Kill at least 16 enemies 
- then shoot at the gate many times (~16 times?) with the M-60

# 150 ammo bonus

There is a 150 arrow bonus when a specific enemy is killed with the 2nd shot of the M-60. For example if you kill the 6th spaw with your second bullet you will get it.

- Round 2 --> 8

- Round 3 --> 6

- Round 4 --> 5

- Round 5 --> 8

- Round 6 --> 7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWa7KH8DWSA

#  Super Stinger

this super stinger upgrade will clear all the enemies on the screen when you fire it, except the tanks and motorcycles. All you need to do is to kill 4 enemies on the screen with one M-60 shot, you will need to get the "S" power up to shoot through enemies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_WcZwAPcUw

fd

KrakenZer0

arnaud33200

Rambo: First Blood Part II

Sega Master System

TheRetroRunner

Svipur

Sacrieon

USA / NTSC

Just found out there is a 4th power up: The super bomb arrow!

# What does it do? 

when shooting the bomb arrow, it's kill all the enemies on the screen, same as the "?" item.
it would reset after going to the next level.

# How to get it?

You will get it if you manage to kill 4 enemies with one

Nome	Autor
Any% Co-op	arnaud33200 1 year ago
Any% Guide	arnaud33200 2 years ago
Intro & Basic Information	KrakenZer0 2 years ago
Secrets	arnaud33200 1 year ago