Hey, so I was really into grinding individual levels of this back in 2012. Any% never really piqued my interest in this game so I always used to just grind levels for 5 stars as fast as possible. I recently dabbled with the game again but quickly lost interest in it as a speedrun, much like I did 6 years ago. However, I have acquired some knowledge of the game over the years that I figured I would pass on. Do with it what you will.

First, I did roughly 50 attempts of Born Again (5 star) runs the other night and managed a 4:46 (link posted below). I have no interest in posting it to the leaderboard and I have absolutely zero interest in doing full-game runs or grinding other levels. Again, I just get bored of this game pretty quickly these days. I'm actually hoping that someone can take my strategies or whatever and get it down to sub 4:40, as I had a run with better luck (will explain in a moment) where I screwed up the hand-to-hand fighting portion. That would have gotten me under 4:40, so I'm hoping someone else can do so.

The run can be found here: https://www.smashcast.tv/HavocProdigy/videos/1391197

So for Born Again, really 7 of the 8 hunters can be killed the same way each time, without any degree of randomness. The only problematic one is the 2nd one that I kill in the van section. In the botched run I had that should have been sub 4:40, I got the "god pattern" where he walks right, going right past the gate where this section starts. He can be killed with a low-level execution immediately if this happens. However, he rarely walks that way.

Secondly, being unable to crack the style points rating system was a big deterrent for me back in the day. There are many stages where you can get 5 stars without a single execution. However, the ideal execution amounts for Born Again is 4 reds, 2 yellows, and 1 white. You can also do 3 reds and 4 yellows, but from my testing, this is slower. There is zero reason to do 5 red executions on Born Again. It's just wasted time.

Lastly, I can provide the kills versus execution numbers that I used to use on all 20 stages to yield 5 stars. Of course, this won't tell you how many red, yellow, and white executions you need to do on each stage. I was able to crack the code and find the minimalist amount for a few of the stages, but I lost interest well before I could figure them all out. Of course, none of this really matters for Any% IL grinding or Any% runs, but if anyone wants to use this information for 5-star ILs or runs, it would probably save you hours and hours of testing. Enjoy.

Born Again: 8 (7 executed and 1 killed) Doorway to Hell: 10 (8 executed and 2 killed) Road to Ruin: 11 (9 executed and 2 killed) White Trash: 16 (12 executed and 4 killed) * Fuelled by Hate: 24 (16 executed and 8 killed) * Grounds for Assault: 17 (15 executed and 2 killed) Strapped for Cash: 19 (13 executed and 6 killed) View of Innocence: 26 (26 killed) Drunk Driving: 19 (13 executed and 6 killed) Graveyard Shift: 35 (35 killed) Mouth of Madness: 25 (17 killed and 8 executed) Doing Time: 21 (13 killed and 8 executed) * Kill the Rabbit: 49 (49 killed) Divided they Fall: 27 (23 killed and 4 executed) * Press Coverage: 32 (27 killed and 5 executed) Wrong Side of the Tracks: 25 (25 killed) * Trained to Kill: 28 (25 killed and 3 executed) Border Patrol: 27 (23 killed and 4 executed) * Key Personnel: 32 (27 killed and 5 executed) * Deliverance: 7 (4 killed and 3 executed) *

-White Trash: has 14 enemies if you don't pick up the nail gun in the trailer. By picking it up, 2 enemies spawn outside, bringing the total to 16.

-Fuelled by Trash: Your results will vary depending on whether or not you stay in both cranes to kill the hunters. I do not kill enemies with either crane. By exiting the first crane, you will only fight 2 hunters instead of 4. By staying in the second crane, you will fight 5 enemies (or 6 but I'm pretty sure it's 5.) By exiting the crane, you will encounter anywhere from 3-5 hunters, seemingly depending on where you're standing. I learned in Border Patrol that the respawning enemies don't seem to respawn if you're standing by their typical respawn location. Sometimes I encounter 3 hunters when I exit the crane, sometimes 4, and sometimes 5. After this part, there's still the hunter with the nail gun that guards the exit. That part does not change. So on a given run, I will encounter either 24, 25, or 26 enemies. This is the only level that I cannot seem to completely control the exact amount of enemies that I will face.

-Doing Time: I'm sure everyone is aware that the enemies continue to respawn until you meet the violent and gruesome execution requirements at the beginning of the scene.

-Divided they Fall: After killing Ramirez, I'm pretty certain there are 3 enemies remaining that I don't kill. I don't know the precise amount of enemies in this level but I believe that it is a finite amount.

-Wrong Side of the Tracks: There are actually 28 enemies in this level but after turning the power back on, I slowly creep towards the starting station as 3 enemies enter and sneak onto the train unnoticed. I don't bother killing these 3 because it is not worth it.

-Border Patrol: I used to kill the enemy by the stairs and then kill the two snipers (which would be kills 18 and 19) and then kill all of the remaining enemies. This brought my total to 25 which apparently is not enough for 5 stars. This level has some kind of issue. I can kill 26 enemies each and every time I play it, but the game will tell me I killed 27. So anyway, I don't remember all of the details here, but I had to let one of the enemies near the mansion respawn in order to get enough kills for 5 stars.

-Key Personnel: The enemy amount is not infinite but results will vary depending on how many cameras you are spotted by. In a typical run, I shoot out only the camera nearest to the lead Cerberus and am never spotted again. However, in a test run, I was purposely spotted over and over and ended up with around 60 enemies before they stopped respawning.

-Deliverance: Piggsy and Starkweather both count as executions so it is impossible to complete the level without at least 2 executions. This seems to be enough to get all of the style points so I don't believe it is possible to get less than 3 stars on this scene, though I cannot say this with 100% confidence.

Does anyone know how to go about submitting cover art for games on Twitch? A lot of the games that I follow just have that generic purple box with the Twitch logo in the middle and I'd like to give a few of them a proper cover.

I browsed the forums to see if this topic had previously been discussed and did not see any threads concerning the matter. My dilemma is that I run a game page for a leaderboard that is horribly incomplete. A lot of the runners have either moved on from speed running or at the very least, have moved on from running the game. However, I'm not sure if it would be considered unethical to add PBs for other players. I've seen this occur on countless leaderboards on this site and I don't really have any particular qualms with it (unless a specific runner has made it clear that they do not want their run on a leaderboard).

I'm not asking for the purpose of creating some philosophical debate. Instead, I simply would like to gain a better understanding on whether this is considered inappropriate to do. I want to see a complete and accurate leaderboard when possible but unfortunately, doing so would mean adding runs from players who may or may not want their runs posted.

What is the general consensus regarding posting other people's times?

Any suggestions on how to approach this leaderboard? The NES and Famicom versions are identical in gameplay but the Famicom version runs 1:18 faster due to less cutscene time. I'd hate to break the game into two separate categories since the gameplay is identical but I might have to do that. Listing the NES version as "time with loads" and the Famicom version as "time without loads" seems misleading and could be confusing to all but the few active runners of this game. I'm willing to listen to any and all suggestions before I edit the game on here.