This is a breakdown of the Special Missions and their objectives. I've debated personally what Missions should be included in the Level Leaderboard or not, as not all of these Missions have significant objectives. If you have anything to add regarding this, feel free to post below!

Time Attack Missions: Ghost Babel was doing speedruns before it was cool, but these are exactly the same as doing the Regular Stage. None of these are included on the leaderboard.

Stage 1 Mission 1 Stage 4 Mission 1 Stage 6 Mission 1 Stage 7 Mission 1 Stage 8 Mission 1 Stage 10 Mission 1 Stage 12 Mission 1

Distance Based Missions: A variant on the Time Attack, each step Snake takes is about a meter. Stage 3 Mission 1, Stage 5 Mission 1, and Stage 11 Mission 1 require you to finish the missions within 2500 M. Stage 12 Mission 2 requires a completion within 600 M. Currently the only Distance Mission I have included on the boards is Stage 12, as it adds challenge to the MG GANDER fight. Stage 5 and 11 may be worthwhile additions, but definitely not Stage 3. Even a rusty run of Stage 3 gave me ~1400 M.

No Alerts: As the title implies, you cannot be discovered!

Stage 2 Mission 1 Stage 4 Mission 2 Stage 6 Mission 2 Stage 9 Mission 1 Stage 11 Mission 2

No Damage: As the title implies, you cannot take damage!

Stage 3 Mission 3 Stage 5 Mission 2 Stage 7 Mission 2 Stage 13 Mission 1

Stages 7 and 13 are pointless, given that both are faster if you don’t take damage. Stages 3 and 5 make more sense as a challenge run.

Boss Challenges: Defeat a boss with x weapon. The Mission jumps straight to the boss fight, which is nice.

Stage 8 Mission 3 – Bison with Mines Stage 11 Mission 3 – Viper with Grenades Stage 12 Mission 3 – GANDER with C4 (just the legs) Stage 13 Mission 3 – Viper with Grenades

Bomb: If you stand still for more than a second, a bomb will explode and kill Snake. Mostly irrelevant for Any%, but interesting for Excellent rank.

Stage 4 Mission 3 Stage 10 Mission 2 Stage 13 Mission 2

Collect the FOX-HOUND Emblems: The obligatory collect-a-thon, there are 4 hidden emblems to find. The fourth patch will finish the mission.

Stage 1 Mission 2 Stage 3 Mission 2 Stage 8 Mission 2

…Everything else: Most of these oddball missions are included on the leaderboard. I’ll give a description of each mission.

Stage 1 Mission 3 – Start at the end of the stage and return to the beginning (go back to the HALO jump)

Stage 2 Mission 2 – Guards are constantly on Alert

Stage 2 Mission 3 – Meet Mei Ling, which you do by calling her frequency at various points across the map, then head to the exit

Stage 5 Mission 3 – You must travel through all of the box sorters. :(

Stage 6 Mission 3 – Destroy all the ghosts who are spooking the Stage. You can destroy them with a single punch. Don’t wear IR goggles to see them.

Stage 7 Mission 3 – You must survive the artillery strike for 60 seconds, which cannot be a speedrun. Thus none of Stage 7’s special missions appear on the board.

Stage 9 Mission 2 – Destroy the power plant by planting C4 in the following locations: B1: B-2, C-3, 1F: B-3, and 2F: C-4. There are cracks in the airducts marking these locations (apparently). These instructions are provided by Campbell.

Stage 9 Mission 3 – Put on your thermal goggles to find four spots (ducts) coming out of the walls, set the C4 at those points. These instructions are provided by Campbell.

Stage 10 Mission 3 – Climb up the hill with the broken artillery guns, and avoid barrels a la Donkey Kong. Fair warning, the barrels do great damage. Some barrels bounce and some roll down the hill.

Credit to Paul Keating’s Special Stage guide on GameFAQs for a lot of useful information https://www.gamefaqs.com/gbc/914401-metal-gear-solid/faqs/8361

We now have a separate board for VR! You can check that out here:

https://www.speedrun.com/mggbvr

I'm having trouble doing this trick. This is where you run along the grid line to run past the cubes to avoid getting squashed. When I try to center myself, I still get squashed regardless. Is there something I am missing? Thanks!

Hi!

I noticed we have a new Gitaroo runner on emulator. While I don't have anything against runs on emulator, in this situation I don't think it's fair to compare PS2 to a PC. It's a bit like saying you won the moped race even though you brought your 300 cc motorcycle. In other words, saving a minute on loads does not mean someone beat Atobe or me.

I don't think it sets a good precedent for the leaderboard and people running on real hardware (PS2 and PSP). I understand that we have few runners at this point, but it isn't appropriate for an RTA rhythm game. I shouldn't have to emulate to compete.

In my opinion, EMU should be filtered out by default, or have a separate variable.

For Glitchless this strategy saves you a step or two.

It happened randomly on an attempt. If only I had the reaction time of a robot.

Hi! I'm considering running this game and I was curious about something I wasn't clear on. Does it matter what version of the game you install (combo versus standalone)? Thanks!

I want to provide some notes in case anyone is interested in running this version in the future. This list goes over the quirks, benefits and negatives of playing Restless Dreams (as it's known in North America).

1. Faster inventory menu

When in the inventory, cursor, selection, etc. are all faster than PS2. The time save from this depends on the ending and one's ability to manage the faster menus, but it saves several seconds throughout a run.

2. Frame rate skips (i.e. Lag)

This occurs with greater frequency on Xbox. You'll encounter frame rate skipping/dipping when playing this version, particularly on the streets.

In my experience, installing this game to the Xbox exasperates the frame rate dips, but still is faster overall than disc RTA.

3. Don't play this version with 3D (aka tank controls)

Unlike the Dualshock 2, the original Xbox controllers only have an L and R trigger, similar to the Dreamcast. To compensate for this the Xbox version sets the default strafe keys to X and B. This is pretty crap and annoying, especially when attempting to do a quickturn. Thankfully if you are playing in 2D you only switch to 3D at the end of a NG run. If you have a Duke Controller a good way to get around the X and B quick turn is to set Black to the same strafe button as X. B and Black are close together, this can make the quick turn easier.

Instead of quick turning at the top of the stairs at the last area, I opt to switch my strafe from left to right at the bottom of the stairs.

Another reason to play 2D on Xbox - the analog is a full 360 degrees, unlike PS2's cardinal and intermediate 2D style.

4. Camera floating

I don't know if this is something about my settings or what, but it is weird. I never experienced this on PC. Sometimes when you readjust the camera (by default its L), the camera unlocks from the set position and 'floats.' This can be really disorienting and problematic with 2D controls. I double tap the L trigger to lock it back in place.

5. Duke vs. S Controller

If you have larger hands, I would suggest the Duke controller. The DPad is silly, but the closeness of the buttons together make a positive difference. Too bad the Duke hurts my hands when I speedrun.

6. Resetting runs

To soft reset on the Xbox version, hold Back and Start together for several seconds. Unlike PS2, Xbox's "soft" reset isn't soft. It doesn't boot you to the main menu, it reboots the game. That means if you need to change settings after a run is finished (i.e. going from 3D back to 2D), you need to go to a save file, change the settings you desire, save, then do the button combo.

7. Camera differences There's a few rooms that are substantially different camera angle wise compared to PS2. The two that come to mind are the door exiting the well (it's the PC camera angle), and the gallows (much easier execution on 2D compared to PS2).

8. Miscellaneous Stuff

• Improved lighting effects, shadows and lights are far less jagged than PS2
• Slightly sharper graphics than PS2
• UFO Ending and Born From A Wish Scenario accessible

8. Don't play this on the Xbox 360

The backwards compatibility for this game is garbage.

Since there was no comparison between Emulator and PS2, I did so with my new capture device. Indeed, cut scenes and load transitions are faster on PS2.

I think it would help to add milliseconds for submissions. If and when ILs become competitive, some levels will likely come down to milliseconds.

Is it fine to begin levels from the Activities menu?

Thanks!

Hi!

I was wondering what the stance is on changing the FPS from 30 to 60? When I tried playing 60 the only significant difference I saw from a running standpoint was that inventories moved faster. That clip demonstrates what I mean. It seems the IGT ticks the same, thus 60 FPS Inventory is better than 30?

I've seen other runs on the board on 60, thus my curiosity.

Thanks!

Does anyone know the differences between the knife Mia picks up in the boat versus the pocket knife from the Deputy? I'd appreciate an explanation.

I would like to clarify the end time condition for this category. Does the time end when the protagonist physically picks up the flashlight (the click sound), or when the cut scene begins of him picking up the flashlight? The difference between the timing methods is around a second or two. It seems that the current world record does the later, while pacult's old WR does the former?

Perhaps the description could be more clear? "Timer...ends when you pick up the flashlight"