JSR is my second speedrun, my first was the ps2 Shinobi. I decided to play as Tab because he has easy tags and holds 30 cans. I skip all the optional character challenges because the only character I would opt for over Tab is the Noise Tank (who holds 50 cans) and I don't think you can even get him on your first play through.

There are 3 classes of mistakes in JSR speedruns:

• Minor - These are either times when you bump something and lose a little speed or you really mess up but recover immediately. These cost between 1 and 5 seconds.

• Moderate - These are the mistakes that cost you enough time to regret making them which is 10-20 seconds. It's about as easy to make a moderate mistake as it is to make a minor one but if you make more than a few moderates, your run is over.

• Major - These are mistakes that take you so far off your intended course that it is essentially hopeless. However, with quick and miraculous reactions, a major mistake can be downgraded to moderate or even minor. They range about 30-60 seconds and you basically quit if it's going to take longer.

Somewhere in Asia...

You begin the game as Beat and first you must complete 6 tutorial trials. These are mostly basic exercises and there's not much to say about them except that in Tab's second challenge, what happens is that I trip over a curb and land behind a sign. It just looks like I disappear for a moment.

So now Gum and Tab are selectable. We're only going to see Tab for a while but the others will pop up again later on. I made these custom tags just for this speedrun. The reason the medium tag says "EBU" is that Megatherium and space demon ebu are the same person. The small and large tags are self-explanatory.

• Chapter 1 GG

  Lets get scratchin...

  • Shibuya GG
    The bus station is a vital territory in our criminal network and it must be reclaimed. The police are too slow to really even play a role in this level. Don't worry, it gets more intense later.

  • Love Trap
    In this level the SWAT team comes out and the first thing they do is drop tear gas in a playground. I have a little trouble with some buses but it only comes out about 10 seconds slower than my best.

  • Monster of Kogane
    I'm sure my behavior in the early part of the level seems peculiar and to that I have no excuse.

    Ignore the rivals that appear at the window. Or don't ignore them and instead come up with creative ways to decline their challenges. Those are your two options.

  • No. 540
    Why are we conquering a junkyard? And why do the police care so much that we do? In this game you are invincible while grinding.

  • Kogane Circus
    This is the first of a few gang boss fights. In these levels you have to chase down 3 rivals gang members and tag their backs each 10 times. That is why it is important that Tab holds 30 cans. This is one of the hardest levels to pull off reliably. I've done it about 15 seconds faster.

  • Benten Boogie
    We will return to this rail that you start on multiple times throughout the game. If you watch carefully towards the end, I enter a building at ground level, go through a curved passage (that I occasionally refer to as the Escher Hall) and then exit the building at the rooftops.

  • Graffiti High
    Bonus points for tagging the captain.

  • Noise Reduction
    This level is the reason the Major mistake classification exists. It begins when I attempt to jump up on a rail and accidentally double tap A which makes me jump off again. This was a horrible place to make that mistake but I still recover pretty well, what really seals the deal is when i get slapped around by the Noise Tanks later on. If I had played less imperfectly, I would have finished by 750. This is the other hardest level to do reliably.

  • Love Attack
    The Love Shockers are small potatoes by comparison.

• Chapter 2 Combo and Cube

  We have to accept the challenge when the two Americans appear at the window. After they join the GGs, they tell us a foreshadowing anecdote in the form of a playable flashback.

  • Tag or Die
    I choose Cube because she holds 5 more cans than Combo and I find it unlikely that Combo would be blaring Rob Zombie on his jam box. Assassin number 5 is quite dangerous, don't be deceived by his "hello, child" greeting. You may notice a tactic I use is to run into enemies so that I get the couple seconds of invincibility (flashing red).

  • Rock and Roll Grind
    A rather vertical level that stresses the little dreamcast at certain angles.

• Chapter 3 Golden Rhinos

  Now that we're through with that nonsense...

  • Explosion
    This level is all the day time areas crammed into one giant booby trapped nightmare. Persued by a jawless guy in a suit that uses molotov coktails as a melee weapon. It goes alright actually.

  • Fight or Flight
    At the bottom of the sloped section, you can tag the rhino and get out without being sniped, but you must be very quick. In the sewers the jet pack squad really gives me the business.

  • Benten Burning
    The deal with the big wrestler guys is that if you can avoid their somewhat limited sight range, they won't notice you. You can even bump into their leg and they won't feel it. Later on I come up short on spraycans but I find a quick solution so I don't lose much time on the roofs. The flame thrower guy normally doesn't come down off the van he's standing on, but this time he does, and he sets me on fire. Twice.

  • Behind the Mask
    The group gets too far ahead of me and I have to cut over a street to intercept them. After that, everything goes about right.

  • Final Groove
    No comment.

Many people that didn't like or couldn't get into JSR complained about the awkward control of the character. I wanted to speedrun this game to demostrate the kind of flows you can get into when you're good at the game.